Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

They failed due to: the dearth of deals in the region that have IPO potential and. We believe that regional funds need to walk a delicate balance…but it doesn’t take huge IPOs to return multiples of capital on a small fund. Late stage large regionally based funds that invest in late stage or mezzanine deals.

Early Stage 303

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 303

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

IPO – public company initial public stock offering. entrepreneur exit IPO lifestyle m&a startup' This should be perceived as a win-win event, where your startup is bought or merged into a larger peer or competitor, allowing both you and investors to cash out. Marty Zwilling.

Exit Strategy 289

Exit Strategy Entrepreneur IPO Startup 289

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This should be perceived as a win-win event, where your startup is bought or merged into a larger peer or competitor, allowing both you and investors to cash out.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture. A rounds (first chart) have been largely flat in terms of deals and dollars as have B rounds (second chart).

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

VC Cafe

JUNE 30, 2025

IPO activity surged to $1.6B M&A activity also hit a high, totalling $39.2 billion, propelled by Google’s $32B acquisition of Wiz. Even without the mega-deal, M&A remained strong at $7.2B, with other major exits like Next Insurance ($2.6B) and Melio ($2.5B). Public markets are thawing too.

Technical Review 89

Technical Review Iran Israel Early Stage 89

VC Cafe

MARCH 16, 2025

Attractive Consumer Opportunities in 2025 and Beyond While there hasn’t been a blockbuster IPO for consumer tech companies (mobile apps, B2C model startups) that matches the scale of Uber, Airbnb, Roblox, DoorDash, or Unity over the past 5 years, it feels like the momentum for consumer tech is rapidly changing.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review B2C Generative AI IPO 78

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

What You Can Learn From Public Markets It doesn’t really take a genius to realize that what happens in the public markets will filter back to the private markets because the ultimate exit of these companies is either an IPO or an acquisition (often by a public company whose valuation is fixed daily by the market).

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

abovethecrowd.com

AUGUST 23, 2020

But in light of where we are in 2020, especially with regard to the degrading efficiency and sky-rocketing cost of capital through the structurally broken IPO process, SPACs may emerge as a legitimate third option for helping Silicon Valley companies efficiently and cost-effectively transition into the public markets.

IPO 118

IPO Silicon Valley Warrant Redemption 118

Steve Blank

JULY 11, 2017

The problem was that at some point past employee 1000, the big payoffs ended from pre-public stock and the stock’s subsequent run-up from their IPO. And those early employees got rewarded as their stock turned into cash. But the CEO never noticed that the payoff had ended for the other 95% of his company.

Part-Time VPE 330

Part-Time VPE Liquidity Event Stock Engineer 330

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This should be perceived as a win-win event, where your startup is bought or merged into a larger peer or competitor, allowing both you and investors to cash out.

Exit Strategy 264

Exit Strategy Private Equity Equity Technical Review 264

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2019

Initial Public Offerings (IPO) are back as an exit strategy. Three of these, JUUL Labs, Didi Chuxing, and Toutiao have already passed $50 billion. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and team members) are getting rich. Statistica reports that almost 20 percent more companies went public in 2018 versus 2017.

North America 320

North America Incubator Initial Public Offering Valuation 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

The options here include going public (IPO), merger/acquisition, liquidate, or no exit, just paying off investors. Outline a viable exit strategy for you and investors. Investors want to know how and when they might see some return on their investment, since startups require some event to show value.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2022

I was pleased to see this approach highlighted as well in a new book for startups, “ Zero to IPO ,” by Frederick Kerrest. Differences you find after the deal is consummated can be painful and expensive, just as in any marriage.

Technical Review 313

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Cofounder 313

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. Somehow the world seems to be spinning faster these days than just a few years ago. It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable.

Technical Review 317

Technical Review Incubator IPO Email 317

VC Cafe

JANUARY 14, 2022

There are two main forms of exits for startups: trade sale/M&A or IPO. SPACs had their moment in the sun in 2021, with a record number of companies choosing to go public using the SPACs in favour of traditional IPOs. Israeli tech companies using billboards in busy roads to attract tech talent. SPACs have backfired.

Israel 159

Israel Technical Review Lock-up Period South Korea 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

That means merger and acquisition (M&A), not initial public offering (IPO). What’s most realistic these days is an exit via sale to an existing major company for which you solve a meaningful problem. Shooting for that sort of exit over a three to five year period is usually the best strategy. No exit strategy means no return to investors.

Angel Investor 269

Angel Investor Cram Down Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

This method was perfected by Gil Elbaz and his team at Applied Semantics in LA and in what some have called “ the most important acquisition ever made by Google ” they acquired the company for $102 million before Google had even IPO’d.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Inox India’s initial public offering ( IPO ) opened on Dec. 18, with the IPO scheduled to be allotted on Dec. crore (Rs 14593200000, or $175,110,373.74) with the IPO, with the company itself receiving nothing for the sales. The offering is not due to close until Dec. It will make its stock market listing debut on Dec.

IPO 60

IPO India Initial Public Offering Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” There are certain topics that even some of the best journalists can’t fully grok. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Hunter Walker

APRIL 17, 2025

Exits come in many forms, from an IPO at the high end, to secondary sales, private to private merger, strategic or PE acquisition, or sometimes, an acquihire or bankruptcy. While every CEO and founder wants to create the next impactful IPO oriented company, IPOs are rare, even in the best of times. In fact the opposite is true.

