Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

" Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. Usually a terrible idea as runway extension.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 11, 2022

On the other side of the spectrum, the idea of finding a unicorn has attracted many investors toward the much riskier venture capital and emerging technologies. Real estate has long been considered a sound investment, and has become even more popular in recent years as historical data has shown the market’s relatively low volatility.

Private Equity 165

Private Equity Equity Technical Review Software Review 165

David Teten

DECEMBER 16, 2015

I review a lot of board decks with a beautifully hand-crafted page with metrics for the company. Good metrics are comparable across industries; comparative ; readily understandable; and help drive decisions. Comparative means that you can compare a metric across time periods, groups of users, or competitors. Sales Pipeline.

Metrics 60

Metrics Analytics Balance Sheet .Net 60

abovethecrowd.com

OCTOBER 1, 2013

Over 13 years ago, in March of 2000, I wrote a blog post titled “ The Most Powerful Internet Metric of All. ” The key thesis was this: if an Internet company could obsess about only one metric, it should be conversion. As such, it is time to pound the table again – conversion is by far the most powerful Internet metric of all.

Metrics 93

Metrics Conversion Internet Acquisition 93

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

This structure allows for alignment on the front end, and real-time flexibility for performance metrics,” says Samira Salman , a family office investor and advisor. . Flexible VCs have created structures based on other company performance metrics than revenues, such as profits or founder salaries. Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 8, 2023

Keeping up with trends is the reality show of the e-commerce world, which is constantly developing, gaining a significant market share, and driving online sales. According to the Adjust and Sensor Tower report, in 2021, m-commerce accumulated 54% of all e-commerce sales worldwide, whose market exceeds $3.5 Only in 2021, 72.9%

eCommerce 185

eCommerce Technical Review Software Review Analytics 185

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. Finance is about reporting on historical performance and future planning through the lens of financial metrics.”

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. He’d wasted a year of his life and had a pile of stock options that weren’t very interesting. Tesla is not. It's a great talk.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

David Teten

NOVEMBER 26, 2019

Instead of budget approvals, monitor key metrics and give managers more flexibility. The next most important set of metrics are sales by category; working capital (cash and other current assets, less current liabilities); EBITA; and gross margin. Traditional budgets can be destructive and a huge waste of time.

Agile 60

Agile Management Forecast Silicon Valley 60

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 12, 2020

Venture capital firms have become more discerning where they put their limited funds to use, and banks have always been anti-startup in their business dealings. Many startups are already tech-based, and the tech they use can help them connect with consumers and make sales online. Startup Survival Tactics During the Pandemic.

Bankruptcy 165

Bankruptcy Startup Agile Technical Review 165

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

This required a repeatable and scalable sales process, which required a professional sales staff and a product stable enough that customers wouldn’t return it. While 20th century metrics were revenue and profit, today it’s common for companies to get acquired for their user base. People had to actually pay you for your product.

Founder 269

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 269

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2021

In my experience, here are some of the key elements of that “second-stage” of entrepreneurship: Move from small investors to major venture capital. Switch your focus from product development to sales. Isolate marketing from sales for maximum customer focus.

Merger 379

Merger Due Diligence SEC IPO 379

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The most obvious way to explain this is with sales people. If you hire 6 sales reps in January at $120,000 / year salary then you’ve taken on an extra $60,000 per month in costs yet these sales people might not close new business for 4-6 months. “COGS” represents the amount that each sale costs you.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” Any great board member should tell you, “please don’t create any performance metrics or materials that analyze the business that you’re not already creating for your own management’s use.” Sometimes they don’t even know.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Private equity and venture capital investors are copying our sisters in the hedge fund world: we’re trying to automate more of our job. . I previously posted a detailed presentation with sales technology tools useful for B2B sales. (To see the video above, please click the image, and then click on the Play button.).

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Welcome to the Lost Decade (for Entrepreneurs, IPO’s and VC’s) - Steve Blank , July 15, 2010 If you take funding from a venture capital firm or angel investor and want to build a large, enduring company (rather than sell it to the highest bidder), this isn’t the decade to do it. Metrics availability. Here’s why. Not so bad.

Software Review 217

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Technical Review 217

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? What Does this Mean for a Venture Capital Firm?

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Up and Running

OCTOBER 3, 2017

Others like to focus on the numbers first, so they start with a sales forecast or spending budget. Use this section to outline your marketing plan, your sales plan, and the other logistics involved in actually running your business. Sales Plan. Key Metrics. Revenue/Sales Forecast. Detailed business plan outline: 1.0

Business Plan 134

Business Plan Balance Sheet Forecast Lean 134

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In the tactics section, list your sales channels and describe how you will be selling your products. While it’s useful to be able to have a sales forecast and expense budget early on, it’s not something you need until you’ve validated your idea. A few resources you may want to check out include: How to Forecast Your Sales.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Steve Blank

APRIL 30, 2009

SuperMac sold our graphic boards for the Macintosh through multiple distribution channels: direct sales to major accounts, national chains, independent rep firms, etc. But the computer retail channel was a large part of our sales. He had teamed up with a former product manager at P&G to deliver seminars on just this subject.

Sales 120

Sales Silicon Valley RSS Las Vegas 120

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

Founders that learn are more successful : Startups that have helpful mentors, track metrics effectively, and learn from startup thought leaders raise 7x more money and have 3.5x more likely to successfully scale with sales driven startups than with product centric startups. Startup Genome Report. Some of their key findings : 1.

