Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. The more they know your strategic objectives the more laterally they can act on your behalf in key situations. In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

This math works in a normal market…. Unfortunately, it’s no longer a normal market. If you are selling to businesses (a B-to-B market) have your customers’ sales dropped? What are the new financial metrics? Whatever your product/market fit was last month it’s no longer true and needs to change to meet the new normal.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. Over the past few decades, better metrics became available, and investors could take a more analytical, data-driven approach. 1) Market fund. .” Historically, investing was a manual, artisan process.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

Reports are vital for establishing the success of marketing campaigns and tracking sales trends. However, extrapolating the necessary information from various marketing platforms is often time-consuming and difficult. You can link to multiple sources, either when you initially set up your dashboard or at a later stage.

Sales 137

Sales Metrics Customer Analytics 137

VC Adventure

MARCH 17, 2022

With the markets down significantly, financings (at least at the later stages) slowing down, and inflation and interest rates on the rise, perhaps now is a good time to talk about your burn rate. Hopefully, you took advantage of the robust financing markets of the past few years to put some money on your balance sheet.

Balance Sheet 121

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Metrics 121

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

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 22, 2020

This can help reduce the money spent on marketing. Good content that’s likely to impress search engines contains the following metrics. Good content offers the ability to generate leads, warm them, and transit them into the later stages of the sales journey. Great content attracts good user behavior in your sites.

Affiliate 230

Affiliate Startup Later Stage Search 230

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Analytics is about designing, reporting, and leveraging operating metrics to aid strategic and functional decision-making. These are operating metrics because they are not part of GAAP financial statements, even though they are critical for everyone from the CEO to marketers and PMs to make data-informed decision on a daily basis.

Analytics 149

Analytics Hiring SQL Forecast 149

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

The region’s other strong VC presence resides in Japan, which has the typical Japanese model of a few large firms dominating the market. The rest of Asia is still developing with far more angel and early-stage investors than mid-to-later stage folks. Valuations are based more on typical later-stage type of metrics.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Will Quist did a great job of explaining this market rhetoric in this thread. The three-question framework goes as such: Q: How much tech-related market cap will be created in the next 10-20 years? Ok, let’s jump in. State of VC: are we in a bubble?

Valuation 319

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 319

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Will Quist did a great job of explaining this market rhetoric in this thread. The three-question framework goes as such: Q: How much tech-related market cap will be created in the next 10-20 years? Ok, let’s jump in. State of VC: are we in a bubble?

Valuation 295

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 295

View from Seed

JUNE 5, 2018

The quest for building such hiring machine is universal across companies at various stages. Keeping that in mind, we designed the program in such way that later-stage portfolio companies such as Dia&Co and MealPal could gain insights alongside younger ones such as Voodoo Manufacturing , ExecThread , and Virgent Realty.

Hiring 120

Hiring Portfolio Metrics B2C 120

Berkonomics

JUNE 16, 2022

We can invent lots of metrics to measure progress for a leader, including revenue, profit, employee satisfaction, cost containment, percentage of available market, and more. But there is one overwhelming method of appraising the effectiveness of a business leader. What is your leadership end game goal?

Later Stage 62

Later Stage Early Stage Valuation Acquisition 62

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

It’s a very personal topic and I’d like to offer you a framework to decide for yourself, based on the following factors: How Long is it Taking to Raise Capital at Your Stage in the Market? Go hard and hope that the market will validate your innovation even if the price may be higher than the market may want to bear.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I spend hours thinking about the products, competitors, market opportunities, recruiting and financing of these businesses. Early stage. How else can I begin this multi-year journey if I’m not in love? Maybe some people can be dispassionate financial investors. I feel personally committed and engaged.

Early Stage 254

Early Stage Non-Compete LP Later Stage 254

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 15, 2015

Pay attention to your metrics, because a company will build what the CEO measures. Lecture 19: Part One: Sales and Marketing. 2) How big is the market? (3) Lecture 20: Closing Thoughts and Later-Stage Advice. It’s better to build something a small number of users love, than a large number of users like.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Delaware Startup Technical Review 100

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. Let me give you the quick summary of what I said yesterday: Public markets affect venture funding. So now what? Equally importantly. ” Maybe.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Valuation Burn Rate Stock 150

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

Ask 10 people what account-based marketing (ABM) is and you’ll get 10 different answers. Some see it as a sales tactic, while others view it as a content marketing strategy. What is account-based marketing? In his account-based marketing course , Watt goes on to unpack each of the adjectives in his definition: Sustained.

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

Instead, that’s the sort of pre-series-A investment where companies or founders have visions of where they think there are underserved market needs, and they’re coming up with something super excited to try to solve that. . We come in after a product has landed and found product market fit and has some escape velocity.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

That said, we’re in an opaque industry compared with the public markets, and having the real scoop about what’s going on at a private company, and who are raising now, will be a meaningful edge for a long time. A quant approach is common in the public markets, but used by few in the private company investing space. – Reputation.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

That said, we’re in an opaque industry compared with the public markets, and having the real scoop about what’s going on at a private company, and who are raising now, will be a meaningful edge for a long time. A quant approach is common in the public markets, but used by few in the private company investing space. – Reputation.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Will Quist did a great job of explaining this market rhetoric in this thread. The three-question framework goes as such: Q: How much tech-related market cap will be created in the next 10-20 years? Ok, let’s jump in. State of VC: are we in a bubble?

