Steve Blank

MARCH 31, 2014

Look at the valuations of companies like Tesla, Illumina, and Twitter. The companies that can show “startup-like” growth rates of 50% plus per year will get stratospheric market valuations. For example, Coke added snack foods, which could be distributed through its existing distribution channels. This never ends well.

Private Equity 330

Private Equity Metrics China Intellectual Property 330

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 5, 2010

How To Pick A Co-Founder , by Naval Ravikant (Venture Hacks). In the post he suggests that they are colluding to keep valuations down, terms intact, and traditional venture capital firms, such as ours, out of their deals. There is a wealth of information and connections on it. Google, and Facebook. " Sponsor.

Technology 191

Technology Product San Francisco CTO Hire 191

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 31, 2022

It’s a tough time for a lot of startup founders right now. This is not meant to be a negative post, but rather a temperature check of today’s market environment and the levers founders can pull on to survive this period. What is a founder to do? Startups, Don’t Pin Your Hopes on VC Dry Powder ( Source ).

Founder 173

Founder Technical Review Down Round Liquidation Preference 173

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 7, 2012

The founders were very sympathetic; a man, laid off from his job, and his very pregnant wife, who sold their house and investing $150k into the business and are working hard to make a go of it. At this point, the very pregnant cofounder was weeping. He had been at it for 6 months and had no sales or distribution lined up yet.

Technical Review 110

Technical Review Technical Cofounder Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 110

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 22, 2008

The law of large numbers (of customers) says you cant help but make at least some money - your valuation is determined by how well you monetize the tidal wave of growth. The spread between your LTV and blended CPA determines either your profitability or your rate of growth, and a high valuation depends on balancing these two factors.

San Francisco 167

San Francisco CPA SEM CTO Hire 167

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 26, 2013

3 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing a Cofounder – [link]. If there’s one video 1st time founders should watch to understand VC financing it’s this one – [link]. 3 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing a Cofounder – [link]. Downfalls of Distributed Startups – [link]. ” – [link].

Social Media 90

Social Media Small Business Design Media 90

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

Analysts perform a valuation of the company in question before the beginning of any round of funding. The management of a company, its established track record, the size of the market, and the level of risk all play a role in determining a company’s valuation. What is the Evaluation of the Funding?

Seed Stage 147

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 147

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

I thought I’d write a post about how to talk about valuation at a startup and give you some sense of what might be on the mind of the person considering funding you. It’s not uncommon for a VC to ask you how much capital you’ve raised and what the post-money valuation was on your last round.

Valuation 324

Valuation Post-Money Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Cofounder 324

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 16, 2024

Sierra AI , founded by Bret Taylor (former co-CEO of Salesforce, CTO of Facebook and current chairman of OpenAI) is currently raising hundreds of millions of dollars at $4 billion valuation, just a year or so from launch after unlocking AI voice agents for companies. billion to re-hire the founders of Character.ai

Vertical 170

Vertical Generative AI B2C CTO Hire 170

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 29, 2012

The company sought to raise $125,000 for 25% of the comapny, implying a $375,000 pre money valuation. Unsurprisingly, all the sharks passed, based on market size and valuation expectations. The company was started six weeks ago, had no sales and no retail distribution yet. This caught Kevin’s attention.

Pre-Money Valuation 97

Pre-Money Valuation Offshore Valuation Cofounder 97

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. Siebel—Tom Siebel. Sony—Akio Morita. Sun—Scott McNeely.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 78

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2019

These products will be distributed to remote yet extremely viable areas, where the market is appreciative of readily-available, good-quality brew. With this money, they plan to expand its distribution to selected metro areas within the state of Oregon. Initial plans are to produce three main lines of beer. Martin Cove Brewing Company.

Oregon 24

Oregon Jordan Software Review Distribution 24

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 5, 2024

Paul Graham’s recent essay, Founder Mode , describes the mindset that founders need to adopt to navigate the early stages of building a startup, and how they’re different than ‘manager mode’ which is traditional management/corporate best practices.

Management 103

Management Technical Review Venture Capital Generative AI 103

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

(co-written with Jamie Finney, Founding Partner at Greater Colorado Venture Fund. From RBI, Flexible VCs borrow the ability to reap meaningful returns without demanding founders build for an exit. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 30, 2012

The Founders Lie About Comfort Zones – [link]. Investors Need to Lose Their Egos and Founders Need to Gain Some Confidence – [link]. 10 adjustments to make when working for a Big Co. … Checking In on Foursquare’s Valuation – [link]. Your Brand is What You Do – [link]. Just got acquired?

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Central African Republic Design 100

thinkspace.com

SEPTEMBER 7, 2012

How to Divide Equity to Startup Founders, Advisors, and Employees. The part that I’d like to zero in on is when you’ve got a high growth company what are some of the best practices out there to distribute equity to the founders, advisors, and employees? Equity for Founders. Marketing Intern. Office Space.

Equity 62

Equity Employee Founder CTO Hire 62

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2017

Then, about two weeks before launch, I distributed a survey to those 256 partners. In other words, if the proposed solution has no proof of adoption, neither the customer, founder, co-founders or investors will benefit from the venture. It wasn’t a scalable solution, but it was a start. It was a change of course.

Technical Review 96

Technical Review Distribution Redemption Demand 96

thebarefootvc

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Discovery, in contrast to search, took center stage as Pinterest displayed hockey stick growth (and raised VC money near a $200M valuation in late 2011). Kiva co-founder Jessica Jackley’s latest venture Profounder is one platform that could power these transactions. What’s Next in 2012….

