Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Hunter Walker

AUGUST 31, 2023

The idea of working at a company whose entire business model revolves around catering to buyers in the HR space felt like such a breath of fresh air. HW: I’m always surprised when someone considering ‘joining a startup’ has put a lot of thought into industry/vertical but not into stage of company.

Employee 117

Employee Startup Vertical Leadership 117

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

We make a majority of our investments in those sectors and prioritize proven business models. 645 Ventures: A New Era of Venture Capital Investing Arena Growth Partners We help great leaders build great businesses. A New Kind of Venture Firm AutoChrome Autochrome is an inception and seed stage venture capital fund.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. Similar to the explosion of seed funds in the past decade, we (and some limited partners too ) believe these Flexible VCs are on the forefront of what will become a major segment of the venture ecosystem. Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5%

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

For the last couple of years, I’ve been investing in startups as a partner at Mucker, while spending a lot of time in the Valley working with potential co-investors and partners. Much of this is due to the lack of venture capital – seed-stage venture capital, in particular – to get companies off the ground here in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Agile VC

MARCH 30, 2012

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. Is “Data” a Business Model? Several years ago I wrote a post about the three business models of the consumer web : commerce, advertising, and user-paid premium services. So is “data” now a new business model, as some suggest? March 30, 2012.

Business Model 113

Business Model Silicon Valley Advertising B2B 113

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2015

Use good judgment, talk to your co-founders/investors/lawyers, and partner with a bank that values transparency and relationships such as SVB.]. NVV: Let’s talk about the seed stage specifically. It’s not often a seed-stage company — usually it’s later — but the trends are going earlier and larger.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

Bill Gurley of Benchmark Capital doesn’t publish frequently, but his essays on market trends and Benchmark portfolio companies are a window into how VCs view the world and the kinds of business models that they find most interesting. Hunter is a partner at Homebrew and previously led consumer product management at YouTube.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Technical Review Silicon Valley Cofounder 60

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). The way you get to a V3 statement is to start running the business and charging customers. Although this post is about what I look for, every investor (incl pre-seed investors) looks for this.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

Etc… At the pre-seed stage, a big way to stand out is if you have a V3 statement (as opposed to a V1 statement). The way you get to a V3 statement is to start running the business and charging customers. Although this post is about what I look for, every investor (incl pre-seed investors) looks for this.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

View from Seed

OCTOBER 28, 2019

The milestones and the funding rounds to accomplish everything before that are much more specific and idiosyncratic to the specific startup based on the business model, sector, team composition, etc. We at NextView Ventures believe that the seed stage is a spectrum. A continuum.

Seed Stage 247

Seed Stage Finance Dilution Early Stage 247

K9 Ventures

APRIL 28, 2010

– a seed-stage fund. is a $6.25M fund that is designed to do concept and seed-stage investments in technology companies. Direct Revenue : The company must have a direct revenue model. I would like to take a moment to thank K9′s Limited Partners for their support of this first fund.

Seed Stage 61

Seed Stage San Francisco IP Portfolio 61

View from Seed

JUNE 11, 2019

I believe it’s more important to optimize on the right lead investor vs. the highest valuations at the seed stage (within reason). The strongest investors usually aren’t cheap, but typically don’t do things outside of the normal bounds for a company at the seed stage.

Syndication 202

Syndication Syndicate Seed Stage Lead Investor 202

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 16, 2019

*This post is part of our “pitch deck” series where we dissect the seed stage pitch deck and discuss the ideal flow for a pitch. I mention this in more detail in this post about Competition Crushing business Models. You can read the rest of the posts in the series by clicking here *.

Seed Stage 192

Seed Stage Metrics PR Leadership 192

Agile VC

OCTOBER 2, 2011

How to Evaluate Firms for a Seed VC. Amazon vs Apple: A Tale of Two Business Models. What’s striking to me is the polar opposite business models Apple and Amazon have established to crack the same nut. I co-founded NextView Ventures , a seed-stage VC firm based in Boston, in 2010. Author howerl.

Business Model 100

Business Model Silicon Valley Seed Stage Syndication 100

Tim Keane

DECEMBER 14, 2009

  He is a partner in a pretty much exclusively software seed stage fund, Y Combinator that you can read more about.    He is a partner in a pretty much exclusively software seed stage fund, Y Combinator that you can read more about.  How To Change The World » December 14, 2009.

Burn Rate 60

Burn Rate Angel Groups Seed Stage Startup 60

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2023

We wholeheartedly believe in the potential of each company we select; the smaller batch size allows the NextView partners, who possess deep operating and founding experiences at companies like LinkedIn, PayPal, eBay, and Blue Apron, the space to spend meaningful one-on-one time with each founder every single week. Let’s do this! . Who We Are.

Programming 156

Programming San Francisco Sacramento Founder 156

David Teten

DECEMBER 12, 2017

(written by Philipp von dem Knesebeck , Managing Partner, Blue Future Partners (bluefp.com, @bluefutureteam ), and David Teten ). Based on this paper, Blue Future Partners and PEVCTech recently completed a large-scale survey to find out which tools are most commonly used by venture capital firms.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Hunter Walker

MAY 4, 2014

Now that our seed fund Homebrew has past its first anniversary , people often ask what has surprised me during my year as a VC, or what am I liking/disliking about my new profession. My answers are actually bland, largely because I had a pretty good handle on what the initial 12 months would bring and a great partner in Satya Patel.

