The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

I will tell you brief details about seed stage funding, and deal sourcing on this page, so read the conclusion until the end. The following is a condensed explanation of seed funding: Seed money is a form of early-stage financing that new businesses receive from investors in exchange for a share of ownership in the company.

Seed Stage 148

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 148

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Get a real customer and real revenue. Real customers give you real feedback, rather than just tell you what you want to hear.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Get a real customer and real revenue. Real customers give you real feedback, rather than just tell you what you want to hear.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

In very few specific cases, depending on the nature of the business, the business model might demand a considerable gestation period or extensive research and development. For these businesses, it is imperative to get funding from the start without which the company cannot be set up. Early-stage.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Get a real customer and real revenue. Real customers give you real feedback, rather than just tell you what you want to hear.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. The mobile world brings enormous business opportunities and changes to business models that were unthinkable when VCs made investments ten years ago that produced the last decade of results.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Mature startups with proven business models and the potential to reach the public markets within a few years will be the safest place to park any new venture capital that comes into the ecosystem. Growth investors seek bargains and many shifted their focus to earlier stage. The later the stage, the bigger the impact.

Founder 173

Founder Technical Review Down Round Liquidation Preference 173

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market. That’s fun.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Spain Warrant 312

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 14, 2022

At this stage, the idea is pitched mainly to family and friends. It is here that the groundwork is laid and the business model developed. A business plan is drawn up to attract investors and partners. The legalities of starting the business are addressed to create a structure for attracting funding.

Technical Review 167

Technical Review Due Diligence India Startup 167

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

As a globally focused LP in early stage VC funds, we at Blue Future Partners have observed a growing trend of firms investing substantially in software tools, whether developing proprietary solutions or adopting off the shelf tools. But what tools are they using themselves to automate their own processes? Methodology.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

That’s because obtaining a pre-money valuation for a concept level technology company in excess of $1 million is difficult, particularly for a startup founder without a proven track record. By contrast, obtaining a pre-money valuation of $5 million for a business with a new viable product and even very minimal sales is somewhat reasonable.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 11, 2016

Angel investors are still the lifeblood of early-stage startups, despite the surge of activity in crowdfunding and an increasing early interest from venture capitalists. Come with a product built and a proven business model. Formalize the business structure before asking for funding.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Angel Groups 120

Steve Blank

MAY 19, 2015

Organizational debt is all the people/culture compromises made to “just get it done” in the early stages of a startup. 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.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

A lot of my time is spent helping early-stage companies get to proof points so that they can raise capital. They might have some seed money and are thinking or raising a Series A based on success of an early release (MVP). Think about how you can prove your business model with an MVP. is a requirement.

Valuation 198

Valuation Revenue Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 198

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

But next the question is, ‘What happens to my business?”. The questions every startup or small business CEO needs to ask now are: What’s my Burn Rate and Runway? What does your new business model look like? If you’re an early stage company, that number may be zero. What does my business model look like now?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

ReadWriteStart

SEPTEMBER 10, 2010

And EVEN if you ARE an experienced entrepreneur, all but just a few VCs still want to see customer validation, business model validation and traction, before they will invest. Why not go further, develop more valuation, customer experience, and really, deeply validate the business? Next comes the topic of angels.

Cloud 115

Cloud Silicon Valley Incubator Bootstrapping 115

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

You are now entering the rollout stage , with money required for marketing, hiring a full-time team, and a production process. At this point, most Angel investors and a few early-stage VCs will be happy to talk, assuming you have the business model validated, and a large opportunity. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Yes, via conversion rights at a valuation cap. Seed-stage compatible: Like traditional equity VC investors, Flexible VCs accomodate early-stage investment risk within their portfolios better than a traditional RBI funder. Typical business stage.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 25, 2015

The key reason for the explosion in capital flowing into the industry, and therefore the large increase in practitioners, had nothing to do with 1970’s performance, early stage investing, or technology. Some were Silicon Valley early stage companies, such as Apple, Quantum, and Masstor Systems.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Especially in the early stages, so much about the company may change in how they think about product or go-to-market — and change multiple times — before raising an institutional round. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically. Business model? Traction and revenue?

