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. Generate Real Revenue. Another approach to raise Series A is to drive meaningful revenue. These users/buyers then have a clearer LTV/CAC ratio with less focus on the top-line revenue metric.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

Genuine VC

MARCH 24, 2014

We live in a demand-constrained world and if, with your Seed capital, you can show overwhelming top-level pull (whether consumer or businesses adoption), Series A investors can convince themselves that the rest will fall into place over time. Generate Real Revenue.

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

Gust

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

If not, and they have neither savings nor parents to help them out, they need to find a paying gig (either a traditional job, or a revenue-generating lean startup such as Travis Corrigan describes) to fund their living expenses while they get the next startup off the ground working nights and weekends.

Seed Capital 121

Seed Capital Entrepreneur Lean Revenue 121

VC Cafe

JULY 26, 2020

In a capital scarce environment following the Dot Com crash, startups needed to do more with less and survive long enough to generate revenue. Capital resources alone don’t do the trick. ” The Lean Startup movement started out of necessity. Cash (alone) isn’t king.

Lean 214

Lean Seed Capital Startup Burn Rate 214

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

Raising seed capital is a tricky business. Most are making major mistakes in their approach when seeking capital. If you’ve already soft launched, have a product available, are telling the world about your awesome company but don’t have revenue/user growth, you’re probably in the red zone.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

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.

Vertical 120

Vertical Stealth Portfolio Seed Capital 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. In the 80s and 90s a company would go public when it hit $20M in revenue.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation 48

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 2, 2012

That cap will now specifically apply to a broader group of small companies: those with annual gross revenues of $1 billion or less (adjusted for inflation), within a five-year interval from the sale of its first security. Crowdfunding is an efficient way for entrepreneurs to raise seed capital," the editors wrote.

IPO 121

IPO Startup Florida Seed Capital 121

Haystack

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

1/ A Pre-Seed Reminder: According to Crunchbase, PlanGrid was founded and went through Y Combinator in 2012. The company only raised a bit over $1M as seed capital. AutoDesk Acquires PlanGrid For $875M.

Acquisition 62

Acquisition Artificial Inteligence Balance Sheet Cofounder 62

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

We slept under the tables, and pulled all-nighters to get to first customer ship, man the booths at trade shows or ship products to make quarterly revenue – all because it was “our” company. And Mark Suster of Upfront Capital has a great post that summarizes these changes. It’s called Growth capital.

Stock Options 333

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 333

Software By Rob

JANUARY 8, 2019

We don’t have a maximum revenue cut-off, but if you’re generating $150k in annual revenue then you’re probably able to make things work on your own. We are happy to speak with you at any revenue level, but somewhere in the $150k-range is when founders may start to look for seed capital.

Early Stage 46

Early Stage Valuation Seed Capital Revenue 46

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.

Subordinated Debt 45

Subordinated Debt Seed Capital Equity Finance 45

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

Revenues and costs should both be based off of a robust set of assumptions. While they’ve been hard at work on their product, they’ve also incorporated the company, now named SayAhh (thanks Mac!) as a C-Corp in Delaware. Build a financial model that forecasts the P&L. This should tie to your GL for “Actuals” (i.e.

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

A few years ago “venture capital” was a revenue model. Today, there is still seed capital to be found, but you have to show the investors (especially very early stage investors) that you have a viable business. Many entrepreneurs have an idea but don’t know how to monetize it.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Southern California Startup SEO 150

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

With this seed capital – more often than not totaling between $100,000 and $1,000,000 - the company accomplishes a number of key technical milestones, gets a beta customer or two, and then goes on a "road show" to venture capitalists around the country for capital to “scale” the business.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

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

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Over the past five years, we’ve witnessed an Atomization of the Seed Stage. Early fundraising is no longer a one-and-done fundraise of a single round of Seed capital subsequently followed by a Series A 12–18 months later. Seed stage startups are now graded on a curve.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

Hippoland

DECEMBER 15, 2015

From my purview at 500 Startups in talking with many seed investors – both angels and VCs – this is what I predict will happen in 2016. Note: these are my opinions and not my employer’s): 1) Raising seed capital from VCs who invest in all stages will become challenging. Keep your burn low.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Angel Investor Bootstrapping Startup 48

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

thebarefootvc

JULY 10, 2010

At the end of that period, if the business has generated at least five full-time jobs, attracted $1 million in additional capital, or hit $1 million in revenue, the founder would be granted a green card.

Startup 45

Startup Incubator Seed Capital Venture Capital 45

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?” How about that women are less likely to be believed than men even if they say the same things?

Founder 124

Founder Cofounder Metrics Technical Review 124

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

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Below are some tips for aligning the startup team with the capitalization strategy. With little to no revenue, many early stage entrepreneurs turn to the Co-Founder model to build credibility for their startup when raising seed capital. Early Stage. This is not a bad strategy when done correctly.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

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? What are revenue strategy and pricing tactics? If you’re a scalable startup, you want to spend small amounts of money (seed capital) as you run experiments testing your hypotheses.

Venture Capital 333

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 333

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

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? What are revenue strategy and pricing tactics? If you’re a scalable startup, you want to spend small amounts of money (seed capital) as you run experiments testing your hypotheses.

Venture Capital 225

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 225

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. The price points are not as high as your beautiful Excel spreadsheet had forecasted when you raised your seed capital. Full Stop for you Brits.)

Channel 293

Channel Startup Sales Partner 293

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

I would focus on one product and set a goal to generate $1M in yearly revenue from it. Outsourcing is something a big company, with a known customer / problem (that has revenue & traction) does to save cost. I have a proposal written up including full cost and revenue projections. Once you’ve done that – then. 5% I believe.

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

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. VC Cafe: There has been a drastic rise in the number of funds offering seed (or super seed) capital in recent months, especially in the valley.

Technical Review 106

Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

He goes on to add, “Having revenue is even better, though not applicable to every startup … Passion, skill, vision and maturity really matter.&# If you’re lucky enough to score a meeting with Gordon, make the most of it — and don’t forget to talk revenue potential. Just don’t call Feld on the phone.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

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

View from Seed

APRIL 23, 2015

Additionally, if you’re talking to VCs, it’s implied that you’re thinking big and thinking about a large acquisition or IPO, as well as generating hundreds of millions in revenue. Note that many were included in our pitch deck templates for raising seed capital. You can find those here. ).

Founder 120

Founder Distribution Viral Seed Stage 120

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. 12- Raising $500,000 in pre-seed capital. Have a goal that’s third parties think is impossible? English, Chinese and Spanish are already being translated:).

Papua New Guinea 65

Papua New Guinea Hawaii Advisory Board Churn Rate 65

Steve Blank

MAY 9, 2017

A unicorn is a startup with a market capitalization north of a billion dollars. What this means is that the emergence of incubators and super angels have dramatically expanded the sources of seed capital. VCs have now ceded more control to founders. Finally the board would fire the VP of sales.

Restful 222

Restful Silicon Valley Puerto Rico San Jose 222