Technical Review 110

Technical Review India Mobile Hockey Stick 110

Austin Startup

JULY 18, 2018

It leads to better products, better strategy, better marketing, bigger valuations and faster growth. Talent may be evenly distributed but opportunity most definitely is not. Eugene Sepulveda was co-chair of the LGBTQ Council for President Obama. We need more Women founders getting funded. systemic” and “institutional”?—?acknowledge

Technical Review 56

Technical Review San Antonio Houston Software Review 56

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

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet (by WSGR – disclaimer, I represent the Founders Institute and was involved in drafting this document). The liquidation preference would not apply in this situation, and any distribution to stockholders would trigger the dividend preference. Co-sale rights. under $500K).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 31, 2013

Snapchat may be a company with no revenue and an unrealistic valuation, but it is changing the way people think of messaging. Twitter cofounders Ev Williams and Biz Stone created another content distribution platform, this time letting users write more than 140 characters. Coin is available to pre-order now for $100.

Startup 60

Startup Cofounder San Francisco Software Review 60

Version One Ventures

DECEMBER 3, 2019

We had a chance to invest in a $500K round at a $12M valuation in 2015. We loved the founders, but didn’t have much conviction around the scalability of a browser plug-in and the fact that this was a bridge round. Ryan and his co-founders proved us wrong big time and built one of the largest social media management companies.

Portfolio 201

Portfolio Cap Table Early Stage Valuation 201

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. I was still unprepared; I had no idea that I also needed to learn about go-to-market strategy and distribution. THE CASE FOR PURSUING AN 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. I was still unprepared; I had no idea that I also needed to learn about go-to-market strategy and distribution. THE CASE FOR PURSUING AN MBA.

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Balance Sheet Cofounder 69

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Where in your area will you find land or a building with the right zoning, size, facilities, and access for bringing in raw materials, attracting customers, and/or shipping out finished beer for distribution? How wide do you want to grow production and distribution, or do you want to focus on selling over your own bar?

Oregon 60

Oregon Jordan SBA Cofounder 60

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 28, 2022

This article will assist you in gaining a fundamental understanding of equity valuation, kinds of equity, and other related topics. Equity for Co-founders. They need to ensure that the shares are distributed productively. Founders can compensate them in either equity or salary as per their preference.

Valuation 108

Valuation Equity Warrant Common Stock 108

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 11, 2010

I’m surprised how few people talk about valuations, term sheet terms, how much to pay recruiters, etc. I once mentioned this idea to a fellow SoCal VC when I told him I wanted a CIC in LA and he said, “Co-location is dead. We’re recommending to our companies that they be distributed.&#.

San Francisco 285

San Francisco Incubator Silicon Valley Startup 285

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was hanging out the other day with my buddy Jody Sherman, founder & CEO of EcoMom. Co-founded a company in the private jet business – sold to Virgin America. Part 2/3 of Interview: AngelList: A Quick Introduction and Interview with Founders Babak Nivi & Naval Ravikant – [Minutes: 23:00 – 55:00].

Valuation 292

Valuation Deal Flow Lead Investor Cofounder 292

Eric Friedman

AUGUST 18, 2021

Dan is the co-founder of Standard Treasury, a Y Combinator backed company. He is also co-founder and Managing Partner of Deciens Capital, an early stage investment fund. How do you get to that point if you have that kind of a view of the world, of founders, and of this space? On Sushi and VC. Everything we do.

Silicon Valley 88

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Cofounder Africa 88

www.inc.com

SEPTEMBER 24, 2011

Chip Morse , cofounder and partner with Morse, Barnes-Brown & Pendleton P.C., As you think about how much equity to offer, have a reasonable valuation in mind thats been determined using professional advice. CDW your 1-stop resource for configuration, activation & distribution. based in Waltham, Mass. Toshiba Laptops.

Fractional CTO 40

Fractional CTO Equity Iowa Technical Cofounder 40

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

Gust

APRIL 11, 2014

Let’s get right down to business: Dilution of founders’ and other early shareholders’ equity in startups is frequently a subject of intense interest and debate. Suppose it raises $2 million at a $6 million pre-money valuation. Expert commentators including David S. Before, it might have net assets that are near zero.

Dilution 162

Dilution Equity Pre-Money Valuation Prospectus 162

Lightspeed Venture Partners

OCTOBER 14, 2012

The entrepreneur is seeking not just money, but primarily contacts with buyers at big retailers to get wider distribution. They argue over who can help Cozy Bug with distribution more. But this constraint is at odds with the founders vision. Rumor has it that Zulily is raising capital at a valuation in the $1bn range right now.

Equity 164

Equity Dilution Redemption Distribution 164

Seeing Both Sides

SEPTEMBER 15, 2015

This post was co-authored with Omri Stern and originally appeared in Harvard Business Review. Only a handful of so-called unicorns — companies that have achieved a valuation of over $1 billion in the last 10 years — come from Israel, and only one Israeli firm, Teva, ranks in the world’s 500 largest companies by market capitalization.

Israel 20

Israel Cofounder Technical Review United States 20

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 20, 2010

“I have been very surprised at Austin’s strength in “IT consumerization&# – ideas that combine business software value with consumer internet distribution ideas,&# he said. Q: Your co-founders have been working on some technology in their spare time. We asked Mike Maples about his investments in Austin.

Curation 118

Curation Austin Cofounder Ruby 118

This is going to be BIG.

JUNE 10, 2015

The last thing you want as either a founder or even a VC is to have an investor get stuck with you when you're not on the same page about expectations. You trust me with your money and I get to do the fun part--working with founders. More updates, more casual events, more exposure to portfolio companies, co-investing, etc.,

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation IP 60