Agile VC

JUNE 5, 2011

They’ve grown from nothing to >$2B in revenue in 30 months time, making the company among the fastest growing businesses in the histroy of the world. How They Make Money: Groupon keeps a share of the coupon value (typically 40-50%) as its net revenue (1). Financial Snapshot: 2010 Revenue: $713M. to the merchant.

North America 100

North America Chicago Boston Silicon Valley 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. Revenue multiple? If we priced it based on any metrics your company would likely be worth less than 7 figures at your A round. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Stock Option plans. Your A round? Me: I know.

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 6, 2021

Without them, you cannot earn any revenue. If your vision is powerful enough, you can make up for this by offering recruits stock options. Then, even if their salary is low, your employees would have the option of selling these options at a later date, if the company succeeds. Have the Right Business Structure.

Limited Liability Company 163

Limited Liability Company Silicon Valley Business Model Stock Options 163

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Deal with company admin: 409a valuations, approve stock options, vote on key measures (15%). should we charge SaaS revenue, ad revenue or volumetric billing revenue? should we cut staff early since our revenue isn’t growing? Provide information / context (15%). Ineffecient Board Meeting.

Advisory Board 337

Advisory Board Valuation Stock Options Seed Money 337

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Good press and industry mojo wasn’t enough to overcome the financial metrics of the business and the offers came in at more like $10 million. So the tech team departed en masse to find the next great stock option scheme to make their big bucks. Sure, our revenue is growing, but is that enough to raise an internal round?

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2010

Plus, we’re all allured by the false sense that our contract with BigCo is going to “make us&# because once they start using us it will spread like wildfire and the revenue will flow in. They negotiate a “master agreement&# to work with your company with some maybe minimum guarantees in terms of revenue.

Warrant 298

Warrant Dilution Startup Stock Options 298

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

A detailed financial model that shows your anticipated revenue, costs and profits (Income Statement) as well as your balance sheet and cashflow statements. Kai taught me that the key metric to whether a sales process is going well is “engagement.”

Cap Table 336

Cap Table Due Diligence Forecast Churn Rate 336

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. Revenue multiple? If we priced it based on any metrics your company would likely be worth less than 7 figures at your A round. Less than you’ll probably grant your most junior employees in stock options? Stock Option plans. Your A round? EBITDA multiple?

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Feld Thoughts

JULY 13, 2011

A lack of understanding how non-accounting metrics (e.g. You’ll be able to understand things like the implications of deferred revenue on cash flow, stock option expense on net income, and the actual equity dynamics of the balance sheet. An inability to read the Balance Sheet, P&L, and Cash Flow statements.

Balance Sheet 147

Balance Sheet Stock Options .Net Equity 147

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

This discussion expands on my Quora answer to a specific question: “ Why were the stock options of MySpace employees worthless even though the company was sold to News Corporation for hundreds of millions? ” The complete story includes a startup-within-a-startup, investments and exits by two VC firms, and some genuine corporate drama.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 11, 2014

What I mean by that is startups nowadays that raise money have absolutely ludicrous metrics. So in other words, the bottom line is you’re not prepared right now in terms of the market, the product, the metrics anyway for VC, and it doesn’t sound like you’d be happy with VC. How do you split revenue?

Technical Cofounder 220

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Software Review Management 220

Ben's Blog

APRIL 28, 2010

Looking across these nearly 50 companies, the study finds that founding CEOs consistently beat the professional CEOs on a broad range of metrics ranging from capital efficiency (amount of funding raised), time to exit, exit valuations, and return on investment. Investments in innovation do not pay out in the current quarter.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 78

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

3]   However, if they are built bottom up, they demonstrate and make explicit a range of business model assumptions the entrepreneur is using to think about his business and its revenue model.   Pre-bubble Siliicon Valley deals were popularly valued at multiples of revenue. This is why a bottom up approach is more credible.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

joel.is

DECEMBER 10, 2013

Within the Buffer team we have complete compensation transparency and every team member knows each others’ salary and equity stake through stock options. In fact, we share the bank balance and revenue numbers publicly. metrics@ - anything to do with company metrics. crafters@ - related to content marketing.

Email 55

Email Startup Stock Options Metrics 55

Seeing Both Sides

JANUARY 13, 2015

My boss and mentor from Open Market, Gary Eichhorn , made the entire management team read it in the 1990s to hammer home its important lessons as we stumbled through the chasm on our way to scaling from zero to nearly $100 million in revenue in a few years. Financing: Do we have the metrics to support a growth or mezzanine round?

Mezzanine 20

Mezzanine IPO Finance Business Model 20