Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still half the rate of 15 years ago. Smart entrepreneurs are just now starting to look at this option again, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company. Going public is an expensive process.

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IPO SEC Prospectus Technical Review 218

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2017

Growth stocks provide the ideal opportunity as they see earnings and revenues rise at above-average speed. One risk of investing in growth stocks is that future potential is considered instead of current operations. If the Hero 5 sales surpass expectations continuously, there could be a significant pop in the GoPro stock.

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Stock United States China Technical Review 113

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2021

If you’re thinking about starting a tech startup you already know — there are a lot of things to consider. But what if a tech startup uses the LLC structure? And this is not only due to lack of liability protection, though it is a significant factor attracting investors. Most sole proprietorships remain small businesses.

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Technical Review LLC IPO Stock 78

Agile VC

SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Startup IPO Market: A Fickle Mistress. The IPO market, she is a fickle mistress. In the first half of 2011, the IPO markets were looking strong for VC-backed companies. What will happen for the startup IPO market? How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. September 15, 2011.

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IPO Marketing Silicon Valley Technical Review 100

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

A version of this article first appeared in the Harvard Business Review. As a reminder, the Dot Com bubble was a five-year period from August 1995 (the Netscape IPO ) when there was a massive wave of experiments on the then-new internet, in commerce, entertainment, nascent social media, and search. IPOs dried up.

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Lean Burn Rate Startup IPO 335

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

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. Smart entrepreneurs now avoid this option like the plague, due to its unpredictability and the challenges of running a public company. entrepreneur IPO m&a startup Stock Exchange'

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IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 120

Eric Friedman

JANUARY 3, 2020

I am welcoming the 20’s with an enthusiasm I haven’t felt in awhile and more bullish than ever on technology and investing in general. This one directly pulled from Range and the original Game Boy that has the infamous spinach colored screen and still dominated against full color competition due to these constraints.

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Technical Review Software Review Vertical IPO 79

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school.

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Technical Review Liquidation Preference Silicon Valley IP 150

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Posted on September 14, 2009 by steveblank Over the last 30 years Wall Street’s appetite for technology stocks have changed radically – swinging between unbridled enthusiasm to believing they’re all toxic. Each VC firm/partner has a different spin on what to weigh more.) 3) invest in and take equity stakes in exchange for capital.

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Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Our categorization is not a technical one. Additionally, Flexible VC can accommodate all types of companies, not just asset-lite, tech-enabled companies.”. The value ascribed by subsequent investors (in a secondary); buyers (acquisition); or the public markets (IPO). Flexible VC offers you this. Volatile, uncapped.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

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. Private markets for stocks are the opposite. I acknowledged this in the article.

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Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. Unemployment coupled with a stock market drop will stop this spending cold IMHO.

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Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

But VC is an “illiquid asset&# so funds didn’t disappear quickly - In 2000/01 the stock market quickly adjusted punishing investors in the NASDAQ and in individual public technology stocks. What accelerated this was the collapse of the public stock markets. Team must be purely technical.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

A version of this article first appeared in the Harvard Business Review. For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options. As Venture Capital emerged as an industry in the mid 1970’s, investors in venture-funded startups began to give stock options to all their employees.

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Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

Ben's Blog

JUNE 18, 2011

In reading my friend Steve Blank’s arguments, I found the bubble definition quite compelling: “A tech bubble is the rapid inflation in the valuation of public and private technology companies that exceeds their fundamental value by a large margin.&#. Next, Mr Blank states, “The LinkedIn IPO valued the company at $8.9

Technical Review 74

Technical Review IPO Silicon Valley Valuation 74

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Responses ranged from, “hey, they’re in a HUGE market&# to “it is an amazing company and their technology rocks.&# It’s like people arguing that there’s a beautiful beach house in 2006 that represents great long-term value due to scarcity of similar property. But everything has intrinsic value.

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Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2018

You’ll find exceptions to this rule, like Snapchat, which was operating at a loss at its IPO, when it experienced high initial trading prices due to its huge popularity and untapped monetization capabilities. Few buyers will get excited about a company currently operating at a loss. billion within a week.

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Valuation Technical Review Exit Strategy Metrics 145

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!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

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Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Gust

JANUARY 31, 2013

The move came as a shock to many in the tech business community, in which we’ve become accustomed to real-time disclosure by company executives through social media. To understand the SEC’s point of view , it’s necessary to review the principles underlying securities law in the United States.

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SEC Prospectus United States Technical Review 158

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. Also, because the entire industry has changed because it is cheaper to start a tech company these days – there are simply way more angel rounds. Why prorata rights are becoming a bigger deal to angels.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

We All Know That Dollars into Venture Have Gone Up … As a starting point, we know that the dollars into venture have steadily rebounded to pre great-recession levels, with just under $30 billion committed to US technology venture capital in 2015. …But LPs Have Been Putting Out More Money Than They Are Getting Back.

