Agile VC

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. Reading Time: 3 minutes.

IPO 100

IPO B2B B2C Institutional Investors 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 26, 2018

Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to stay low, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of a few companies several years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter.

Exit Strategy 128

Exit Strategy IPO Initial Public Offering SEC 128

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 18, 2020

[I originally published this on Medium pre-IPO, so the tense is outdated, but I think the framework holds]. Every big tech IPO results in predictable Twitter chatter. That’s a harder question than just a “did the stock go up or down on Day One” but it’s the question we should be asking. 65% Did the Company Raise Enough Money.

IPO 91

IPO Stock Retention Valuation 91

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

In addition to FOMO it is partly driven by massive increase in valuations for earlier-stage companies who raised money at bit seed prices but who still have product risk. million pre-money valuation is now raising $1 million at a $12 million valuation the next investor has nowhere to go but up (or sit out the investment).

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2018

How do you find the balance between not too small to prove itself but not too big to have an off-putting valuation? 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.

Valuation 145

Valuation Technical Review Exit Strategy Metrics 145

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

Gamestop stock becomes more valuable than Google :-) Just kidding. It’s enough to see the rapid adoption of new social platforms from Signal in messaging to Clubhouse’s $1 billion valuation in less than a year. In 2021, optimism on investing in social media has returned.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

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. Your firm worked with an investment banking firm that underwrote and offered stock (typically on the NASDAQ exchange) to the public.

Silicon Valley 217

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 217

Agile VC

APRIL 17, 2011

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 was approx.

Pre-Money Valuation 113

Pre-Money Valuation Liquidation Preference Dividend Common Stock 113

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

What Are Your Valuation Expectations? But mainly we did it because these corporate VCs were among the only groups willing to invest at PayPal’s somewhat inflated post-money valuation, during the middle of the dot-com crash when traditional VCs pulled back sharply and other sources of funding were constrained.” ” (Rob Go).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 11, 2015

With the daily demands of running a business along with the financial pressures and challenges inherent in early-stage companies, a business valuation may not be the first thing an entrepreneur thinks of when he awakes each morning. When does a startup company need a business valuation? The timing will vary depending on the purpose.

Valuation 100

Valuation Stock Options CPA Merger 100

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

As you move from startup to scaleup, and then to a corporate entity preparing for an IPO for your exit, you learn how to stay focused. For example, who wouldn’t be happy if they owned a business that was one of the stock gainers that people were looking at on the stock market. Preparing for an IPO.

IPO 82

IPO Angel Investor Stock Investment Bankers 82

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 6, 2010

Options are gravy - I lived through the first dot com era where we used stock options as a recruiting tool. We set our sites on our IPO price and then worked back to our current valuation and showed potential employees what we thought they could earn (with all legal caveats) if the company was successful. Then go ahead.

Stock Options 294

Stock Options Stock Valuation Liquidation Preference 294

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

LPs See The Over-Valuations and Don’t Like It. LPs have followed the recent press about the over-valuation and over-funding of the startup industry, and they experience these phenomena first hand. All isn’t completely rosy in the LP views of the venture industry. The Biggest Area of Concern is Late Stage Investments.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. That never would have happened 10 years ago.

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Unemployment coupled with a stock market drop will stop this spending cold IMHO. If these factors impact earnings the stock market may be headed South – If unemployment rises housing prices won’t. This will likely cause the stock market to contract. If the stock market holds then the pace of VC may hold steady.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others. If you look at some high-profile tech companies funded in the last big VC cycle you had eBay, Amazon, Salesforce & Google each go public having raised < $100 million in VC TOTAL prior to IPO and their last private-market valuation were all sub $400 million.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Agile VC

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Twitter’s IPO has garnered a ton of attention in the tech and popular press. So their revenue figures, pre IPO financing and ownership, and other info is all widely available. Growth IPOs Are Back. Instagram hadn’t built a true business (e.g. Value of Media vs E-Commerce vs Premium Services.

IPO 194

IPO Aggregator B2B Internet 194

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2015

For financial reasons alone, an IPO is a statistically rare phenomenon, happening just 275 times in 2014 , out of almost 500,000 startups. As an advisor and mentor to startups, I try to make sure entrepreneurs understand both the pros and cons of an IPO as an exit strategy. Control moves to external directors and the public.

