Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 17, 2022

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Management overhead and skills required go up. Managing the scale and complexity requires more formal processes, which slow the momentum.

Hockey Stick 265

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Startup 265

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2018

Most startup teams are missing some key talent—be it marketing, management expertise, programmers, sales, operations, financial management, and so on. If your financial chart shows “hockey-stick growth,” be sure to explain what happens to cause those inflection points. Your financial projections. Your competition.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

Later you need specialists and managers. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. Bootstrap if you can, otherwise climb the pyramid of family, friends, angels, and VCs. The right motivated employees dilemma.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 11, 2014

“Growth hacking perpetuates this myth that you can magically achieve hockey-stick growth by using short-term “hacks.” “ I have always encouraged teams to think about growth as daily blocking-and-tackling rather than a dark art. I laughed as I did at much of his rant. He even used some terminology near and dear to my heart.

Technical Review 384

Technical Review Hockey Stick SEM Channel 384

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 19, 2020

Organic growth (reinvesting profits only) will not allow you to build the “hockey stick” growth curve desired by premium buyers at exit, or financial analysts positioning you for public stock sale. In other areas, once you have a documented and proven model, franchising will let you scale much faster than managing every location.

Hockey Stick 386

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 386

Small Business Force

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

Virtually, every business plan that's ever been presented to the investor community, invariably, has that fabled "hockey stick growth" period where suddenly revenue jumps exponentially. For a small business that means understanding what growth means and having the resources to enable that growth AND the bandwidth to manage it.

Hockey Stick 42

Hockey Stick Bandwidth Entrepreneur Venture Capital 42

Up and Running

JANUARY 2, 2013

If your financial chart shows “hockey-stick growth,” be sure to explain what happens to cause those inflection points. Most start-up teams are missing some key talent – be it marketing, management expertise, programmers, sales, operations, financial management, etc.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Due Diligence 164

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Many people will use a budget to mean a spending plan with built-in limits, a maximum amount that a manager or a company can spend. In that case, a budget is more of a management command than just a forecast. Why do entrepreneurs sometimes resort to the “hockey stick forecast,” especially when they pitch to investors?

Forecast 114

Forecast Hockey Stick Angel Investor Sales 114

Startup Lessons Learned

JANUARY 15, 2010

A good general manager is expected to use all the tools at their disposal — market research, competitive analysis, customer focus groups — to figure out a plan that will work. Safely because it is clear that the manager in question didnt do his homework. Read the rest here. Read the rest here.

Hockey Stick 105

Hockey Stick San Francisco Entrepreneur Lean 105

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

As two fund managers employing Flexible VC, we think it is a healthy addition to the ecosystem and will yield more predictable and stable healthy returns for investors. Too often, investment structures force the management team to make decisions between misaligned growth and investment (return) objectives.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Later you need specialists and managers. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. Bootstrap if you can, otherwise climb the pyramid of family, friends, angels, and VCs. The right motivated employees dilemma.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 13, 2017

When I asked the standard “How are you,” he answered: “If I see another hockey stick forecast this week, I’m going to throw something at somebody.”. That was so long ago that I had to ask him to explain the hockey stick metaphor. ” See Also: How to Forecast Sales. See Also: How to Forecast Cash Flow.

Forecast 130

Forecast Hockey Stick Startup Sales 130

Up and Running

OCTOBER 8, 2014

At Palo Alto Software, we use our own product – LivePlan – to manage and keep track of key business metrics. When you play unicycle hockey, you typically use a unicycle, an ice-hockey stick and a tennis ball. James Shields uses an ice hockey stick during a serious unicycle hockey competition.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick South Africa Africa Cambodia 144

Ben's Blog

JULY 20, 2011

When I ran Opsware, we had the non-linear quarter problem also known affectionately as the hockey stick. The hockey stick refers to the shape of the revenue graph over the course of a quarter. Our hockey stick was so bad that one quarter, we booked 90% of our new bookings on the last day of the quarter.

Hockey Stick 78

Hockey Stick Management Employee Retention 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 26, 2014

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Management overhead and skills required go up. Managing the scale and complexity requires more formal processes, which slow the momentum.

Hockey Stick 263

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 263

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2018

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Management overhead and skills required go up. Managing the scale and complexity requires more formal processes, which slow the momentum.

Hockey Stick 130

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 130

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Later you need specialists and managers. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. Bootstrap if you can, otherwise climb the pyramid of family, friends, Angels, and VCs. The right motivated employees dilemma.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2013

Organic growth (reinvesting profits only) will not allow you to build the “hockey stick” growth curve desired by premium buyers at exit, or financial analysts positioning you for public stock sale. In other areas, once you have a documented and proven model, franchising will let you scale much faster than managing every location.

Hockey Stick 278

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 278

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

Later you need specialists and managers. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. Bootstrap if you can, otherwise climb the pyramid of family, friends, angels, and VCs. The right motivated employees dilemma.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

Up and Running

APRIL 19, 2017

When it comes to starting and managing a business, forecasting your sales is essential. Having a sales forecast can help you budget and manage your business’s funds, create a plan for expansion, and avoid unpleasant surprises. However, if you’re not a “numbers person,” you might feel understandably intimidated by the process.

