Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Minimum viable products (MVPs) are recommended for validating the market, with iterative enhancement to quickly meet market feedback. Incorporating a business entity early through online services.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

The massive shift in revenue models in recent years. Until someone realized that recurring revenues were much more highly valued by the subsequent buyers of similar businesses and investors, and that loyal users would be willing to pay annually. Usually that amount exceeds 50% of total revenues and is often much more.

Revenue 62

Revenue Software Review Application Development Valuation 62

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

We are in a bubble (with so many private $1bn+ valuations). 15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited. 50x more Internet users (2.4 But markets value high growth over short-term profitability.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

VC Cafe

AUGUST 2, 2022

think about the entrepreneurs that started in the early days of the Internet, mobile, crypto, VR and yes… now Metaverse. billion revenue in 2021 for Epic Games and was played by 83.3 To live to its potential as a core part of the Metaverse Meta has to overcome a challenging market and a confused brand. Here we go!

IP 206

IP Cofounder Valuation Acquisition 206

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 25, 2023

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $1 trillion. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit. Both have worked.

Valuation 235

Valuation Revenue Viral Retention 235

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

According to the Economist , video game internet traffic, including mobile games, has increased 75% in the U.S. billion gamers worldwide will help the global games market generate revenues of $189.3 billion gamers worldwide will help the global games market generate revenues of $189.3 billion in revenue last year.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2018

In the early Internet days, it would cost a million dollars to get this far. On the other hand, everyone is doing it, so that means more competition, and the market and technology are changing faster than ever before. A local pilot is a necessary move to test your manufacturing, operational, and marketing assumptions.

Technical Cofounder 184

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Silicon Valley LLC 184

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. The next reason is to establish a competitive advantage over your competition and quickly acquire a substantial market share. Both of which are expensive and time-consuming.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Valuations were enormous relative to progress in companies. Companies with less than $2 million in revenue were asking for $50-60 million valuations and getting them. I spent my days meeting companies, figuring out what areas of the market interested me and trying to get a sense for how VCs thought about fair valuations.

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. I can’t control the market. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 29, 2020

Assistive Devices : Global Market Insights, Inc. estimates in their recent report that medical products will have a very high global market valuation, crossing 30 billion US dollars by 2026. Being able to offer such products, along with using remote hosted desktops , can provide enormous revenue during this pandemic crisis.

Demand 173

Demand Product Artificial Inteligence Software Review 173

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

It’s equally easy to go online and incorporate your new entity, register some intellectual property and have some fun with social media for marketing and interacting with customers. With the advent of the Internet, the size and address of your office is irrelevant. Favor profitability over revenue and user growth.

Equity 349

Equity Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity 349

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.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JUNE 20, 2011

They’ve heard rules of thumb like “A growing software company is worth 5 times their trailing 12-months revenue.&# Even narrowing the field as much as feasible, revenue multiples varied between 1.2x The “Multiples&# argument does work well in industries where company’s growth and revenue is highly predictable.

Sales 260

Sales Channel Cofounder Valuation 260

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Both have worked.Google reached $1 billion in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $400 billion. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit.

Revenue 246

Revenue Entrepreneur Valuation Viral 246

This is going to be BIG.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

The other day, I noticed an eye-catching headline: "Internet Funding Boom Ends as Fast as It Began". How else can you explain this headline matching a story about a professional social network still trying to explore revenues raising $17mm on an $80mm valuation? The tablet market has absolutely exploded. Whose opinion?

Venture Capital 130

Venture Capital Marketing Term Sheet Software Review 130

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary.

Valuation 270

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 270

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 18, 2015

They have everything: money, brand, momentum, existing customers, press, product teams, distribution channels, expertise, market insight, analysts, sales offices, product features, and, by definition, a working business model. The insight is: The profitable revenue stream is a prison. But David has a clear path to slaying Goliath.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Valuation Flash Revenue 120

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

They have seen one side of a market where many of us have seen the ebb and flow multiple times. Still, market amnesia by ordinarily rational actors always surprises me. I believe a bubble occurs when a market is willing to pay greater than intrinsic value for an asset class. I spoke about a lot of things during the keynote.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2016

Some analysts argue that revenue drives growth, while others say user growth drives revenue. Google reached $1B in revenue within five years of incorporation, and now has a market capitalization of over $400B. Long-term stability requires revenue growth and profit. Both have worked. Traditionally, it was simple.

