Steve Blank

MARCH 12, 2014

The startups and the teaching team crafted a challenge for the kids to tackle using the Customer Development methodology, Lean Launchpad tools and the business model canvas. Knowing they had 3 weeks before presenting to the company co-founders, the kids felt intensity like no traditional classroom could generate.

Lean 335

Lean Customer Development Startup Silicon Valley 335

VC Cafe

APRIL 4, 2024

While investments to generative AI startups are red hot, founders have to battle quite a few investor biases. Counter position – Kill the value-proposition of the competition with a new, superior business model, which the incumbent does not mimic due to anticipated damage to their existing business.

Generative AI 78

Generative AI Artificial Inteligence Technical Review ChatGPT 78

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2015

Most technologists have little interest in the mechanics of starting and building a business. That’s why I recommend that they find a co-founder who loves business challenges, including marketing and finance. Outside investors are most interested in scaling a proven business model, not research and development.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Intellectual Property Cofounder Bootstrapping 120

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012

This is a guest post by my Startup Owner’s Manual co-author Bob Dorf. While statistics are weak on startup success rates, the worst one I’ve seen suggests that 2 in 1000 venture backed startups will ever achieve $100-million or more in valuation. ——————-. What’s the point? What are they waiting for?

Startup 334

Startup Cofounder Customer Development Viral 334

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

But founders need to know how to ask for their advice and when to ignore it. Startup Insights From Paul English, Co-Founder of Kayak - OnStartups , May 10, 2010 I’m just wrapping up several weeks of attending conferences across both coasts. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. was having coffee with a friend who teaches at the U.C.

Fractional CTO 248

Fractional CTO Startup Venture Capital Cofounder 248

Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Look at the valuations of companies like Tesla, Illumina, and Twitter. The first will be commodity businesses that are valued for their ability to execute their current business model. The second class will be firms with a demonstrated ability to continually innovate and reinvent their business models.

Private Equity 330

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 330

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? . - Berkonomics , November 29, 2010 Rice Alliance IT/Web 2.0

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

By Daniel Sokolovksy, Co-Founder and CEO, WARP and Troy Lester, Co-Founder and CRO, WARP The dissolution of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) was more than just a bank collapse, it was a reality check for both startups and the VCs that fund them. As a founder, ask yourself – does your business actually warrant VC funding?

Early Stage 108

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 108

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 26, 2013

Empower Your Small Business: trust & loyalty, marketing insight, lean business – [link]. Always use data, not feelings, to make business decisions – [link]. 3 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing a Cofounder – [link]. 3 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing a Cofounder – [link].

Social Media 90

Social Media Small Business Design Media 90

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Mike is a no BS guy, has all the attributes I look for in a founder and says things like, openly shares knowledge and opines without a filter including this one, “whoever invented uncapped convertible debt should be spanked!&# Of course, monetization of search became one of the best business models in the history of business.

Semantic 302

Semantic Acquisition Valuation Angel Investor 302

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

As I discussed last week in the Greymatter podcast with my friend and Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh , I believe that a knowledge of philosophy is actually a great asset for entrepreneurs. This week, we discuss how a philosophy degree compares to a much more conventional business background: the masters in business administration or MBA.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Reid Hoffman

JULY 27, 2021

As I discussed last week in the Greymatter podcast with my friend and Blitzscaling co-author Chris Yeh , I believe that a knowledge of philosophy is actually a great asset for entrepreneurs. Like many first time founders, I ran over that landmine. Or maybe valuation depends on growth rates or operating margins.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

The first company started as a BBQ catering business, and eventually focused in on their most popular product, a dip made of blended up chicken plus various sauces. At this point, the very pregnant cofounder was weeping. The cofounder was charismatic and persuasive and asking for $85k for 12% of the company.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

To learn more about this space, I suggest join an online community I co-founded, PEVCTech. . Tim Friedman, Founder, PE Stack , said, “If I could offer one piece of advice to today’s managers, it would be to take the time to understand the demands of the modern institutional LP. The 11 Steps of Investing in Private Companies.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Duct Tape Marketing

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

Amanda is the Co-founder at Barney an M&A firm that specializes in the digital marketing space. 17:49] Have you ever experienced a transaction where a Founder sold the company to their existing team? [18:35] She's the co-founder at Barney, an M & A firm that specializes in the digital marketing space.

Entrepreneur 90

Entrepreneur Technical Review Cofounder Valuation 90

Up and Running

MARCH 21, 2016

Have co-founders. Angels and VCs often look for talented co-founders, as opposed to a single founder, which is a rarer case,” says Ben Lang of Mapme. However, if you can find the perfect co-founder, it can make the starting process infinitely easier—even beyond attracting investors. Follow through.

Cofounder 60

Cofounder Metrics Angel Investor Silicon Valley 60

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

What is it, and how should founders think about it? note: We’d like to be extra clear that founders should not take on venture debt if they don’t have 100% visibility into repaying the loan, as banks that need to recoup their loan my force the company or you as the guarantor into liquidation or bankruptcy. Business model?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 24, 2011

Our co-host for the program was TiE Midwest, based in Chicago. Additional work in figuring out the precise go-to-market consumer, academic institution, or enterprise - each is a different business), and consequent business model and pricing model will help enhance the company's valuation.

Illinois 114

Illinois Entrepreneur Silicon Valley Chicago 114

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

While he kept bringing the conversation back to their big valuation I tried to steer the conversation back to how they were going to deal with: training the influx of new hires – in both culture and job specific tasks. They had doubled headcount from 100 to 200 in the last year and were planning to double again.)

