Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

These lost startups land higher valuations, have larger teams, outsource more product development and spend more money on customer acquisition than their peers. Before you indulge in marketing, sales and blinged-out offices, find product-market fit. Why hire a sales team when you have nothing to sell yet?

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Getting a sales contract before manufacturing inventory. This could equate to two technical founders (with a minimal salary), funding two developers for a year. Social media is not rocket science. The timing of cash flow is everything.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

” Below are our favorite pieces from the past few years, divided in to a few key categories: fundraising, company building, product development, industry trends, and the life of a VC. What Are Your Valuation Expectations? So, we decided to aggregate NextView’s “greatest hits.” ” (Rob Go).

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring Analytics IPO 177

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 15, 2022

If all else fails, your advisor may be able to salvage the sale by reengaging other interested parties. Whether they were critical to product development, marketing, or a successful exit, each of these individuals can have a significant impact on the amount of money the business is worth. Preparing for the sale.

Merger 130

Merger Acquisition Due Diligence Valuation 130

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 1, 2020

Snyk was founded with the mission to help developers make their code secure, providing a platform to automatically assess and remediate open source vulnerabilities. The company’s success has been largely driven by its developer-led freemium model, going from Series A funding to a valuation of $2.6B in just 30 months.

Early Stage 62

Early Stage Open Source Development Team Review Security 62

Berkonomics

JANUARY 3, 2013

We immediately recall the razor and blade analogy to illustrate the point when planning product development and release. Xerox in its formative years, even though barely having enough cash to market its then revolutionary copier, elected to lease rather than sell the units.

Revenue 79

Revenue Software Review Vertical Valuation 79

David Teten

JUNE 25, 2012

I’m looking for an entrepreneur to start a company to provide this product, or a development shop which wants to bid on this project. The big vision: one of the reason for the high valuation of Box and Dropbox is that they render the underlying hardware irrelevant; you trust them with their data.

Developer 144

Developer Venture Capital Startup Valuation 144

ConversionXL

MAY 1, 2017

Reporting in the Harvard Business Review on a major study of growth stalls they conducted, Olson and his colleagues cite the case of the iconic brand Levi Strauss, which hit a historic high mark of sales in 1995, reaching revenue of $7 billion, but then, starting in 1996, saw a decline in sales so precipitous that by 2000, revenue was down to $4.6

Technical Review 127

Technical Review Algorithm Channel Analytics 127

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 10, 2019

Asset valuation. The concept of asset valuation may seem counterintuitive, but it is an important idea. Most financial valuation formulas value an asset by discounting the asset using the cost of capital (interest rate) to the present day. Compared to Accounting, Finance is ruthlessly forward looking.

Founder 118

Founder Valuation Dividend Startup 118

David Teten

JUNE 25, 2012

I’m looking for an entrepreneur to start a company to provide this product, or a development shop which wants to bid on this project. The big vision: one of the reason for the high valuation of Box and Dropbox is that they render the underlying hardware irrelevant; you trust them with their data.

Developer 114

Developer Venture Capital Startup Valuation 114

David Teten

MAY 1, 2013

There are some automated valuation tools on the web like valuate.com and estibot.com that use search traffic, backlinks, and other data to appraise the value in the domain name. Still, deciding on the right price for a target domain name is almost entirely an exercise in negotiation, not valuation.

Naming 114

Naming Semantic Venture Capital Startup 114

Austin Startup

AUGUST 20, 2017

Of all your hires, if you have commissioned sales people, those will give you the most problems if they’re not all given an equal chance to make their quotas and achieve their personal earnings goals. Keep the valuations consistent with company progress. Your Product Plan must fit into context of your overall business mission.

Technical Review 48

Technical Review Software Review Cap Table Securities and Exchange Commission 48

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Some believe in the all-in approach to product development: build an advanced app. Although Recycler Spotter was perceived as a great model for increasing awareness and sales, most partners decided to wait for the product launch. Priorities change. They matched buyers with these businesses manually on-demand.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Convertible debt financings have become an increasingly attractive approach for seed rounds because it delays the valuation discussion, costs less from a legal standpoint, and is an easier financial instrument to “keep raising more small amounts of money” on. Seven months in, there is a beta product. There is $350k left in the bank.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Software Review Equity Early Stage 152

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2012

New product development process. Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions. Based on ROI, incentives should be developed for all participants.

Intellectual Property 247

Intellectual Property IP Valuation .Net 247

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

They can also help you develop your product and sales channels. This allows you to skip the complicated valuation calculations. In addition, a startup needs to demonstrate product-market fit. This is done by evaluating the product’s potential market, the sales process, and the company’s team.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2020

Sales and marketing has been 30%+ basically forever, though undoubtedly Airbnb has enough brand recognition and loyal customers that if you turned off marketing spend then revenue would drop but not to zero. Uber is an $85B+ market cap company today but is essentially flat to its IPO price and late private round valuations.

North America 401

North America IPO Europe Prospectus 401

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

A year ago I blogged about one of my most common mantras that applies to sales, biz dev & fund raising alike: “ Time is the Enemy of all Deals.&#. When times are really good for fund raising many teams delay to maximize their valuation. 5 million raised at a $9 million pre-money valuation or 35.7% 25% dilution).

Pre-Money Valuation 303

Pre-Money Valuation Dilution Valuation PR 303

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2011

New product development process. Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions. Based on ROI, incentives should be developed for all participants.