Software Review 102

Software Review Vertical Seed Stage Portfolio 102

Women Entrepreneurs Can

NOVEMBER 19, 2022

Xfund, Patrick Chung is a managing general partner in a venture capital firm that supports lateral thinkers. Pre-Seed Investments. Investing in a startup at the pre-seed stage is a great way to get in early on to the next big thing. They also look for a robust business model and product/market fit.

Venture Capital 52

Venture Capital Early Stage Liquidity Event SEC 52

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 27, 2016

Satya and I take a concentrated approach to seed stage investing – playing a leadership role in financings and committing 50%+ of our time ongoing to working with current investments. If it’s not, you’re eventually going to create problems for your founders, your investors, your partners and yourself.

Seed Stage 95

Seed Stage Management Founder Leadership 95

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

VC Cafe

MARCH 22, 2011

Ian Small: The consumer-facing tokbox.com business is healthy with 2 million registered users, and has continued to grow since we launched OpenTok in late November 2010. We have always had an API business, powering video chat for partners like Meebo as well as a wide range of sites including dating, education and healthcare.

Business Model 84

Business Model API Wiki Seed Stage 84

Hunter Walker

DECEMBER 25, 2016

In the spirit of clearing out some half-formed thoughts, I wanted to share my response to venture LPs who ask about the effect of “so much money” flowing into the seed space and how we think about its competitive impact upon our fund Homebrew.

Seed Stage 74

Seed Stage Cofounder Engineer Reputation 74

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

which was a $6.25M fund designed to be deployed over 3-4 years, making initial investments between $100K – $250K in concept and seed stage technology companies located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not interested in me-too businesses. No three-way business models and no content, media, advertising-based companies.

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

K9 Ventures

JULY 19, 2012

which was a $6.25M fund designed to be deployed over 3-4 years, making initial investments between $100K – $250K in concept and seed stage technology companies located in the San Francisco Bay Area. Not interested in me-too businesses. No three-way business models and no content, media, advertising-based companies.

Technology 132

Technology Seed Stage San Francisco Limited Partner 132

Startup Lessons Learned

JULY 11, 2019

Ann Miura-Ko is a founding partner at Floodgate , a seed-stage VC firm. There were none in the firm, so I remember asking him if he knew of any general partners who were women in the Boston area. In a place where there are many, many venture capital firms, he couldn't think of a single female general partner.

Founder 68

Founder Lean Venture Capital Cofounder 68

Hunter Walker

JULY 1, 2014

Suggests Risk Aversion : Makes me wonder whether entrepreneur is looking for quick cash out rather than wanting a venture partner for a longterm company. Am I missing reasons why exit landscape should be a thoughtful piece of seed stage funding decks?' What are some of the potential reasons to include this type of slide?

Seed Stage 111

Seed Stage Business Model Founder Engineer 111

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Home About Press IA Capital Partners Archives After 17 years in M&A, Derivatives and Trading, Im spending my time with young entrepreneurs in and around financial technology and digital media. And from my perspective as an engaged seed stage venture investor, this makes them unfundable. Lack of confidence? Camaraderie?

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Contact Us Submit News Contact Us Write for Us Spark of Genius Series Mashable | The Social Media Guide Business Mashable on Facebook Join Us! For the first-time entrepreneur or founder looking for seed stage funding, this circle can be especially difficult to penetrate. and Path Intelligence.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. Government grants and industry partners are you best bet here, but Angel investors might give you $250,000 to $1 million, if you have the right business case and credentials. Congratulations!

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Campus Entrepreneurship

MARCH 15, 2012

From Aberman : By taking away from the equation the coupling of a business model from acceptance to accelerator program, Y Combinator is taking away one of the pillars that seed stage investors use to evaluate an entrepreneurial team.

Seed Stage 44

Seed Stage Partner Virginia DC 44

Professor VC

JANUARY 27, 2011

I strongly believe (at least for very early stage technology ventures) that you will get diminishing returns and arguably negative returns once you get past an initial threshold of team, product, market and financial diligence. Part of it was the out of the box thinking and turning the typical venture investment thesis upside down.

Technical Review 31

Technical Review Due Diligence Silicon Valley San Jose 31

Hearpreneur

MAY 4, 2019

Bionic was born six years ago to partner with large enterprises and help them install a new way of working—something we call the Growth Operating System—based on the mindsets, mechanics, and tools of entrepreneurship and venture capital. Where do you see your business in the next 3-5 years? Tell us about your products and services.

Cofounder 74

Cofounder Founder Entrepreneur Venture Capital 74

Early Growth Financial Services

JANUARY 20, 2014

As an early-stage venture capital investor with a keen emphasis on the seed stage, I spend a lot of time at startup accelerators working with first-time entrepreneurs. The quick answer is market, team, business model, projections, and the ask…prioritized in that order of importance. By Marlon Nichols.

Seed Stage 52

Seed Stage Venture Capital Limited Partner Early Stage 52