IPO 120

IPO Initial Public Offering Entrepreneur Private Equity 120

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

The value ascribed by subsequent investors (in a secondary); buyers (acquisition); or the public markets (IPO). Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Eligible for favorable treatment under Qualified Small Business Stock exemption, if structured as equity.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Start Up Blog

MAY 13, 2019

Last Friday night, I did a TV interview on ABC regarding Uber’s long awaited IPO. An IPO is when a company first becomes a publicly traded stock that anyone can buy and hold. The Valuation: Uber was priced at $45 USD per share giving it a valuation of around $82 billion USD.

IPO 48

IPO Valuation Stock Cost 48

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

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 27, 2014

We both agree that the later-stage valuations are being driven up to a point that feels irrationally priced [he uses b-round SaaS valuations as an example and I am willing to be even more broad based]. Video 1 is here : Late stage valuations are in a mini bubble. This can’t all be driven by increased company performance).

Valuation 309

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Later Stage Non-Compete 309

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

That was before Twitter filed their S1 with a valuation of c$15bn. The good news is that Twitter gave themselves a relatively conservative valuation of $10.5bn, which is about 15% up from the valuation that Blackrock paid to buy into the company at the beginning of the year.

IPO 98

IPO Valuation Stock Advertising 98

Agile VC

AUGUST 9, 2012

The company’s lost nearly 80% of its value from the peak earlier this year, in the run up to Facebook’s IPO, and currently trades below $3/share… a fraction of it’s IPO price of $10. So I can appreciate why public stock investors would be leery of Zynga and why the stock price has been punished recently.

Stock 160

Stock LBO .Net Valuation 160

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations. Should VC’s really be impacted by public market valuations when the money that they’re investing today should be for returns in 7-10 years? Short answer – yes.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

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

Start Up Blog

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

The upcoming Facebook IPO is a very interesting scenario. There are a lot of facts and figures being thrown around, but from my point of view I’m interested in just a few of them and what they mean for tech entreprepreneurs: 100 Billion Valuation: If the IPO is successful the expected valuation is 33 times their current revenue.

IPO 76

IPO Valuation Acquisition Stock 76

The Equity Kicker

NOVEMBER 20, 2015

Match.com and Square both enjoyed strong first days after their IPOs yesterday. Match closed up 23% at a valuation of $3.5bn and Square was up 45% at a valuation of $4.2bn. That’s good news for both companies, because first day declines can sour a stock for months to come.

IPO 60

IPO Matching Ratchet Valuation 60

Version One Ventures

JUNE 29, 2017

As one can imagine, the media commentary was not pretty, calling the IPO a disappointment , the stock stale out of the box , and lamenting that the stock forgot to pop. This is an incredible entrepreneurial achievement that very, very few founders ever get to.

IPO 143

IPO Stock Valuation Business Model 143

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. If you’re wildly successful early on or if they help you achieve a great valuation they actually pay a significant price for their eventual stock even though they took much more risk than a future investor and backed you early.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

” If you invested at $8m pre-money and put $2m in (thus you own 20% of a company at a $10m post-money valuation) and if you put another $2m into a round at a $40m valuation raising $10m ($50m post) you end up with half your money at $8m pre and half at $40m pre thus your average price goes up dramatically.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Google is still a private company (their IPO was Aug 2004). The terms and valuation for both offers were comparable and when the team debated which path to choose, we all agreed both firms would have made good partners. round which closed in November 2003, and the pre-money valuation between $10 million and $15 million.

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

K9 Ventures

JULY 12, 2018

Private companies, which have a closed shareholder base, and typically no active market for the stock, or, public companies, where they have a open shareholder base and an active market for the stock of the company. would wait till a companies IPO and buy stock in the IPO. Today we have only two types of companies.

IPO 119

IPO Marketing Accredited Investor SEC 119

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2015

Last night I wrote a post about how the fall in the stock market over a 3-day period may affect the venture capital markets. This morning the US stock markets are rallying. They said stocks were a bargain. public stocks go up and privates can grow into IPOs; or. So now what? Equally importantly. I urge caution.”

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Valuation Burn Rate Stock 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2016

Despite the fact that the number of IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) for startups have continued to decrease, I still hear it touted often as the preferred exit strategy. I suspect the exuberance for an IPO is still being driven by the highly visible successes of several companies a few years ago, including Facebook, Yelp, and Twitter.

IPO 120

IPO Initial Public Offering SEC Stock Options 120

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2011

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. 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.

Silicon Valley 327

Silicon Valley Stealth Valuation Mississippi 327