Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2023

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. Document processes and build online training videos so new people can come online quickly and consistently.

Hockey Stick 339

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 339

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2018

Impress the investors with what you and your team have accomplished to date (sales, contracts, key hires, product launches, and so on). Customer acquisition: Marketing and sales strategy. If your financial chart shows “hockey-stick growth,” be sure to explain what happens to cause those inflection points.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Angel Investor 164

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. Thus even if unit sales keep increasing, revenues can lag due to the need for lower prices as the mainstream market takes over.

Hockey Stick 265

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Startup 265

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

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. Transition to a specialist role, plan to exit, be prepared to be pushed out, or plan to fail. The control and growth dilemma.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

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. Document processes and build online training videos so new people can come online quickly and consistently.

Hockey Stick 386

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 386

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Business forecasting is essentially guessing (or predicting, or estimating) future numbers such as future sales, cost of sales, and operating expenses, by month, quarter, year, and so on. A forecast is more common for projecting sales, and budget more common for projecting spending. How is forecasting different from budgeting?

Forecast 114

Forecast Hockey Stick Angel Investor Sales 114

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2012

After many sales calls, early prospects showed little rush to buy it! Maysee now enjoys hockey stick revenue growth. Leveraging my marketing skills, I successfully made what Steve calls an “onslaught launch”, generating a lot of press coverage and apparent early success. But customers didn’t agree.

Japan 292

Japan Customer Development Developer Customer 292

Up and Running

APRIL 24, 2014

So for me, what makes a sales forecast credible? I want to see a sales forecast with drivers. And I’m also going to look outside of the sales projection for credibility in the projected marketing spend. Well then, that helps makes a sales forecast credible. Sales and Marketing Writing a Business Plan'

Forecast 85

Forecast Hockey Stick Sales Business Plan 85

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. The basics of sales forecasting. How to Forecast Sales. Just Do a Sales Forecast.

Forecast 85

Forecast Curation Sales Hockey Stick 85

Up and Running

JANUARY 2, 2013

Impress the investors with what you and your team have accomplished to date (sales, contracts, key hires, product launches, etc.). If your financial chart shows “hockey-stick growth,” be sure to explain what happens to cause those inflection points. Take some time to share the relevant traction you’ve had.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Due Diligence 164

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Traction is evidence that your product or service has started that “hockey- stick” adoption rate which implies a large market, a valid business model, and sustainable growth. A graph that shows a hockey-stick “up and to the right” curve with at least three data points per key indicator is a great visual assist.

Hockey Stick 266

Hockey Stick Early Stage Metrics Acquisition 266

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. Growth is good.

Forecast 130

Forecast Hockey Stick Startup Sales 130

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

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. Transition to a specialist role, plan to exit, be prepared to be pushed out, or plan to fail. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

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. Thus even if unit sales keep increasing, revenues can lag due to the need for lower prices as the mainstream market takes over.

Hockey Stick 263

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 263

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

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. Transition to a specialist role, plan to exit, be prepared to be pushed out, or plan to fail. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 268

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 268

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 6, 2018

We are trained to think of business as sales minus costs and expenses, which equal profits. Business plans can be different things: they are sometimes just sales documents to explain a new business. Hockey stick” shaped growth projections. Here’s how we suggest creating your sales forecast. We spend cash.

Business Plan 128

Business Plan Hockey Stick Lean Dilution 128

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. Document processes and build online training videos so new people can come online quickly and consistently.

Hockey Stick 278

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Startup Non-Compete 278

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. Thus even if unit sales keep increasing, revenues can lag due to the need for lower prices as the mainstream market takes over.

Hockey Stick 130

Hockey Stick Guerilla Acquisition Revenue 130

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

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. Transition to a specialist role, plan to exit, be prepared to be pushed out, or plan to fail. The control and growth dilemma.