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

Certain VC’s like the new class of Super-Angels and small VC funds specialize in the early stage of a startup where you are searching for a business model. And some larger funds that specialize in later stage deals may have a partner or two who likes to invest at this stage. Have they heard about Customer Development ?

Founder 231

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 231

ConversionXL

MAY 1, 2019

Trend lines aren’t impressive if they track metrics that appear distant from business goals. Client education is central to marketing messaging, too, especially for sellers with long sales cycles. The truth is less clear cut, especially for marketers. Craft marketing materials that resonate with multiple stakeholders.

Marketing 124

Marketing Sales Cycle Retention Differentiation 124

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 24, 2018

With more and more businesses realizing videos for marketing and brand education, 73% of B2B organizations say they have received a positive ROI after using video marketing. Streaming is a growing market, and you need every inch of the latest tech for claiming your share of attention among the marketing prospects.

Software 104

Software Bandwidth API Flash 104

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

So I mostly kept my opinion within a small closed group and let my LPs know that K9’s strategy was to *not* change our strategy despite the pressures of the market. I still wanted K9 to be the first institutional money in a company and work with “frighteningly early-stage” companies. Impact of Public Markets.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

If the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started? In order for a company to attract a full Seed round ($2M – $3M), that company needs to show an almost completed product, an advanced prototype, or some kind of traction/demand metrics. Series A is the new Series B. (~6M-$15M

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82

Startup Lessons Learned

FEBRUARY 20, 2009

Its had tremendous impact in many areas: continuous deployment , just-in-time scalability , and even search engine marketing , to name a few. The batch size is the unit at which work-products move between stages in a development process. I owe it originally to lean manufacturing books like Lean Thinking and Toyota Production System.

San Francisco 161

San Francisco Software Review Continuous Deployment Development Team Review 161

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 29, 2016

I’m getting asked every day how the volatility in the market is impacting us at NextView and impacting startup companies overall. But on balance, I think you’d rather be a seed stage company building from the beginning in a softer market than in a really hot market.

Marketing 28

Marketing Dilution Burn Rate Seed Stage 28

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2016

What you Before Sets the Course for How Well the Day Goes Make sure you send your financial and operating metrics no less than 72 hours before the board meeting — even better if it can be a week in advance. If you’re slightly later stage it might be 5–6 hours. So here’s a short guide to achieving that. What do you think?

Metrics 196

Metrics Strategic Investors Later Stage Management 196

View from Seed

JUNE 16, 2015

The more the investor is comfortable with an entrepreneur and has deep conviction about the market opportunity and product approach, the earlier the investor is willing to invest. So, the bar will be different for each investor, and for very early stage fundraising, the goal is to find true believers more than convincing skeptics.

Boston 120

Boston Syndicate Syndication eCommerce 120

Berkonomics

MARCH 31, 2016

We can invent lots of metrics to measure progress for a leader, including revenue, profit, employee satisfaction, cost containment, percentage of available market, and more. But there is one overwhelming method of appraising the effectiveness of a business leader.

Later Stage 48

Later Stage Early Stage Valuation Acquisition 48

cdixon.org

AUGUST 3, 2012

Some observations: - Thousands of early-stage consumer web/mobile companies were started and funded in last 24 months. Facebook’s market cap is about half of what most tech investors expected before the IPO. - A few breakout early-stage consumer hits (Instagram, Pinterest) have reached tens of millions of users in record time.

Bridge Financing 86

Bridge Financing Early Stage Valuation Later Stage 86

Rob Go

AUGUST 12, 2013

These companies did have some solid metrics, but they did not see hockey-stick like momentum and there were still a hundred reasons why they could fail. I think ultimately, this is because early-stage investing is so much more about people, markets, and judgement than cold, hard, data.

Hockey Stick 69

Hockey Stick Early Stage Later Stage Portfolio 69

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

In liquid markets, most of the calories expended on technology and analytics are focused on trade selection, or “ origination ”. I use another live Google doc to maintain my database of companies I’m marketing to other VCs. 2) Market . Many tools designed for B2B marketing in general are also relevant to investors.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

This is going to be BIG.

MARCH 30, 2015

Not only is it notoriously difficult to time the market, but even if you did, you''d miss out on individual winners. Against a highly salient backdrop of destroyed market value, we interpret the high survival rate of Dot Com firms to mean that many of the business ideas that flowered during the Dot Com era were basically sound.

Hockey Stick 60

Hockey Stick Valuation Startup Maryland 60

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 12, 2015

This includes, but is not limited to money from China, India, Middle-East and also from “retail” investors (or otherwise unsophisticated investors who are attracted to a market simply because of the amount of press/media attention it gets). A 20x return becomes a 10x return and a 1x return could easily become a 0.5x

Venture Capital 48

Venture Capital Seed Stage LP Valuation 48