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

How Small Businesses Can Compete with Big Business – [link]. crowdSPRING’s Small Business Spotlight of the Week: mor.sl | crowdSPRING Blog – [link]. The Founders Lie About Comfort Zones – [link]. How To Choose A Market For Your Startup Or Small Business – [link]. Just got acquired?

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Central African Republic Design 100

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

Jack Tankersley, a long time mentor of mine, co-founder of Centennial Funds, and co-founder of Meritage Funds, wrote me a very long response. There are five key risks in any deal: Market, Product (a/k/a technology), Management, Business Model, and Capital. Taking all five at once is crazy.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

VC Cafe

JUNE 29, 2012

Kevin – consumer Internet plays, often times they don’t have a business model. When I met Instagram, Kevin (the founder) had great numbers, but he wasn’t even thinking about revenue. We are working hard on features to help angels screen the founders and check their background. How important is education?

Developer 103

Developer Silicon Valley Software Review Mexico 103

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

Lessons Learned by Eric Ries Monday, September 22, 2008 The three drivers of growth for your business model. The AARRR model (hence pirates, get it?) He also has a discussion of how your choice of business model determines which of these metric areas you want to focus on. Choose one.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

Ben's Blog

APRIL 28, 2010

In this post, I describe why we prefer to fund companies whose founder will run the company as its CEO. As we looked at the history of great technology companies, we discovered that founders ran an overwhelming majority of them for a very long time, including: Acer—Stan Shih. The innovation business. Siebel—Tom Siebel.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 78

Version One Ventures

MAY 1, 2017

million at a valuation close to $300M in just a matter of minutes (the valuation has more than quadrupled since in secondary markets). We are seeing much larger valuations and sizes of rounds with ICOs than with the traditional VC market for companies at similar stages. That’s a very powerful combination. million in 48 hours.

Valuation 120

Valuation Cofounder Open Source Networking 120

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

But, you can iterate and iterate on features, but you cannot iterate your way to a business model. I’ve seen too many businesses get stuck or fail because of their endless pursuit for the magic new feature that is going to help them gain traction. Have amazing co-founders who are better at what they do than you could ever be.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

But startups can shoot themselves in the foot when founders use consultants at the wrong time or in the wrong way. So I met the entrepreneur and asked him how his search for a business model was going. Here’s what I told him: A startup exists to search for a scalable and repeatable business model. Here’s why.

Founder 229

Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 229

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2015

Yet many entrepreneurs rely on expensive outside services and outside money, rather than do the networking for a co-founder or two who have the right skills to work for equity. Salaried staff will never have the commitment of co-founders that depend on the success of the startup. A desire to roll out on a massive scale.

Bootstrapping 120

Bootstrapping Cofounder Equity Agile 120

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Word of mouth is no substitute for market research, says Ben Price, co-founder of Hard Knocks Brewing, a small brewpub in its second year of operation. The single biggest mistake I have made was locating my business in a town that could not care less about craft beer,” says Ben. Do they have access to contingency capital?

Oregon 60

Oregon Jordan SBA Cofounder 60

Steve Blank

JANUARY 4, 2010

A lot of entrepreneurs think that their startup is the next big thing when in reality they’re just building a small business. A first order filter is whether the founders are aiming for a scalable startup. In fact, Google’s offer for $15 Million was equal to the highest valuation from the venture firms. Go For Broke.

Hockey Stick 302

Hockey Stick Venture Capital Startup Cofounder 302

Ben's Blog

AUGUST 17, 2020

When speaking with founders and private growth investors, we hear countless references to “multiples paid” on current or near-term revenue; both obsess over this because a higher multiple translates to a higher valuation. It starts with the complexity involved in valuing companies in general.

Valuation 36

Valuation Balance Sheet Cofounder Forecast 36

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 19, 2015

This is a guest post from Rob May , a co-founder and CEO of Backupify , which raised $19.5M And if we have to give someone their first shot, it might as well be you, because you co-founded the company and care more about it than anyone else ever will.”. Think more about business models. He was right. Keep at it.

Founder 120

Founder Startup Cofounder Business Model 120

Reid Hoffman

JANUARY 19, 2021

That’s because the making of the company relies on the founders, the CEO, the executives, the team members–in other words, the people who are putting in 80 to 100 hours per week, rather than the board members who are putting in one to two hours per week. Right now, our whole bet is on the CEO and the founders and making them successful.

Startup 36

Startup Cofounder Advertising Hiring 36

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

In his white paper How Private Equity and Venture Capital Investors Are Eating Their Own Dogfood , PEVCTECH.com founder David Teten explored how private equity and venture capital investors are trying to automate more of their job. I’d expect a similar shift in venture over the next decade or two.”.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

BeyondVC

APRIL 3, 2006

Kinnernet is a techie geek camp organized and run by Yossi Vardi (cofounder of ICQ). There were lots of robots, aerial shows with model planes and helicopters, great discussions on current technology trends, and of course, plenty of beer and laughs. It is also clear that the VC model is broken and needs to change.

Technical Cofounder 60

Technical Cofounder CTO Hire Fractional CTO Israel 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Most venture capitalists who have been in this business for a long time foresaw this correction and have been talking about it privately for the better part of the last year or two. I have been talking about my concerns about valuations for the past couple of years because, well, they’ve been rising very rapidly the past two years!

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2010

Very cool concept and I want to thank the founder Adil Mohammed for inviting me to take part in it. It doesn’t mean that you should change your business model because one person suggested it, but listed to the feedback and if you see similar patterns over and over again, make changes. Patented Technology? Be a salesman.

Elevator Pitch 103

Elevator Pitch Incubator Technical Review Startup 103