Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

And to today, when its major product is simply innovation. the wave of semiconductor startups in the 1960’s/70’s, the emergence of Venture Capital as a professional industry, the personal computer revolution in 1980’s, the rise of the Internet in the 1990’s and finally. Today startups build products differently.

Restful 243

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 243

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have. At NextView we invest across the spectrum of seed stage companies so roughly 1/3rd of the companies we invest in are pre-product, roughly 1/3rd are post-product but pre-revenue, and perhaps 1/3rd have some very early revenue.

Seed Stage 150

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 150

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

So I recently re-shared a 2019 blog post where I’d basically advised founders who’ve raised seed capital to worry less about “how will I raise the next round” and more about “how will I execute my plan?” They’re hiring remote roles in engineering and product design.

Founder 123

Founder Cofounder Metrics Technical Review 123

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product. Rather, give titles such as VP of Engineering, Product/Technology, Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc. Early Stage.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

The Startup Magazine

MAY 7, 2024

Lastly, note that using free crowdfunding sites provides an excellent cost-effective solution compared to seed capital or personal loans with high-interest rates. The social proof and validation received from having numerous tangible backers can also be priceless.

Campaign 133

Campaign Seed Capital Social Network Global 133

David Teten

MAY 7, 2019

Do you have a great team at your seed startup, but your product just isn’t working? Do you wish there was a product to help companies “Get things done” by leveraging your own employees, your employees’ networks, and more broadly other influencers around you? You must have a strong product management pedigree.

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

Looking 4 entrepreneurial product mgr/biz-dev killer 4 a network-based service. Do you have a great team at your seed startup, but your product just isn’t working? As a VC, I’m interested in working with companies with large-scale revenue potential, and that’s the company we envision. Q: Is this civic tech? A nonprofit?

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

VC Cafe

JULY 5, 2010

A s venture funds struggle to raise money in Israel, seed capital, one of the earliest and riskiest stages of investment, is becoming harder and harder to secure. Secondly, we are selling a fixed investment product – a fixed number of investors, a fixed buy-in and a fixed number of portfolio companies. Janvest: Yes.

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

Sigh… What I should have been hearing is the search for the business model, specifically the progress on product/market fit, but I hear the fund raising story first at least 90% of the time. The test is: If you add one more sales person or spend more marketing dollars, does your sales revenue go up by more than your expenses?

Venture Capital 334

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 334

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Once a startup has raised seed capital, plenty of theories and advice exist on how to successfully raise a Series A. Foster product development and marketing which creates organic (or somewhat organic) user traction. Generate Real Revenue. Another approach to raise Series A is to drive meaningful revenue.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

Genuine VC

MARCH 24, 2014

The strategy here is to foster product development and marketing which creates overall (semi-)organic user momentum. Generate Real Revenue. For B2B startups especially, revenue is the best signal of product-market fit. All of these strategies point in similar directions, but are certainly not the same vector.

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

Sigh… What I should have been hearing is the search for the business model, specifically the progress on product/market fit, but I hear the fund raising story first at least 90% of the time. The test is: If you add one more sales person or spend more marketing dollars, does your sales revenue go up by more than your expenses?

Venture Capital 226

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 226

View from Seed

MARCH 29, 2018

Outside of life-sciences, we’ve noticed something interesting emerging: There is a huge dearth of seed capital for health care services and software-driven health-tech companies. The seed ecosystem for health companies is much less robust than in traditional software. 2) Direct-to-Consumer Health Products.

Vertical 120

Vertical Stealth Portfolio Seed Capital 120

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

Raising seed capital is a tricky business. Most are making major mistakes in their approach when seeking capital. when you are just starting, probably no product or service yet. Option Two: Once your product or service is up and running and gaining traction. In between those times it’s pretty tough.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

View from Seed

APRIL 23, 2015

In the startup world, one POTAJ that’s easy and worthwhile to defend is the need to focus on building great products and innovative technology instead of trying to over-sell lousy solutions. Regardless of how much you adhere to the POTAJ mentioned above, building a great product or tech won’t be enough by itself.

Founder 120

Founder Distribution Viral Seed Stage 120

K9 Ventures

JUNE 5, 2015

Another thing I noticed was that I was now referring companies that I had invested in at a “pre-seed” (capitalization intentional) stage over to folks who would previously be considered my peer venture funds doing Seed-stage investments. Pre-Seed is the New Seed. If it doesn’t have the product fully baked yet?

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

I’ve seen way too many startups spend all their energy getting channel deals done only to find out that they don’t produce ANY revenue. You’ve got the perfect product. Sort of amortizing the costs of their sales reps over more products. A Channel Love Story. Channel partners come in multiple flavors.

Channel 293

Channel Startup Sales Partner 293

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

While they’ve been hard at work on their product, they’ve also incorporated the company, now named SayAhh (thanks Mac!) Revenues and costs should both be based off of a robust set of assumptions. Tie each round of funding to a set of key milestones in the development of your product/business. historical data).

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The group also hosts its annual QPrize competition, awarding winners with $750,000 in seed funding. Roberts talks of social networks as mediums that may very well help your product or name attract VC attention. Advice for First-Timers If you’re a first-timer, Kapor highly recommends building a working product prior to pitching.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Hearpreneur

OCTOBER 20, 2019

It could be more revenue, hiring clients or launching a new product or service, where setting goals presents a fresh opportunity to achieve different objectives. I want to help the best brands around the world find their voice so that their target audience can find them quickly when in need of their products or services.

Papua New Guinea 65

Papua New Guinea Hawaii Advisory Board Churn Rate 65

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 6, 2012

Survival or Establishment Stage: Once initial seed capital is drying up and no profit has yet been earned, the challenge for a social enterprise will be to expand the customer base and increase the market penetration while preserving capital. At this point in financing, debt capital is likely to be preferred.

Subordinated Debt 45

Subordinated Debt Seed Capital Equity Finance 45

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Respondents deemed between 12%-16% of companies generating revenues to be essentially “worthless” and deemed 20%-26% of their pre-revenue investments to be “worthless.” Spend the time raising money yourself, using oblique sources of revenue such as contract work or any one of a hundred others. Add to this that 72.7% Translation?

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Building Product 2. Product/Metrics (70%/30% time) * Get your product activation (sign-up + meaningful action) to 60% * then, Get your product retention to 20% weekly. Would it be a good idea clubbing all the other products / services under 1 venture, because some of them are totally unrelated. I just didn’t stop.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

Put everything else on your "wish list" to buy with revenues from sales or additional financing. Stage #2: Seed Funding Seed funding (also called seed capital) typically ranges from $100,000 to $500,000 and is often provided by angel investors, and is usually structured as convertible notes or common stock.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

Gust

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Turn the question on its head: How could it make sense to lend money to a brand new, seed-stage company with no revenue, no products, and no collateral? (You In that sense it’s more like a warrant or option with a zero exercise price.). How can this possibly make sense? You won’t see banks doing that.)

Finance 134

Finance Convertible Security Equity Seed Stage 134

www.thestartup.eu

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Posted by Stefano Bernardi On June - 21 - 2010 It’s a known fact that seed capital is very scarce in Italy. Oh, my company has grown a bit too much i guess Reply – Quote Steph says: 21 June, 2010 at 19:56 Hi, I hate to ask, but where is the revenue model? TheStartup.eu Meet Tipsandtrip. CEO Marco Magnocavallo.

Bootstrapping 49

Bootstrapping Italy Sweat Equity Europe 49