Hockey Stick 144

Hockey Stick Cofounder Entrepreneur Liquidity Event 144

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

As a result, unfounded hockey-stick graphs and unicorn promises give way to financial fluency, realistic expectations, frank conversations about what a business can credibly achieve, and transparency. . Typically stable, high margins; repeatable sales model; clear path to profitability; and high growth potential.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Lessons Learned

APRIL 14, 2009

For a startup, having great sales DNA is a wonderful asset. This is the magic of sales: by learning about each customer in-depth, they can convince each of them that this product would solve serious problems. But here’s where a truly great sales artist comes in. They are closing orders.

Customer 167

Customer San Francisco Lean Hockey Stick 167

Gust

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

In my own portfolio I have companies that are generally perceived to be extremely successful with high profile customers and lots of sales…but they just happen to have a liquidation preference ladder of $25 million!

Seed Stage 131

Seed Stage Hockey Stick Cap Table Liquidation Preference 131

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

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. Transition to a specialist role, plan to exit, be prepared to be pushed out, or plan to fail. The control and growth dilemma.

Founder 245

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 245

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. Document processes and build online training videos so new people can come online quickly and consistently.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 120

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. Thus even if unit sales keep increasing, revenues can lag due to the need for lower prices as the mainstream market takes over.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Guerilla Startup Acquisition 120

SoCal CTO

MAY 19, 2010

More likely, you'll be back for more money in less than 2 years, saying what everyone says: "it's taking longer than we thought" Investors won't believe your numbers anyway, so your over-sized hockey stick betrays your naiveté. See investment criteria #1 from TCA.

Hockey Stick 205

Hockey Stick NPV IRR Valuation 205

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. Document processes and build online training videos so new people can come online quickly and consistently.

Hockey Stick 120

Hockey Stick Intellectual Property Non-Compete Business Model 120

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

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 16, 2010

In my last post I described what happened when a company prematurely scales sales and marketing before adequately testing its hypotheses in Customer Discovery. The VC’s were very concerned that the revenue the financial plan called for wasn’t being delivered by the sales team. They don’t. All this takes time.” What went wrong?

Revenue 230

Revenue Balance Sheet Hockey Stick Burn Rate 230

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

By 1992 Research in Motion (RIM) had been in business for eight years, had 16 employees, sales of about $500,000 a year, and three or four business lines. Their intent: initial sales would come from users who already understood what the product could do so adoption would occur rapidly. RIM sales were $15 billion in 2010.

Hockey Stick 271

Hockey Stick Customer Development Silicon Valley Networking 271

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. And Beyond….

Technical Review 110

Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

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. Otherwise, they just hurt credibility. I hate unrealistic profitability.

Hockey Stick 70

Hockey Stick Forecast Early Stage Finance 70

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.). For its first year IMVU had funded itself with money from friends and family. Now with customers and early revenue, it was out raising its first round of venture money.

Hockey Stick 276

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 276

This is going to be BIG.

JULY 26, 2010

It’s a very different animal than an enterprise sales strategy. We experience good and bad sales tactics as customers, and that might make us better or worse salespeople. Although, a number of investors were so enamored with the revenue growth that they weren’t as interested in the cost of continuing up the hockey stick.

Acquisition 128

Acquisition Hockey Stick Customer SEM 128

Babbling VC

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Be it via an IPO or a trade sale, we eventually want out. We want the hockey stick. Well, there's one further point which I want to make clear, although to many it's obvious. After we invest, we want to eventually sell our stake. You're scratching your head asking yourself why is Paul writing this? It's obvious!

Equity 60

Equity Hockey Stick Germany Dividend 60

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

Forget about traction and hockey stick growth. For example, if you are running affiliate ads for hotels, you might get 3-5% on a sale. Sales cycles matter though. HOWEVER, the length of a sales cycle is a strong consideration for most repeat successful founders. don’t think about at all.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48

Hippoland

AUGUST 8, 2018

Forget about traction and hockey stick growth. For example, if you are running affiliate ads for hotels, you might get 3-5% on a sale. Sales cycles matter though. HOWEVER, the length of a sales cycle is a strong consideration for most repeat successful founders. don’t think about at all.

Founder 48

Founder Sales Cycle Affiliate Retention 48