Covenant 77

Covenant Acquisition IPO Artificial Inteligence 77

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2021

2021 promises to be a great year on the IPO market, as there are some amazing upcoming IPOs to keep an eye on. The post 3 IPOs To Watch In 2021 appeared first on Young Upstarts. Here's a look at 3 of them.

IPO 217

IPO Marketing 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

IPO markets had burned an entire cycle of retail stock investors and many institutional investors to boot. Try charging customers for your product when you have 12 competitors giving the product away free finances by $20 million of VC. The Exit Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

He was previously VP Product at Runkeeper (sold to Asics), a General Manager and Director of Product at Zynga (IPO), and Director of Product at Conduit Labs (sold to Zynga). He was part of the founding team at HubSpot for 8 years, where he helped grow the company from $0 to $150m in revenue and through a successful IPO. Back to Top).

Operations 176

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 176

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2015

Initial Public Offerings (IPO) are back as an exit strategy. Last year was the most active year for IPOs in the United States since 2000. 275 IPOs were completed in 2014, topping the 2013 total of 222 by more than 23%. IPO proceeds also shattered 2013’s high-water mark of $55 billion, with an impressive $85 billion in proceeds.

IPO 120

IPO Angel Investor Startup Incubator 120

View from Seed

JUNE 13, 2019

I know some of the investors in Chewy prior to the PetSmart acquisition, but I am not a shareholder nor do I intend to purchase shares in the IPO. Much of the press on the company’s IPO highlights this fact, which is easy to discern from a casual read of the S-1. I’ll break down Chewy’s business based on their recent S-1 filing here.

Leadership 214

Leadership .Net Revenue Acquisition 214

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2021

If a founder’s goal is to grow the business for some time and exit by selling the company, through merger/acquisition, or through IPO, then the corporation (C-Corp) structure might be the best. Corporations perform better on their IPO openings, and they alone can receive tax benefits via Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS).

Technical Review 158

Technical Review LLC IPO Stock 158

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2019

2019 is off to an exciting start for IPOs of VC-backed startups. In some respects though Zoom has had the most “successful” IPO of the three companies, which has surprised some folks. In the last decade or so, high profile consumer IPOs have often gotten lofty valuations.

IPO 180

IPO B2B B2C Institutional Investors 180

Steve Blank

JULY 1, 2025

The ultimate goal of a VC investment is to achieve a successful “exit,” such as an Initial Public Offering (IPO) or acquisition, or today on a secondary, where they can sell their shares at a significant profit. Today, the public markets are mostly closed for startup IPOs. stock exchange. These promised the next wave of disruption.

Initial Public Offering 157

Initial Public Offering IPO Venture Capital Limited Partner 157

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

That IPOs and then continues rising. It creates recycled capital + 2nd-time entrepreneurs … on steroids. When I look at the one thing I’m still waiting to see in Los Angeles – it’s the tent-pole company that lifts up all else. That has a B on the front. I’m willing to bet it’s coming in the next decade.

Community 378

Community San Diego Silicon Valley Los Angeles 378

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2018

These tax liabilities, which many companies believe don’t exist, can turn into a heavy burden in the event that a company seeks investors, financing, IPO or sale.

South Dakota 160

South Dakota North Dakota Wyoming United States 160

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 4, 2021

This will be Version One’s first prospective IPO! Let’s ride this momentum into 2021! . Announcements. Coinbase submitted their draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Portfolio 148

Portfolio Technical Review Securities and Exchange Commission North America 148

Hunter Walker

JUNE 13, 2025

There are many ways to ‘grade’ an IPO from a punditry perspective ( here’s my own framework which I think still holds ), so I’m not going chime in with my own speculation (see what i did there), but on the other side of it, did want to recognize why this one felt special.

IPO 118

IPO New York City New York Framework 118

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

We would have gladly followed Jamie (and Josh Roth, the CTO who is phenomenal and we’ve also known for a decade) right through an IPO if we could have. We funded the seed round, the A round, the B round, C round, D round and E round. Jamie is truly a visionary and a focused executioner. Were we SURE that consumers would buy a video doorbell?

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2023

TON is designed to support a wide range of decentralized applications and services, and the platform’s native token, Toncoin, is loosely linked with the messaging app.Debt Financing Telegram raised over $1 billion in debt financing by selling 5-year pre-IPO convertible bonds more than two years ago.

Sales 127

Sales Technical Review Issue Price IPO 127

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 31, 2020

Every expert agrees that VC investing faced a huge setback last year with the IPO flops of major companies such as WeWork, Uber, Slack, and Lyft as the facts show. In the same vein, various technological innovations such as artificial intelligence have made VC funding easier and less biased.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Startup Term Sheet 175

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2018

Initial Public Offerings (IPO) are back as an exit strategy. An unprecedented number of startups, almost 200 at last count, are now valued above $1 billion, according to a recent Forbes article. Two of these, Uber and Didi Chuxing, have already passed $50 billion. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and team members) are getting rich.

Entrepreneur 166

Entrepreneur Valuation Incubator Initial Public Offering 166

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

And because they are so much larger by the time they go public (think: Facebook $104 billion, Twitter $18 billion, Alibaba > $200 billion) the private value of the most successful companies pre-IPO is more more valuable than it ever was. Why prorata rights are now sought out by LPs.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336