Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still less than half the rate of 15 years ago. Going public is an expensive process.

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IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 120

ReadWriteStart

JULY 20, 2023

The tech industry is witnessing a monumental shift in the dynamics of startup success. While venture-backed startups struggle to find relief amidst a backlog of richly priced ventures, some tech companies are defying expectations and going public with resounding triumphs.

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Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

With the current volatile economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger.

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Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2019

With the current strong economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2015

Entrepreneurs often ask me why investors expect financial projections for a new startup even before the product is built and while the market is still being defined. I recently saw a startup projecting $50 million in revenue for the first year. Revenue projections show penetration of target opportunity.

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Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2014

With the uptick in the economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Is your startup really ready to play in the corporate world? Reverse mergers may not get your startup on the Nasdaq.

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Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

Luckily, not all investors are looking for the same thing, so it pays to know what type of investors are most interested in what your startup brings to the table. The key is understanding how potential investors see you, and especially how they view the maturity stage of your startup. Congratulations!

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Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of someday taking their startup public, and making it a multi-national powerhouse. According to an Ernst & Young report , the number of startups that have gone public in the US over the past decade is down about 75% from the previous decade, to about 10% of startup exits.

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IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 242

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2012

If you startup is your dream, why would you want to think about an exit? Assuming your startup takes off, you will probably find that the fun is gone by the time you reach 50 employees, or a few million in revenue. If your startup was less than a success, you’ll definitely want to erase it from memory.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Different types of investors look for startups at different levels of maturity. If your startup is at the wrong stage for the investor you are approaching, fishing for money is a waste of time for both of you. You also will find that the stage your startup is in dictates where you go to seek funding. Early or embryonic stage.

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Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 241

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2018

With the current strong economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger.

Merger 198

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 198

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2011

If you startup is your dream, why would you want to think about an exit? Assuming your startup takes off, you will probably find that the fun is gone by the time you reach 50 employees, or a few million in revenue. If your startup was less than a success, you’ll definitely want to erase it from memory.

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Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering Startup IPO 231

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2010

Different types of investors look for startups at different levels of maturity. If your startup is at the wrong stage for the investor you are approaching, the courting is a waste of time for both of you. You also will find that the stage your startup is in dictates where you go to seek funding. Early or embryonic stage.

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Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 231

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

VC’s have just changed the ~50-year old social contract with startup employees. In doing so they may have removed one of the key incentives that made startups different from working in a large company. For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options.

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Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

What are they, how do they differ and what can startup do to take advantage of them? Paths to Liquidity: a quick history of the four waves of startup investing. The Golden Age (1970 – 1995): Build a growing business with a consistently profitable track record (after at least 5 quarters,) and go public when it’s time.

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Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 335

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2011

Today, the signs of the new bubble are the Linked-In initial public offering (IPO), Facebook’s stratospheric valuation and the rapid rise of early-stage startup valuation. VCs who understood the ubiquity, pervasiveness and ultimate profitability of these startups doubled-down on their investments.

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YoungUpstarts

MARCH 11, 2015

But it’s an important consideration, especially for companies that plan to offer alternative compensation such as employee stock options, which will usually require a 409A valuation. Startup companies are often cash poor and have little in the form of current monetary compensation to offer their employees.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2015

With the uptick in the economy, as an active startup mentor, I’m seeing a new surge of entrepreneurs and startups, with the commensurate scramble for funding. Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the backdoor as a reverse merger.

Merger 120

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 120

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Uber , Zenefits , Tanium , Lending Club CEOs of companies with billion dollar market caps have been in the news – and not in a good way. — Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. .

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Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2011

It has been at least a decade since going public via an Initial Public Offering (IPO) has been considered a credible exit strategy for startups. Draper III, in his new book titled “ The Startup Game.” The market is moving back up, but slowly. If it’s not enough, don’t do it. How’s the timing?

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Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

Different types of investors look for startups at different levels of maturity. If your startup is at the wrong stage for the investor you are approaching, fishing for money is a waste of time for both of you. You also will find that the stage your startup is in dictates where you go to seek funding. Early or embryonic stage.

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Venture Capital Investment Bankers Angel Investor Initial Public Offering 171

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 2, 2012

The fact that a great deal of the content produced by tech news sites concerns startup companies might make an observer from another planet think America is a veritable nursery for brilliant business ideas. Over 85% of CEOs said that going public was not as attractive of an option as it was in 1995.

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Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

Since Angel investors put money into 60 times as many companies as venture capital funds, according to Wikipedia, early-stage startups need to focus first on the key thresholds that drive these investment decisions. Angel investors look for prior domain and startup experience. The same hold true for venture capital investors.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Tiny markets may excite your passion but won’t sustain a business or leave you with a long-term positive legacy. Social value alone is not normally a sustainable advantage for a startup with limited resources, since big players can jump in with more money to replicate your social value and add more innovation.

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Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

With this capital, the company propels itself to $50 million+ in revenues, and to either a sale to a strategic acquirer or to an initial public offering. Technical progress and market traction are much slower and cost a lot more than anticipated. There are a lot of dark, hard days.

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Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

There are times when small and slow is the right strategy for a specific market opportunity. When the market conditions are right, you should blitzscale for the benefit of all stakeholders: customers, employees, investors, and society. Blitzscaling is a response to market dynamics, not the cause.

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Version One Ventures

JULY 20, 2015

I often get asked about how to determine the valuation for a marketplace startup that is starting to scale. Our rule of thumb is that marketplaces at scale are valued at roughly 1x annualized GMV (typically about 6-8x annual revenue). Consensus estimate of approximately $270M for 2015 revenue. YoY growth of at least 30%.

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Valuation Early Stage IPO eCommerce 60

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

If it's not your plan to get venture capital down the road, then you'll probably stop in Stage 2-receiving enough funding to boost your marketing, sales, and infrastructure to grow organically from there to the point where you are satisfied or ready to sell. Series B is the round that follows series A in early stage financing.

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VC Cafe

JANUARY 15, 2024

With the IPO window closed, growth funding severely dwindled and multiples down as a result of the public market, unicorns face tough choices in 2024. M&A/ Exits – This situation is compounded by a narrowing window for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offerings (IPOs).

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IPO Valuation Private Equity 88

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

We expanded to Houston, San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles within months, and we were generally doing all the things and seeing all the things that a startup needed to do and see in order to feel good about VC funding prospects. startups with billion-dollar valuations) in recent years. Certainly. It’s not my goal to bash anyone.

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Silicon Valley Technical Review Venture Capital San Francisco 48

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 5, 2012

"A lot of the noise in the market right now is about bringing back irresponsible IPOs. Treasury Department assembled 17 leaders of the startup business investment community, under the auspices of its Access to Capital Conference. But in 2008, only 45% of companies went public. million per year just to stay public.

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ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 13, 2020

For most startups, it’s no secret that a significant part of their long-term plans is to go public and become the next market darling for investors. Here are three IPO lessons and what they hold for today’s startups. Then, the market had its say. Uber — May 9th, 2019.

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