Revenue 145

Revenue Valuation Startup Viral 145

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2017

Every business needs to develop a revenue model even before a product. The alternatives range from giving the product away for free (revenue from ads), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Revenue is a percentage of every transaction. Freemium model – people pay for upgrade.

Revenue 166

Revenue Affiliate Advertising Retention 166

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

I’ve seen the Valley grow from Sunnyvale to Santa Clara to today where it stretches from San Jose to South of Market in San Francisco. I’ve watched the Valley go from Microwave Valley – to Defense Valley – to Silicon Valley to Internet Valley. And while new markets were created (i.e. In the 1950’s and ‘60’s U.S.

Restful 243

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 243

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2017

In today’s fast moving market, the basic product development cost and time are critical to survival. They come at the early stage while a startup has no revenue or valuation, so professional investors are hard to find. Quick low-cost design and fabrication alternatives are extremely valuable.

Technical Cofounder 153

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Wiki Cofounder 153

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2023

This fallacy, often called historical myopia, essentially involves extrapolating only from recent positive events, and ignoring the reality that markets saturate or evaporate. Or ask PlanetRx, an online service for prescriptions, before the Internet was pervasive. Failing to adapt to tectonic shifts in the market.

Intellectual Property 314

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Bankruptcy Viral 314

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2020

It’s equally easy to go online and incorporate your new entity, register some intellectual property and have some fun with social media for marketing and interacting with customers. With the advent of the Internet, the size and address of your office is irrelevant. Favor profitability over revenue and user growth.

Hockey Stick 423

Hockey Stick Bootstrapping Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 423

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 15, 2020

Low fee: Lightning supports any size payment all the way down to sub 1 cent micropayments, which will unleash all kinds of new internet native, global commerce and even new payment types like “streaming” – imagine paying by the second for watching a movie or accessing car insurance. . At least not yet.

Networking 168

Networking Global OTC Security 168

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 20, 2017

The pervasive Internet and mobile device access allows instant communication of new options, total sharing of customer experiences, and mass customization, on a world-wide scale. Access to more information is leveling the market playing field. No more hiding behind a cultural stereotype, a well-built brand, or a geographic wall.

Technical Review 136

Technical Review Demand Valuation Business Model 136

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

In today’s fast moving market, the basic product development cost and time are critical to survival. They come at the early stage while a startup has no revenue or valuation, so professional investors are hard to find. Here are some key positives from an entrepreneur perspective: Shorten the time and cost from idea to prototype.

Startup 397

Startup Cofounder Incubator Early Stage 397

Start Up Blog

OCTOBER 12, 2022

When a top 10 company by valuation like Facebook, changes its name and focus to the MetaVerse – it is going to generate a lot of attention. Both in terms of revenue and profit. 97% of FB / Meta’s revenue comes from advertising. So far, the share market hates it. Zuckerberg really needs this to work.

Social Network 48

Social Network Government Valuation Advertising 48

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

We’re now in the second Internet bubble. The signals are loud and clear : seed and late stage valuations are getting frothy and wacky, and hiring talent in Silicon Valley is the toughest it has been since the dot.com bubble. They taught you about customers, markets and profits. Carpe Diem. 1970 – 1995: The Golden Age.

Internet 335

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 335

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” How much is NewCo worth to investors at this point (pre-money valuation)? This is the most concrete valuation element, usually called the asset approach.

Valuation 234

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Startup 234

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

In an eCommerce or Internet Services business it is often the marketing costs (if purchased online) and in an enterprise software company it is often marketing plus enterprise sales reps. The first mistake that mostly only rookies make is to measure the CAC by looking at the attributable marketing costs of acquiring a user.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Think about this; 7 years ago Nokia owned 50% of the handset market. Fast-forward to today—Apple is the most profitable Smartphone company in the world and in Spain Android commands a market share of more than 90%. Its worldwide market share of Smartphones has dwindled to 5%. Apple owned 0%.

Private Equity 329

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 329

Gust

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary.

Valuation 187

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 187