The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

We see this all the time at Forward Partners where we invest right from the idea stage and most of the companies get a first version of their product live for less than £30k (that generally includes founder salaries and time spent doing customer research). The second development is SEIS and EIS.

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

The email continued, &# The problem I’m working on is that many founders are either making uninformed decisions or inefficiently learning the new skills they need. The solution I’m exploring is a just in time learning methodology that accelerates founders’ learning curve by aggregating relevant content, peers and mentors.&#.

Technical Cofounder 335

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 335

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

These periods of time can leave a founder very vulnerable in the future. Assuming normal valuations at fund raising rounds you’ll be down to 6-12% after you’ve created a stock-option pool and raised capital. That’s the difference between a founder and a non-founder. Start building your team early.

Founder Vesting 365

Founder Vesting Intellectual Property Stock Options IP 365

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

When you’re an early-stage startup that hasn’t raised any institutional money you end up doing almost every job function of the company yourself. I did almost every VC meeting myself save for when one of my co-founders, Tim Barker, was in town. This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice.

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Current round: $35mm in Series C (extension of Series B at higher valuation) from General Atlantic, Matrix Partners. Founded in October 2006 by Jonah Peretti (co-founder of Huffington Post). When the show has been processed it will be available here (estimated 8pm PDT).

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. Sam also had a vision as early as 2012 about how MakeSpace would be a large employer of middle-income jobs: The company would hire employees rather than just have contractors and he would lead the effort to ensure they had opportunities for growth and benefits for their families.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2013

One of the challenges for investing in startups has always been the lack of an established way for founders and investors to actually measure and decide on the valuation of the startup concerned. ” Ideaspotting investment pre-money valuation valuation Worthworm'

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Web Technical Review Angel Investor 150

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. Giving a co-founder a salary won’t get you the “fire in the belly” you want. Each co-founder should get equity for value, based on these key variables: Lived a key role in a previous startup.

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. My co-founder and other management team members wanted us to hold off and see whether we could get the deal done at a higher price. Morgan Stanley had proposed a higher valuation to let them in. million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. Yes, this was stupid.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

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

Agile VC

MAY 26, 2011

Many assume it was a cakewalk, based on the success LinkedIn has enjoyed over time and the current stature of our founder/CEO Reid Hoffman (now Chairman). I thought I’d revisit it and share the story… First, you have to rewind mentally to early 2003. It was a pretty good valuation for the time. It was a $4.7M

Term Sheet 178

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Technical Review Social Network 178

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. Growth investors seek bargains and many shifted their focus to earlier stage. In Q3/2022, $2.6

Founder 173

Founder Technical Review Down Round Liquidation Preference 173

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

The past year was a wild ride for startups and founders, giving a whole new meaning to the ”rollercoaster” aspect of being an entrepreneur. Patrick Collison , self-made billionaire founder of Stripe. Bill Gates , founder of Microsoft. ValuatIon should be a function of value, not ego. Our goals, their goals.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

blog.nahurst.com

JULY 19, 2010

The graphic below balances the risks cofounders take with their relative contributions to help answer this question. This covers one of the most common situations I encounter: For a pre-funding web startup whose team includes only a non-technical cofounder, how much equity should an incoming technical cofounder get?

Technical Cofounder 43

Technical Cofounder Cofounder Equity Salary 43

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2017

They come at the early stage while a startup has no revenue or valuation, so professional investors are hard to find. Provides networking with cofounders and strategic partners. In today’s fast moving market, the basic product development cost and time are critical to survival.

Technical Cofounder 153

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Wiki Cofounder 153

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?

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Technical Review Software Review Venture Capital 60

Gust

JULY 23, 2014

So even if my own mother asked me to meet with you, and you were pitching me a biotech opportunity for a $10 million investment at a $90 million valuation, I might take the meeting, but it wouldn’t be particularly useful for either of us.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review 153

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

YoungUpstarts

APRIL 22, 2018

by Thomas Smale, founder of FE International. This is particularly true in the early stages of a new venture when you may be a solopreneur or working with a very small team. What if there was somewhere you could go where you can be surrounded by founders just like you? Here are the top 10: 1. LTV Conference. London, UK.