Technical Cofounder 334

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 334

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 16, 2009

What metrics do we use to see if we learned enough in Customer Discovery ? I gave my boilerplate answer, “I’m a product guy and I tend to invest and look at deals that have measurable revenue metrics. Dave McClure has some great metrics…” It was an honest but vaguely unsatisfying answer.

Customer Development 227

Customer Development Web Developer Customer 227

David Teten

AUGUST 7, 2019

Likely signs of a Value investment: the company has challenges in filling out the round; the investors have more negotiating leverage than the founders during the closing process; the company has significantly better metrics (e.g. Today, some Momentum-centric venture capital investors have high paper returns. Sense of victory.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Valuation Stock NDA 60

Cracking the Code

JANUARY 22, 2009

Building Your SaaS Sales Compensation Plan. Compensating the sales force is a difficult task and the key is usually to keep things simple, so that each sales rep knows what he needs to optimize to make more money at the end of the quarter. which is very close to the typical 8% paid for sales commissions.

Software Review 91

Software Review Clawback Sales Salary 91

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

What most founders don’t realize is: Every stage of a startup requires a different set of metrics and milestones and founder skills. For a Series A round you want to prove you have built a repeatable and scalable sales/revenue model and understand all parts of the business model. What is some of the critical metrics that matter?

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 21, 2015

These new corporate strategies drove companies to build structures around functions (manufacturing, purchasing, sales, etc.) In the 1920’s companies moved from monolithic functional organizations (sales, marketing, manufacturing, purchasing, etc.) Venture capital firms, as we know them only date back to the 1970s.)

Silicon Valley 120

Silicon Valley Venture Capital United States Technical Review 120

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams. Blog About Log in Register Designing startup metrics to drive successful behavior Great companies are almost always run by great management teams.

Metrics 55

Metrics Design Entrepreneur Startup 55

Cracking the Code

JULY 6, 2007

Thoughts from a Venture Capitalist on Software, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Cloud Computing, Internet and more. SaaS business metrics: why are they different? Different models require different performance metrics. so the bookings would need to be split into "renewal/upsells" and "new sales". Cracking The Code.

Software Review 66

Software Review Metrics Valuation Technical Review 66

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

We agreed that there were two significant proof points that she needed to achieve in order to demonstrate a high likelihood of success: price point and sales traction. Because I left each investor meeting with a plan for my company’s growth, investors were able to measure my actual metrics developed over time against my initial projections.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital Finance Early Stage .Net 163

Cracking the Code

MARCH 10, 2008

Measuring sales and marketing effectiveness of SaaS companies. Labels: SaaS , sales and marketing , software. a new entrant trying to gain awareness in the marketplace investing in various mktg programs and sales to get the lead-gen engine flywheel started)? Monday, March 10, 2008. Posted by Philippe Botteri. at 8:58 PM.

Sales 79

Sales Software Review Marketing Technical Review 79

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Over the same 30 years, Venture Capital firms have honed their skills and strategies to match Wall Streets needs to achieve liquidity for their portfolio companies. One of the biggest mistakes entrepreneurs make is misunderstanding the role of venture capital investors. What Do VC’s Do?

Silicon Valley 233

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 233

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 12, 2013

Despite the fact that they''re great sales founders, selling isn''t actually their job. When you reach product/market fit, companies scale as sales teams scale. Scaling a sales team is a completely different challenge than being a good salesperson. Who is in the process of building a sales team now?

Sales 106

Sales Founder Venture Capital Metrics 106

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 23, 2021

If they’re the kind of infinite learner who uses their past experiences to make their decision-making better, they have a huge advantage when it comes to everything from hiring to strategy to sales, making them an even better bet the second time around. The metrics from the dashboard are the key inputs for collective decisions.

Venture Capital 46

Venture Capital Metrics Investment Bankers Framework 46

crowdSPRING Blog

MARCH 13, 2014

The Essential Email Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking | Hubspot blog – crowdspring.co/1gY786G. Guerilla tips for raising venture capital | VentureBeat – crowdspring.co/P6hM3O. The Essential Email Marketing Metrics You Should Be Tracking | Hubspot blog – crowdspring.co/1gY786G. 1fEF2ki.

Social Media 96

Social Media Small Business Design Media 96

VC Cafe

JANUARY 14, 2022

There are two main forms of exits for startups: trade sale/M&A or IPO. R&D expenditure as a percentage of GDP – Israel ranks 2nd globally in this metric, following closely after South Korea. Israeli tech companies using billboards in busy roads to attract tech talent. SPACs have backfired.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Lock-up Period South Korea 158

David Teten

JANUARY 13, 2015

That sales process is harder when strangers are biased against people like you. The best way you can help them is build a big business with their backing, and that requires you to appear self-made. [I should mention that disclosure of participation in the Venture Capital Access Program is optional.]. Own your “anti-pattern”.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Advisory Board Greece Cofounder 60

Austin Startup

AUGUST 10, 2017

Before graduating, I decided to forgo the finance path and instead dove into engineering and later sales and product management roles at VersaSuite (health IT) in Austin. We invest in protocols that meet our quantitative and qualitative metrics. has about ~40 employees and has raised $9M in venture capital. Factom, Inc.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Austin 48