Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

I’m over-paying for every check I write into the VC ecosystem and valuations are being pushed up to absurd levels and many of these valuations and companies won’t hold in the long term. On the one hand, you’re over paying for every investment and valuations aren’t rational. two founders in a garage?—?(HP

Pre-Money Valuation 471

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Venture Capital Early Stage 471

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

There is much talk these days that startup valuations have decreased and may continue to do so and that the amount of time it takes to fund raise may take longer. The earlier the round, the less capital you need and the more reasonable your valuation the less time that is needed generally to raise capital. Only you know.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

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

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 30, 2017

by Les Trachtman, author of “ Don’t F**k It Up: How Founders and Their Successors Can Avoid the Clichés That Inhibit Growth “ Money. Valuations are always astronomical for other companies (i.e., Just because you are a founder, does not mean you deserve to run an organization (unless you are the only employee).

Warrant 195

Warrant Valuation Metrics Startup 195

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. If we priced it based on any metrics your company would likely be worth less than 7 figures at your A round. People seem concerned about valuation. Your A round?

Venture Capital 417

Venture Capital Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet 417

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). Yes… he was a very successful PayPal exec and previously co-founder & VP Product of SocialNet. 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

View from Seed

JUNE 10, 2020

of teams’ online pitch decks and recorded videos, as well as loved the dozens of second-round video conversations which we had with Founders working on quite compelling startups. Many of these Founders we wouldn’t have had an opportunity to connect with if we hadn’t launched this program.

Cofounder 177

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Alabama 177

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

You get to have interesting conversations with founders and review business plans and then see how these businesses evolve over the years. The other day I posted some advice on Twitter that I just did free-formed from thoughts going through my head from recent conversations. There’s many more concepts I could have written about.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 242

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

It goes like this, “If your next round investor can see how fast you’re scaling then you can raise money based on your user traction and your valuation can hit the sky. The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” Fair point.

Burn Rate 412

Burn Rate Dilution Revenue Valuation 412

View from Seed

OCTOBER 15, 2014

So, rather than try and fill time unnecessarily and create a lengthy deck just because you’re “supposed to,” Rob — and we’d guess many other VCs as well — will often suggest that a founder create a simple one-sheeter that might start small and build over time. However, these are important updates for your board to know.

Seed Stage 331

Seed Stage Cap Table Metrics Burn Rate 331

ConversionXL

AUGUST 11, 2021

All companies that This Week in Startups’ audience of entrepreneurs, company founders, and marketers would be interested in. A sponsorship strategy should cover five areas: Assets Audience data Asset valuation Activations Market identification. Asset valuation. Their podcast is all about discussing the startup news that matters.

Audience 139

Audience Social Media Email Ruby 139

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

For starters let me use “CEO” as a proxy to include her “inner circle” which might mean co-founders or might just mean senior execs of the business. The Mind of the Founder. The mind of a founder is wired differently than most people. The startup CEO was not the original founder. It was not.

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Entrepreneurs and investors who have spent any time dealing with convertible debt seed financing transactions are likely to have encountered the subject of valuation caps. Valuation caps can come into play in settings other than seed-stage convertible note financing rounds. Read on for a fuller explanation.

Valuation 98

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Merger Vesting 98

Gust

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

There were no metrics. Him: On metrics. Me: There is no rational explanation for valuations of A round companies by ANY objective financial measure. If we priced it based on any metrics your company would likely be worth less than 7 figures at your A round. People seem concerned about valuation. Your A round?

Liquidation Preference 153

Liquidation Preference Valuation Term Sheet Stock 153

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

It’s seeing quick adoption among advertisers and users, and conversion rates on its recently launched subscription product are exceeding expectations. Based on its recent funding, the success of its predecessors, and its quick adoption, we estimate a $100 million valuation.

Valuation 67

Valuation Startup Venture Capital Metrics 67

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

If polled a week before the board meeting a good number of founders would say, “I wish we could delay this meeting a couple of weeks” or “I really could do without having this board meeting at all.” The law firm has done its job of preparing the stock option requests, board meeting minutes, 409a valuations. The meeting starts.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

I don’t remember the exact conversation, but it went something like this: Me: I didn’t find three companies because my goal was to build a model that identifies more companies in a scalable way. And lastly, most business metrics, which are rich in information, are kept private (and this leads to unavailable data).

Seed Stage 126

Seed Stage Later Stage Algorithm API 126

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

We’ll have a fun conversation over the next 40-45 minutes. So, think of the typical two founders with a pitch book in a garage. And this is one of the pillars we talk about internally, but also to our founders. I love how you’re very clear about the centering metrics in your mind with revenues, which reflect scale.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

Haystack

DECEMBER 26, 2018

” “Multiples and valuations are out of control!” ” Pick your favorite doomsday one-liner, and it’s likely to fit the conversation. For those founders who’ve made it to the Bay Area, seed funding is plentiful. ” “Most of the country doesn’t have any savings!”

IPO 76

IPO Private Equity Valuation Acquisition 76

Startup Lessons Learned

OCTOBER 28, 2008

Most important slide: valuation Promising results Key questions: can you monetize that traffic? (or Most important slide: about the founders In a pitch meeting, try to spend as much time as possible talking about the key questions for your pitch. how big is the market? can your team execute the growth plan? who is the competition?