Intellectual Property 234

Intellectual Property IP Valuation .Net 234

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2010

You can also use this space to keep track of innovators (R&D personnel) and rainmakers (sales & marketing personnel). Products: You obviously can’t create value without a viable product (or service) to sell. You should inventory your best accounts and prospects, as well as the status of any pending major sales.

Intellectual Property 223

Intellectual Property .Net Valuation Distribution 223

Version One Ventures

APRIL 6, 2021

2021 is proving to be an incredible year across our portfolio – from big funding announcements to significant product developments. This capped off an incredible month for them, with over $29M in total sales volume in March. valuation. . Product Launches and Updates. SilviaTerra closed a $4.4M

Portfolio 60

Portfolio SEC Common Stock Angel Investor 60

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2016

Most begin by doing the product development, marketing and sales alone, but struggle making the transition to hiring and coaching others, defining repeatable processes and focusing on future strategy. When you build a great solution or product, all you can think about is shipping more volume of your product to a larger audience.

Social Network 120

Social Network Demand Valuation Acquisition 120

Start Up Blog

MARCH 7, 2019

Just compare the unit sales, price earnings ratios and valuations of firms serving the same set of customers: Automobiles: Tesla makes 245k cars per year, and has a PE ratio of infinity (no dividends yet), and a market cap of $48 billion. Could they be seen as on the cutting edge of technology and reap the valuation benefits?

Dividend 54

Dividend Advertising Valuation Global 54

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 15, 2010

New product development process. Longer-term, enhanced product value begets superior company valuation through your organization’s intellectual property (IP) portfolio. From time to time, include customers and sales members in ideation sessions. Based on ROI, incentives should be developed for all participants.

Intellectual Property 122

Intellectual Property IP Valuation .Net 122

Small Business Force

AUGUST 31, 2013

I came to find that they had differing ideas about timing, valuation, to whom they should sell and how long or whether they would stay with the company. Hopefully, each of you has a different set of skills that complement each other. Make sure you are leveraging each other's strengths while offsetting each of your weaknesses.

Cofounder 40

Cofounder Partner Technical Review Founder 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

The law firm has done its job of preparing the stock option requests, board meeting minutes, 409a valuations. This can include: Fund raising, product development choices, sales, marketing effectiveness, competition, business development, M&A … whatever. The meeting starts. The agenda should be purposeful.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

Austin Startup

JANUARY 25, 2020

Having just moved to Austin from Boston, she thought adding African car sales could help, maybe thinking Africans looking for used cars can use it to find car deals.

Delaware 62

Delaware SEC New York City New York 62

Software By Rob

APRIL 2, 2014

A common problem sellers run in to is that when it comes to sell, the monthly subscribers cannot be transferred to a new owner – which is where the majority of business value lies and is an essential element of the sale. This will assure the new owner that product developments can be carried out without the seller’s technical knowledge.

Affiliate 67

Affiliate Valuation Reputation Sales 67

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 10, 2013

A major piece of the business plan will be your capitalization strategy demonstrating the milestone timeline discussed above as well as the effects of accomplished milestones on the company’s future valuation. Product Development.

Angel Investor 55

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Seed Capital Advisory Board 55

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

A major piece of the business plan will be your capitalization strategy demonstrating the milestone timeline discussed above as well as the effects of accomplished milestones on the company’s future valuation. A fair amount of your FFF funding will likely go towards product development.

Intellectual Property 55

Intellectual Property Advisory Board Startup Seed Capital 55

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 27, 2011

And, oh by the way, we also really like the idea of the 1M/1M entrepreneurs building valuation and negotiating leverage through these business development efforts, instead of signing off large chunks of their company in form of equity early on.

Dilution 114

Dilution Revenue Finance Entrepreneur 114

Software By Rob

APRIL 2, 2014

A common problem sellers run in to is that when it comes to sell, the monthly subscribers cannot be transferred to a new owner – which is where the majority of business value lies and is an essential element of the sale. This will assure the new owner that product developments can be carried out without the seller’s technical knowledge.

Affiliate 27

Affiliate Valuation Reputation Sales 27

Berkonomics

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

Application developers once considered their products as licensed in what would closely be allied to a single sale. We immediately recall the razor and blade analogy to illustrate the point when planning product development and release. Call it the Netflix effect. The case of Xerox in the early years.

Revenue 62

Revenue Software Review Application Development Valuation 62

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

This post describes how companies using the Customer Development model can increase their credibility, valuation and probability of getting a first round of funding by presenting their results in a “Lesson Learned&# venture pitch. Is there a profitable business model? Can it scale?” Great post!

Customer Development 262

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 262

Up and Running

DECEMBER 22, 2015

Combine a wild guess on future growth for several years, add in a wilder guess about future valuation prices and exit opportunities, and then pretend that the combination means something. Angel investors are not impressed by projections of 30-40-50% or more profits on sales. You’re out of school now.

Angel Investor 60

Angel Investor IRR Software Review Startup 60

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Well, my advice for Chak is to focus steadily on a worldwide list of greeting card distributors using Telewebsales and Sales 2.0 methodologies - in other words, dont invest in travel and in-person sales, but try to close as many deals as possible by phone and the Web. (On While you may not have the budget to spend $500,000 on Sales 2.0

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52

www.readwriteweb.com

OCTOBER 18, 2010

Well, my advice for Chak is to focus steadily on a worldwide list of greeting card distributors using Telewebsales and Sales 2.0 methodologies - in other words, dont invest in travel and in-person sales, but try to close as many deals as possible by phone and the Web. (On While you may not have the budget to spend $500,000 on Sales 2.0

Marketing 52

Marketing Bootstrapping Incubator Angel Investor 52