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Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

David Teten

MARCH 14, 2018

The firm attracts deal flow by promising a decision (positive or negative) in under 2 weeks, with minimal paperwork and without repeating due diligence. Typically they get cofounder common equity, in addition to the preferred stock that a conventional VC gets. engineers, designers, business developers). – Go public.

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Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Cofounder 60

ReadWriteStart

JULY 18, 2011

Jeff Clavier was the first tech investor I ever met; he was introduced to me years ago by some hip engineers in a bar as "one of the few cool VCs." Kedrosky: "In the 90's I was an analyst through all this [tech investment and IPO] madness. They want to stock their shelves and they have nothing.

Investment Bankers 153

Investment Bankers Technical Review Cofounder Due Diligence 153

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. GameFly filed in 2010 and remains in registration, though 2011 has seen a positive start for VC-backed IPOs with 14 in Q1 2011. Now that Google’s acquisition of ITA is closed, following lenghty FTC review, it would appear Kayak is poised to proceed with their IPO in the coming months. =.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

Growthink Blog

MAY 29, 2012

Unfortunately, lost in too much of the "dramatic" coverage of the Facebook IPO has been the real lessons to be learned for those interested in successful technology and growth company investing. Part of the confusion is understandable.

IPO 85

IPO Stock Technical Review Valuation 85

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

AGILEVC My idle thoughts on tech startups. Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). Silicon Valley is still emerging from the tech bubble and massive downturn of late 2000-2002. And obviously all the liq prefs went away in the IPO when pref stock converted to common. May 26, 2011.

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Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

A version of this article is in the Harvard Business Review. — 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. 20th Century Tech Liquidity = Initial Public Offering.

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Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 245

prosperati.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

There is this delusion that certification in a computer language or vendor technology (Microsoft etc) equates to mastery of the art of programming itself. Silicon Valley is a great place for technology startups in no small part due to its culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. Find someone who is “certified&# in it.

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Offshore Malaysia Developer Stock Options 40

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

Equity is stock, but private company stock has no market value until the company goes public or is sold or merged with another company. Of course, if you are able to bootstrap your startup, and don’t anticipate the need for outside investors, you can technically ignore the first two points.

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Exit Strategy Private Equity Equity Technical Review 264

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 9, 2022

Later they failed to keep up with technologies and the digital boom and have even filed for bankruptcy twice. But due to the rise in nostalgia marketing , it seems to be in favor again, millennials and Gen Xers are craving analog products, and Gen Zs are increasingly trying to get away from screens. 17- General Motors.

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Entrepreneur Bankruptcy Southern California South Africa 97

thebarefootvc

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

On September 19, Ma led Alibaba to the largest IPO in history, listing the company on the New York Stock Exchange. In contrast to China, India has had many fits and starts with economic liberalization and has to date failed to channel its potential due to government policies that have discouraged foreign investment. Enter Modi.

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India China Technical Review Africa 85

The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

Slowly but surely, however, we have a quietly emerging ‘ecosystem’ (as it is often called in tech lingo). So is the Dutch tech startup story sold short? So let’s take stock: What do we offer? But hedonistic pleasures aside, The Netherlands actually has a great foundation for tech entrepreneurship. Not in my view.

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Netherlands Technical Review Stock Silicon Valley 143

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

While poised with a limited number of transactions this year, the world of public Cloud Computing and SaaS companies has been marked by two events in the past few months: the acquisition of Omniture by Adobe and the high profile IPO of LogMeIn, a leading provider of PC remote access and support with a very interesting freemium model.

Software Review 48

Software Review Technical Review IPO Cloud 48

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 21, 2018

Bitmain, the world’s largest crypto mining company, filed for its IPO on the Hong Kong stock exchange. While the company’s numbers reflect massive growth in 2017 from the crypto bull market, the prospective also noted $1B of surplus inventory due to slowdown in the market as well as a loss from its Bitcoin Cash investment.

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IPO Global Stock Technical Review 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

Equity is stock, but private company stock has no market value until the company goes public or is sold or merged with another company. Of course, if you are able to bootstrap your startup, and don’t anticipate the need for outside investors, you can technically ignore the first two points.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 2, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Saturday, August 2, 2008 Paul Graham on fundraising I have found no better primer on the current realities of starting a new technology company in a startup hub like Silicon Valley than Paul Grahams essays. but rest assured they would be. When a company is only two months old, every day you wait gives you 1.7%

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San Francisco Software Review Technical Review Continuous Deployment 125

Startup Company Lawyer

AUGUST 31, 2012

” As a result, Ted introduced the Series Seed preferred stock documents as an alternative to convertible debt for early stage investments. In fact, Paul Graham wrote a letter to Y Combinator companies warning them that the performance of the Facebook IPO may hurt the market for early stage startups. The problem. The solution.

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Convertible Security Equity Security Preferred Stock 73