Las Vegas 124

Las Vegas Software Review Affiliate Cofounder 124

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

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

Genuine VC

JULY 9, 2013

Recently, we surveyed our Boston-based NextView portfolio Founder/CEOs asking them about which service provider firms they’ve been using. When we took the poll itself, one founder said: “This is a great idea. We would have loved to have it when we were getting started.”

Early Stage 246

Early Stage Boston Portfolio Silicon Valley 246

www.entrepreneur.com

SEPTEMBER 22, 2011

When you're getting started, sweat equity is often a critical component of your negotiating leverage with co-founders, early stage employees and others who aren't paid market wages to help you grow your business. Sweat equity is just one component of early-stage valuation.

Sweat Equity 55

Sweat Equity Equity Fractional CTO CTO 55

VC Cafe

JUNE 29, 2012

When I met Instagram, Kevin (the founder) had great numbers, but he wasn’t even thinking about revenue. I invested in a company called Yobongo – the founder blew me away, he ended up selling his company and I made most of my money back. Lots of founders are college dropouts. Single founders almost never get funded.

Developer 103

Developer Silicon Valley Software Review Mexico 103

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

Up and Running

AUGUST 19, 2014

The type of deals and industries they invest in, the company stages, and the amount they invest depends on the individual or angel group. I have pitched to hundreds of angel investors over the years as a result of co-founding two tech companies and raising just shy of $1M in angel capital. 51 percent). Tweet This Tip. “I’m

Angel Investor 161

Angel Investor Technical Review Due Diligence Startup 161

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. The result is that many venture capital firms are now making smaller angel investments in an attempt to get close with startup founders that are likely to raise bigger funding rounds later on.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. The result is that many venture capital firms are now making smaller angel investments in an attempt to get close with startup founders that are likely to raise bigger funding rounds later on.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

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.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Equity Startup Seed Stage 120

Mucker Lab

MAY 28, 2020

This post originally appeared in TechCrunch back in 2015, written by our co-founder and managing partner Erik Rannala. These lost startups land higher valuations, have larger teams, outsource more product development and spend more money on customer acquisition than their peers. Hire the wrong people. It’s an art. Lose focus.

Startup 78

Startup Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Review 78

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 20, 2021

They come at the early stage while a startup has no revenue or valuation, so professional investors are hard to find. Network with potential cofounders and strategic partners. Here are some key positives from an entrepreneur perspective: Shorten the time and cost from idea to prototype.

Startup 397

Startup Cofounder Incubator California 397

VC Cafe

DECEMBER 6, 2024

Microsoft launched co-pilot vision , a tool that read your screen and act as a personal helper (US-only). Kol hakavod Dave Waiser and team Accumulator on raising $46M to help founders navigate illiquid wealth with an equity pooling platform ! What’s next for the early stage venture capital ecosystem?

Israel 78

Israel Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital 78

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. So contrary to the piece, it wasn’t VC were good at early stage technology, it was that they had newfound capital and a big exit window.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital SBIC Technical Review Silicon Valley 70

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

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 5, 2017

Her background includes senior roles in both the banking and tech sectors, and she has launched four data businesses—including her current firm, New Frontier Data , which boasts a $20 million valuation and has received $5 million in funding. According to Fortune , in 2006, female founders were involved in only 2.95

Venture Capital 82

Venture Capital Lean Cofounder Technical Review 82

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Seed investors are aplenty and of course they need downstream money to fuel their early-stage bets. Co-founder discontent. Reference checking is to confirm or disprove a strong, positive intuition you already have about founders that could lead to an investment or a pass. You have to deal with CEOs who resign.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

The sudden arrival of the global pandemic has shifted the playbook for founders and venture capitalists. As high-conviction, seed stage investors, we are inherently relationship-driven, and we value meeting exceptional founders face-to-face. I can have a wider reach and a higher volume of 30 minute meetings with founders.”.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350