Forecast 85

Forecast Curation Sales Hockey Stick 85

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Later you need specialists and managers. If you take investor money, expect a push for hockey-stick growth and a liquidity event, like going public (IPO) or sale (M&A), to get the payback. Bootstrap if you can, otherwise climb the pyramid of family, friends, Angels, and VCs. The right motivated employees dilemma.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2015

Every entrepreneur thinks he can relax a bit after his business model is proven, funding is in place, and revenues are scaling as projected up that hockey-stick curve. Management overhead and skills required go up. Managing the scale and complexity requires more formal processes, which slow the momentum.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Guerilla Startup Acquisition 120

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

You need specific dates, management responsibilities, budgets, and milestones. Hockey stick” shaped growth projections. Leave out the vague and the meaningless babble of business phrases (such as “being the best”) because they are simply hype. Then you can follow up. A priority list with three to four items is focus.

Business Plan 128

Business Plan Hockey Stick Lean Dilution 128

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Organic growth (reinvesting profits only) will not allow you to build the “hockey stick” growth curve desired by premium buyers at exit, or financial analysts positioning you for public stock sale. In other areas, once you have a documented and proven model, franchising will let you scale much faster than managing every location.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 120

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 10, 2020

For a long time, when you looked at the graph, it was almost like a classic exponential “hockey stick” curve, where it’s flat for a long time, then hits the bend and takes off. Once the initial crisis management was complete, the question Airbnb asked itself was, “How do we adapt to this new world?”

Hosting 69

Hosting Hockey Stick IPO Silicon Valley 69

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2015

Organic growth (reinvesting profits only) will not allow you to build the “hockey stick” growth curve desired by premium buyers at exit, or financial analysts positioning you for public stock sale. In other areas, once you have a documented and proven model, franchising will let you scale much faster than managing every location.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 120

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 8, 2015

AirBnB has delivered on the proverbial hockey stick growth that I imagine they had in their pitch deck back in 2010. The chart above shows the number of guests AirBnB has hosted each summer for the last five years. It was on Techcrunch this morning. It’s an amazing chart. They’ve lived the dream.

Hockey Stick 60

Hockey Stick Forecast Startup Valuation 60

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Discovery, in contrast to search, took center stage as Pinterest displayed hockey stick growth (and raised VC money near a $200M valuation in late 2011). The viral nature of social media no doubt aided this growth, as did improvements in the online shopping experience. The Indians have a term for this: jugaad.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

These founders have not managed, to borrow a phrase from Steve Blank , to create a scalable and repeatable sales process. This wasn’t very impressive, but we had two things going for us: A hockey stick shaped growth curve. People often forget the most important part of the hockey stick: the long flat part.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

Not only did their sales curve look like a textbook case of a VC-friendly hockey stick, but their Lessons Learned funding presentation was an eye-opener.). It means someone who organizes, manages, and assumes the risks of a business. For its first year IMVU had funded itself with money from friends and family.

Hockey Stick 276

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 276

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

Most important slide: hockey stick Micro-scale results Key questions: who is the customer, and how do you know? Amazing lean startup resources Is Entrepreneurship a Management Science? Most important slide: valuation Promising results Key questions: can you monetize that traffic? (or do you know why youve achieved those results?

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Gust

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Hockey stick sales forecasts are cool when they’re based on some justifiable logic. I always look for marketing expenses as a percent of sales, and headcount and personnel costs, and compensation for management. Well said. And to add some specific examples: I hate the high growth rates that aren’t built on detailed assumptions.

Hockey Stick 70

Hockey Stick Forecast Early Stage Finance 70

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

But no one (founders, management, investors) bothered to really dig deep into whether that sales and marketing strategy matched the technical founder’s vision or implementation. More than likely the revenue projection would resemble the hockey stick like the graph on the right. What Market Type Are We? New Market Revenue Curve.

Revenue 230

Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate 230

Professor VC

JUNE 7, 2018

I taught a class yesterday afternoon to a group of 25 Italian executives, managers, and entrepreneurs participating in the TVLP Institute of Technology Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I always enjoy teaching these types of groups because it makes me realize the bubble we live in here in Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley 31

Silicon Valley Hockey Stick Venture Capital Lean 31

Growthink Blog

AUGUST 24, 2016

And as an investor, I know that the only way to earn outsized profits is to identify businesses early , before they go through their "Hockey Stick" growth phase, and most of these kinds of companies are to be found in fast growth industries like those listed above.

Hockey Stick 48

Hockey Stick Artificial Inteligence Venture Capital Hosting 48

Growthink Blog

FEBRUARY 8, 2010

HIT is comprised of BIG sectors: -- Practice Management Systems (PMS) - a $2.9 HIT is comprised of BIG sectors: -- Practice Management Systems (PMS) - a $2.9 Healthcare IT - A $25.5 Billion Business One we love and you should too is Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) - a $25.5 billion a year industry and one growing at 16%/year.

Hockey Stick 72

Hockey Stick Private Equity Washington Government 72

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

For tax and finance professionals, managing spikes in demand – and making sure that seasonal business cash flow remains stable – is a year-round exercise. In the accounting business, your revenue chart basically looks like a hockey stick,” says Ernie Mayhorn, owner of Capital Tax Solutions in Carson City, Nev.,

Hockey Stick 113

Hockey Stick Small Business Private Equity Denver 113