Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Typically, this caliber of bankers wouldn’t talk to you unless your company had five profitable quarters of increasing revenue.

Founder 274

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 274

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

Because of this, I've always tried to stay up-to-speed on how early-stage investors look at valuation of companies. Bill Payne is an expert on how early-stage investors should look at valuation. He just post: Establishing the Pre-money Valuation of Pre-revenue Startups. What are they really looking for?

Valuation 198

Valuation Revenue Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 198

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. . Small investment firms often have interns and entrepreneurs in residence passing through, each of which is a security risk. When I was single, I registered for (a lot of) dating websites.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Steve Blank

APRIL 1, 2020

Your revenue plans are no longer valid. What’s your monthly cash burn at your new low revenue level? The CEO should dial through as many of the largest existing customers to get a firsthand understanding of the magnitude of any revenue shortfall. Others are cutting their valuations. How many months of cash do you have?

South Korea 334

South Korea Salary Business Model China 334

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company. You may be able to generate revenue, but VCs want exponential growth. Be ready when it counts.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

David Teten

AUGUST 20, 2019

I’ve been a traditional equity VC for 8 years, and I’m now researching Revenue-Based Investing and other new approaches to VC. The question I’m asking myself: should a new VC fund use Revenue-Based Investing, traditional equity VC, or possibly both (likely from two separate pools of capital)? When It’s a Venture Capital Mark ”.

Revenue 60

Revenue SBIC Cofounder Venture Capital 60

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are two reasons to raise money: You have a killer idea that is only partially validated, that you think can get to $50M+ of revenue in 5 years with 80%+ gross margins (if margins are lower, you need a lot more revenue)and you need money to get to product-market fit, or. Revenue per customer? Revenue, Gross Margin?

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 28, 2022

They provide a hands-on transformation and revenue growth partner for B2B technology companies. Prior to working with Citius, he helped global businesses generate up to $200M in annual recurring revenue and realise valuations of $1Bn+. billion in market capital. Transformation of Mobile Handset business.

Founder 132

Founder B2B Private Equity India 132

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

As a testament to the growing power of “the creator economy,” visual content creation app development startup Lightricks has secured an impressive $130 million investment round, at a valuation of $1.8 The company’s most popular products include Facetune 2, Facetune Video and Videoleap. Platform and Scaling Vision.

Private Equity 147

Private Equity Developer Venture Capital Merger 147

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

VC Cafe

JANUARY 15, 2024

A billion dollar valuation, the Unicorn status was once the holy grail for many VCs and founders. At zero interest rates with a seemingly never ending flow of capital to fuel growth, Unicorn creation rate hit a peak in 2021, but fast forward 3 years and justifying a billion dollar valuation seems more like a liability.

IPO 88

IPO Valuation Private Equity 88

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Disruptive innovation leads to the creative destruction of businesses that once seemed pre-eminent and secure. As the venture capital business has come roaring back in the last 5 years, startups are awash in available capital. Companies horde cash and squeeze the most revenue and margin from the money they use.

Private Equity 329

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 329

The Equity Kicker

APRIL 27, 2012

It is now two and a half weeks since Facebook announced its $1bn acquisition of Instagram yet people are still talking about how and why such a young startup with no revenues achieved such a high valuation. If the gossip and rumours are to be believed Instagram employed two pretty standard tactics to maximise their valuation on exit.

Valuation 109

Valuation Security IPO Acquisition 109

Cracking the Code

SEPTEMBER 12, 2021

Cybersecurity unicorn Snyk was founded in 2015 with the mission to help developers make their code secure. Just a few years on and Snyk has evolved from being an open source vulnerabilities scanner and to becoming the world’s first developer security platform that start-ups worldwide can build upon. The idea came to me in the shower!

Community 62

Community Cofounder Security Open Source 62

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

My experience with early valuations by founders for friends… I’ve arrived at a significant number of companies that were looking for additional growth capital after a “friends and family” round and had to “clean up” the cap table more than a few times over the years. It is most often a win-win for both you and the strategic partner.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 26, 2020

To do that you have to show how your market is big enough (a multi-billion dollar market) to support that kind of valuation. Gurinder Sangha, a securities lawyer who started Intelligize (sold to Lexis-Nexis), put it best when he said that you want to go after investors that are “in your tribe.”. Who is in your tribe? In the U.S.,

Finance 205

Finance Silicon Valley Valuation Startup 205

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Note that these are “gross” revenue numbers. Current round: $35mm in Series C (extension of Series B at higher valuation) from General Atlantic, Matrix Partners. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

David Teten

DECEMBER 8, 2010

I’ve given a number of presentations to senior executive groups on expert networks; below are two slide decks: How to Earn More Consulting Revenue from Gerson Lehrman and Other Expert Networks. How Executives Can Work with Private Equity and Venture Capital Portfolio Companies.and Buy a Company with Private Equity Backing.

Networking 122

Networking Private Equity SEC Software Review 122

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

I lovingly call him the curmudgeon of fintech – in this episode we go deep into how he is building a venture capital firm and practice, not just running a fund and how he views the world of fintech investing. One of the ones that really bothers me is how Venture Capitalists try and conflate what they do as being complicated.

Silicon Valley 88

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

VC Cafe

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

We already have a glimpse of it in text: Jasper.ai (which recently secured $125M in funding at a $1.5 billion valuation) and Copy.ai , are already doing a pretty good job generating text for marketing/ ad copy. CFO + AI – AI for book keeping, predictive analytics for revenue. Startups are pouncing on the opportunity.