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

www.forentrepreneurs.com

FEBRUARY 2, 2010

Business Model I would like to propose that in addition to team, product, and market, there is actually a fourth, equally important, core element of startups, which is the need for a viable business model. These new business models focused heavily on how buying behavior has changed because of the power of the web.

Acquisition 103

Acquisition Cost Customer Entrepreneur 103

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Super angels sometimes drive up valuations. Perhaps because of their focus on building a large portfolio, or their competitiveness, these angels sometimes accept valuations that cause later friction while moving to VCs, or even other angel groups. Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 342

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Portfolio 342

VC Cafe

JUNE 29, 2012

Kevin – consumer Internet plays, often times they don’t have a business model. I have an early stage startup, but it’s hard to find people that understand that long term commitment. Don – Private money valuations have gone up. You don’t need all of them, you can have a couple.

Developer 103

Developer Silicon Valley Software Review Mexico 103

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. Lean Case provides standard business models & metrics, so you can apply a standard approach to business planning, modeling, and profitability tracking. If you have one, please contact me.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

VC Cafe

MARCH 12, 2025

No groundbreaking news here, but confirmation that even in these times, early stage is still kicking. It is crucial to recognise that while these ventures capitalise on the current AI trend, their core innovation may reside in market application and business model rather than fundamental AI breakthroughs.

Artificial Inteligence 97

Artificial Inteligence Seed Stage Israel Valuation 97

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

You are now entering the rollout stage , with money required for marketing, hiring a full-time team, and a production process. At this point, most Angel investors and a few early-stage VCs will be happy to talk, assuming you have the business model validated, and a large opportunity. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 1, 2023

As an early-stage company that just closed our seed round at $8.1 There are currently tons of “zombie” startups that have runway, but growth has slowed and they have valuations that they won’t be able to grow into. So what does an early-stage company do to avoid the doom and gloom plaguing the world of startups?

Early Stage 146

Early Stage Los Angeles Silicon Valley Cofounder 146

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Super angels sometimes drive up valuations. Perhaps because of their focus on building a large portfolio, or their competitiveness, these angels sometimes accept valuations that cause later friction while moving to VCs, or even other angel groups. Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Startup 314

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Startup 308

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Valuations are out of control” is the mantra of others. Others believe that new business models are emerging that could replace venture capital all together. Companies are raising billions of dollars in the private markets and the valuations are enormous PRIOR to the IPO. We’re in a new tech bubble!” some have pronounced.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

This is the realm of the angel investor, who wants to own a piece of the new business, and probably knows how to run it and wants a seat on the Board.For B2B startups, every investor expects to see a proven business model, with a working prototype, and preferably a real customer or two.

Non-disclosure Agreement 299

Non-disclosure Agreement Angel Investor Bootstrapping SEC 299

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

That approach may work for an entrepreneur who just sold a successful business for a huge profit, but it doesn’t work for the rest of us who are not proven successes yet, or don’t even have a business yet. At these stages, it’s all about you, and your ability to communicate and execute effectively.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Super Angels sometimes drive up valuations. Perhaps because of their focus on building a large portfolio, or their competitiveness, these angels sometimes accept valuations that cause later friction while moving to VCs, or even other angel groups. Marty Zwilling First published on Entrepreneur.com on 12/19/2014.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

You are now entering the rollout stage , with money required for marketing, hiring a full-time team, and a production process. At this point, most Angel investors and a few early-stage VCs will be happy to talk, assuming you have the business model validated, and a large opportunity. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Steve Blank

MAY 13, 2010

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. Customer Development is the process of how you get out of the building and search for the model. I couldn’t agree more.

Founder 231

Founder Cofounder Business Model Customer Development 231

Professor VC

SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

How would Billy Beane have done as an early stage investor? RCSMs premise is that they can reach an investment decision (and valuation) based on an application completed by the founders and take gut feel out of the decision process. They have launched a valuation tool that is free to try out. ProfessorVC. Steve Bennet.

Technical Review 38

Technical Review Early Stage San Jose Angel Investor 38