Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. There is an art to efficient management of a process, whether that is the process of bringing a product to market from R&D to production or developing a new product’s launch program.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 118

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In his tenure as CEO of DataSift we have never missed a monthly revenue figure. He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. That in itself is quite a challenge.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. Billing and revenue collection. Funding process. Manage human resources.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2015

As an angel investor, I certainly see continuing evidence that this phenomenon hasn’t changed much in the past couple of decades. Investors want proof of a business model and real customer revenue, as well as a product. Business work should start only after the product is done."

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Startup Angel Investor Social Media 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 2, 2022

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Both risks and opportunities in this area can arise from many aspects of your startup, before and after product development. Outside of dreams, there is no real business opportunity without risk.

Burn Rate 382

Burn Rate Angel Investor Operations Demand 382

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

In fact, investors recognize that founders usually learn more from mistakes than from success, so a well-explained startup failure can improve their odds of funding the next time around. However, investors do expect you know the common pitfalls -- and not repeat them. Forecast revenue growth that defies business principles.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Forecast Angel Investor 120

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. So if it’s not necessarily revenue that’s preventing an investment, then WTF is traction? Unfortunately your advisers are wrong. Update them on your fund raising progress.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Revenue Venture Capital 309

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2023

You may think this question is just an artifact of good television, but let me assure you that in my experience as an angel investor, it’s a standard “make or break” inquiry posed to every entrepreneur. They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development.

Elevator Pitch 228

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 228

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

Something isn''t going to go your way--product development, hiring, revenues. Angel investor Jeff Stewart once told me that either the product takes twice as long and costs three times as much to build as your plan, or takes three times as long to build and costs twice as much--you just don''t know which one.

Technical Review 136

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Venture Capital 136

Berkonomics

AUGUST 10, 2017

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. There is an art to efficient management of a process, whether that is the process of bringing a product to market from R&D to production or developing a new product’s launch program.

Silicon Valley 97

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 97

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). If so, how is the revenue measured? The Good News.

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

It is necessary to cover the early stages of product development, thorough market research, and other processes during the initial step. The criteria change after a company reaches the growth stage when it is deemed to have attained product market fit. After that, the money is used to maintain the company’s expansion.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2020

You may think this question is just an artifact of good television, but let me assure you that in my experience as an angel investor, it’s a standard “make or break” inquiry posed to every entrepreneur. They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development.

Elevator Pitch 336

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 336

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2019

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Both risks and opportunities in this area can arise from many aspects of your startup, before and after product development. Outside of dreams, there is no real business opportunity without risk.

Entrepreneur 267

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Angel Investor Operations 267

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

About twenty people on Answers OnStartups have asked this question in one form or another: When I meet an angel investor, he may ask: "What if a big company copies your idea and develops the same website as yours after your website goes public?". But how does authority convert to revenue? How can I answer this question?

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

It should go without saying that this post is not advice, nor is it recommendation of what you should do, it’s simply my observation of how companies using Customer Development positioned themselves to successfully raise money from venture investors. Is there a profitable business model? Can it scale?” Great post!

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 270

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. Billing and revenue collection. Funding process. Manage human resources.

Startup 268

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 268

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 24, 2014

You can double that number if you add the amount of money put up by Angel Investors. Angel Investors, VCs and entrepreneurs agree that the success rate for startup companies is dismal. Scalable technology is often the only way that startups will be able to reach profitability and grow revenue.

Startup 252

Startup Angel Investor Early Stage LLC 252

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 22, 2017

As an active angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Both risks and opportunities in this area can arise from many aspects of your startup, before and after product development. Outside of dreams, there is no real business opportunity without risk.

Burn Rate 170

Burn Rate Angel Investor Operations Demand 170

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2010

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. There is an art to efficient management of a process, whether that is the process of bringing a product to market from R&D to production or developing a new product’s launch program.

Silicon Valley 85

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 85

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2014

You may think this question is just an artifact of good television, but let me assure you that in my experience as an angel investor, it’s a standard “make or break” inquiry posed to every entrepreneur. They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development.

Elevator Pitch 285

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 285

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

The application of agile development methodologies which dramatically reduce waste and unlock creativity in product development. See Customer Development Engineering for my first stab at articulating the theory involved) Ferocious customer-centric rapid iteration, as exemplified by the Customer Development process.

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2018

You may think this question is just an artifact of good television, but let me assure you that in my experience as an angel investor, it’s a standard “make or break” inquiry posed to every entrepreneur. They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development.

Elevator Pitch 139

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 139

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. Billing and revenue collection. Funding process. Manage human resources.

Institutional Investors 230

Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping Database 230

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 17, 2014

As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk or no competition. Both risks and opportunities in this area can arise from many aspects of your startup, before and after product development. There is no real business opportunity without risk. Operational.

Burn Rate 234

Burn Rate Angel Investor Entrepreneur Operations 234

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. Billing and revenue collection. Funding process. Manage human resources.

Startup 255

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 255

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2013

Sites like KickStarter have for years offered rewards and pre-sales for crowd investments, but real equity won’t be legalized until sometime this year for people other than accredited investors. Super-angels. Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Gamification. Startup pivot.

Entrepreneur 274

Entrepreneur Accredited Investor Silicon Valley Angel Investor 274

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. At this stage, simply list your primary revenue streams and your key expenses. At this stage, simply list your primary revenue streams and your key expenses.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2016

You may think this question is just an artifact of good television, but let me assure you that in my experience as an angel investor, it’s a standard “make or break” inquiry posed to every entrepreneur. They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development.

Elevator Pitch 120

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. Billing and revenue collection. Funding process. Manage human resources.

Startup 239

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 239

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

At a high level, business is simple! :) You bring revenue in and your costs send money out the door. You want your revenue to be higher than your costs. Chances are if 3 investors tell you your space is “crowded”, this is a good proxy for what most investors think, and smaller funds will be harder to bring onboard.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

At a high level, business is simple! :) You bring revenue in and your costs send money out the door. You want your revenue to be higher than your costs. Chances are if 3 investors tell you your space is “crowded”, this is a good proxy for what most investors think, and smaller funds will be harder to bring onboard.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 30, 2015

As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk and no competition. Both risks and opportunities in this area can arise from many aspects of your startup, before and after product development. Outside of dreams, there is no real business opportunity without risk.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Burn Rate Startup Angel Investor 120

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Today, brands are hiring social media specialists for customer support, crowdsourced product development, promotions and even leads generation. The Proof Is In The Revenue. In fact, most investors “require” that you already have some investment from friends and family before they will even step up to the plate.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175