Generative AI 195

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence API Vertical 195

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Computer Security. Dave Graham Business Venture Capital Private Equity GlobalLogic Inc. Venture Capital Firms. In the past few years, hundreds of small companies have been snatched up by private equity firms willing to agree to ever-rising valuations. Employee Benefits. SALES & MARKETING. Online Marketing.

Arizona 40

Arizona Equity Iowa Venture Capital 40

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

Individual accredited investors in typical angel deals put personal capital at risk for an equity share of growth-oriented, start-up companies. In 2011, the valuation of pre-revenue, start-up companies is typically in the range of $1.5–$2.5 Scorecard Valuation Methodology. million for pre-revenue companies.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

Did raising money at a $500 million valuation help secure the $1 billion deal? 99.9999% of you won’t be contemplating raising capital at $500 million any time soon or selling for a billion. My friend Christin Herron of Intel Capital weighed in on the issue. “Impending” valuation. Let me explain.

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

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. Get back up and running.

Customer Development 267

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 267

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 26, 2014

As further market proof of the power of Drupal in the enterprise, Acquia has received about $100 million in funding in the past 3 months, which puts its valuation at over $1 billion. Acuia provides premium, high security, supported hosting to it’s customers, which all runs on top of Amazon AWS. Because they are open source.

Founder 42

Founder Los Angeles PHP Open Source 42

Seeing Both Sides

JULY 21, 2014

As a result, the full revenue for each deal was recognized in that quarter as soon as the software was shipped. This allowed our revenue to skyrocket from $1.8 But the downside to our business model was that we did not have hardly any recurring revenue. . I later came to realize that r ecurring revenue is magic.

Revenue 54

Revenue Valuation Churn Rate Portfolio 54

Up and Running

MARCH 21, 2016

Some businesses are not a great fit for angel or venture capital funding. Graduating from a top accelerator such as Y-Combinator or TechStars does not by itself guarantee funding, but it can significantly improve the odds that you would raise a follow-up round at a favorable valuation,” Vishal explains. Follow through.

Cofounder 60

Cofounder Metrics Angel Investor Silicon Valley 60

techcrunch.com

FEBRUARY 19, 2010

Researchers polled experts in lending, mezzanine capital, private equity, venture capital and private businesses themselves. Not a big shock, but things don’t look pretty, especially in the venture capital world. 41% of them feel that they qualify for venture capital funding. Add to this that 72.7%

Venture Capital 62

Venture Capital Technical Review Sweat Equity Valuation 62

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

It is most common to greatly overprice such a round of financing, valuing the enterprise well above what it may be worth at the moment for friends or related investors who do not have the sophistication or willingness to challenge the valuation. Do not expect grand valuations of your enterprise from these professional angels.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

Cracking the Code

NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is the foundational layer of cloud computing, and includes raw storage, compute, backup, disaster recovery, databases, and security. Cloud accounting is all about matching revenue and costs to consumption…well, except for professional services! SaaS 13 Index Valuation. Venture Capital. (3).

Software Review 48

Software Review Cloud Technical Review Sales Cycle 48

Ben's Blog

MAY 24, 2021

billion multi-stage venture capital firm focused on IT-related investments… I also serve on various investment committees, including for the St. Jude Children’s Cancer Hospital and the Stanford Medical Center, and teach entrepreneurship and venture capital at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

SEC 36

SEC Accredited Investor IPO Technical Review 36

abovethecrowd.com

JULY 10, 2014

The funny thing about “hard numbers” is that they can give a false sense of security. Financial models, especially valuation models, are interesting in that they can be particularly precise. While it may seem like a tough question to answer, I would argue that most practitioners of valuation analysis would state “not very high.”

San Francisco 111

San Francisco San Jose Marketing Technical Review 111

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 18, 2019

Who would have thought five years ago that a Romanian SaaS company would be valued at $7 billion and reach that valuation in record time? Ten years ago, in October 2009, Salesforce was a dominant force among the 21 public SaaS companies, with a valuation that represented one third of their combined $22 billion market capitalisation.

Europe 48

Europe IPO API 48

Growthink Blog

AUGUST 18, 2012

But unfortunately, that's not how raising capital works. One key reason for this is that most sources of money, like banks and institutional equity investors (defined as institutions like venture capital firms, private equity firms and corporations that invest), are essentially professional risk managers.

Private Equity 116

Private Equity Equity Revenue Security 116

Growthink Blog

MARCH 8, 2013

Most sources of money, like banks and institutional equity investors (defined as institutions like venture capital firms, private equity firms and corporations that invest), are essentially professional risk managers. higher valuation, lower interest rate, etc.). Let me explain.

Private Equity 101

Private Equity Equity Revenue Security 101

Cracking the Code

OCTOBER 13, 2020

This summer saw two record transactions within a month, as UiPath became the first European Cloud decacorn in July and Visma, a Norwegian company, became the world’s largest ever software buyout with a $12B+ valuation. The average revenue multiple is now 17x+, close to 10 times higher than during the 2008 crisis!

Europe 71

Europe Cloud Silicon Valley 71

Up and Running

OCTOBER 24, 2016

The cheerleading tech press and massive valuation rounds have built a mystique around startup culture. With the press focused on the millions raised by high-profile startups, many would-be entrepreneurs are becoming convinced that these are the only worthwhile ventures to pursue. Characteristics of a lifestyle business.

Startup 60

Startup Venture Capital Salary Equity 60