San Francisco 128

San Francisco Lean Continuous Deployment DC 128

Feld Thoughts

APRIL 21, 2016

“Many Unicorn founders and CEOs have never experienced a difficult fundraising environment — they have only known success. ” Fred and I have had some version of this conversation many times over the past twenty years as we both strongly believe the punch line. Long term is not a year. It’s not two years.

Marketing 70

Marketing Down Round Startup IRR 70

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

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. Russell Rothstein, Founder and CEO, IT Central Station , a product review site, said, “We see VCs on our site very often. 3) Raise capital.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

For startup founders, it’s never too early to start thinking about putting together a target market advisory board. As founders, your job includes selling product to customers, stock to investors, and opportunity to employees. You might consider starting with an offer to invest at a low valuation before discussing sweat equity.

Advisory Board 48

Advisory Board Sweat Equity Marketing Vertical 48

Austin Startup

MAY 19, 2018

As Bryan stated below, there are no shortage of “How to pitch” or “How to behave” articles by VCs but really very little advice for VCs by founders. Anyone notice there's a ton of VCs giving founder advice, and almost no founder advice for VCs? Lines Not Dots Raising money from a fund is a process, most founders get that.

Founder 75

Founder Early Stage Software Review Deal Flow 75

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Every model has a happy outcome when a founder is trying to convince himself or herself, a team, an investor, or even a spouse that the venture ahead is a good idea. The converse of calculating exactly how you will make the first sale, and then the first 10,000, and ultimately work your way up to 1.6 million customers.

Valuation 48

Valuation Forecast Seed Money Business Model 48

Cracking the Code

FEBRUARY 12, 2007

Bessemer was also heavily represented with David Cowan , managing partner and co-founder of VeriSign ( see his post about the event ), Rob Stavis , BVP’s New York-based managing partner who led our investment in Skype, Byron Deeter , partner and founder of Trigo and our COO/managing partner Ed Colloton. SaaS 13 Index Valuation.

Software Review 48

Software Review SEM Marketing Las Vegas 48

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 20, 2010

However, given the overwhelming number of conversations coming in from all directions all at once, it’s often impossible to focus a lens on the ones that are most relevant for a given time, place, audience and outcome. Q: Your co-founders have been working on some technology in their spare time.

Curation 118

Curation Austin Cofounder Ruby 118

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 20, 2015

A long conversation ensued which resulted in me pondering this illusion and trying to put some parameters around it. You probably have one or two salespeople and one of your founders – maybe your CEO – is still the head of sales. higher multiple, but not linear) your valuation will be. But first, some history.

Product 70

Product Marketing Valuation Search 70

ithacaVC

APRIL 5, 2011

One rule of simple cap tables is to issue “normal” stock to founders (common stock only) and investors (typically preferred stock, but sometimes common stock to early friends and family). For clarity, it is impossible to issue stock without putting a value on the company. I hope the investor agrees.

Common Stock 45

Common Stock Stock Cap Table Preferred Stock 45

Rob Go

FEBRUARY 9, 2014

These are all the proof points that the business is working, and can range from actual financial metrics to even subjective things like how industry experts and potential customers are perceiving the idea. Even for companies that are far along, the valuation is the great equalizer.

Vertical 78

Vertical Valuation Framework Metrics 78

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 8, 2015

The Angel VC: Key Revenue Metrics for SaaS companies – buff.ly/1INSu29. Why a Billion Dollar Startup Just Sold for $15 Million (and What Founders Can Learn From It) buff.ly/1GMqXJO. Valuation As A Scorecard – buff.ly/1F0CUyC. Deadly Conversion Busters: How a Lack of Goodwill Could Be Hurting Your Authority bit.ly/1InLxVh.

Small Business 48

Small Business Design Social Media Startup 48

Up and Running

MARCH 21, 2016

If they seem interested in your business, they will keep the conversation going,” says Diana. 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. Get them to agree that the metrics make sense and then hit them.

Cofounder 60

Cofounder Metrics Angel Investor Silicon Valley 60

Rob Go

JUNE 1, 2016

We’ve been in a period of unnatural financings, both in terms of valuation and the amount of capital that has gone into companies relatively early in their life. Where I think funds do start having hard conversations around follow-ons is when they need to lead inside rounds or protect themselves in down rounds.

Term Sheet 28

Term Sheet Portfolio Valuation Warrant 28

crowdSPRING Blog

DECEMBER 21, 2012

B t Metrics – [link]. 10 Lessons I’ve Learned During My First Three Months As a Founder (by Len Kendall) | Technori - [link]. This is a very useful valuation tool from AngelList (browse startup valuations) - [link]. The One Conversational Tool That Will Make You Better At Absolutely Everything - [link].

Social Media 100

Social Media Small Business Design Media 100

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

I gained nearly 20 pounds during those two years, in part because of the growing frustration I felt when I would leave yet another meeting with VCs who I felt didn’t genuinely listen to, understand, or value my experience as a black founder and CEO. startups with billion-dollar valuations) in recent years.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Technical Review Venture Capital San Francisco 48

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

1 year later we sat down and had an honest conversation with ourselves and realized that our One Thing, the thing we were most passionate about, that we could realistically be the best in the world at, and that was a huge untapped market opportunity was: Design. 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

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. Thomas Watson, Sr. The innovation business.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 78