Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2013

My rationale is simple: everything goes wrong and only great teams can respond to competitors, markets, funding environments, staff departures, PR disasters and the like. it’s the most expensive dilution you’ll ever face. I am fond of quoting that about 70% of my investment decision of an early-stage company is the team.

Cofounder 388

Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 388

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 26, 2023

Even though many of these can be mitigated by testing and early customer feedback , you will find that it pays big dividends to do your homework before building and rolling out every new initiative: In today’s customer data overload, marketing is essential. Even more important than solution marketing is building your brand.

Product 354

Product Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Dividend 354

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 19, 2013

The line of reasoning goes, “Services businesses are not scalable and the market won’t reward this revenue so make sure that third-parties do your implementation or clients do it themselves. That it is non-dilutive financing? We only want software revenue.” ” This is a huge mistake. You need to implement them.

Technical Review 403

Technical Review Startup Software Review Churn Rate 403

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 6, 2024

Goals should be revisited regularly to adjust to changes in business dynamics or market conditions, ensuring they remain aligned with overall business strategies. Taking on too many tasks or projects can dilute your focus and spread your resources too thin. Be selective about the opportunities you pursue and the commitments you make.

Management 158

Management Entrepreneur Technical Review Dilution 158

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 1, 2010

Hanging your hat on just one advantage that you can own completely is stronger than diluting your message across many advantages. If nothing else, this should get your juices flowing and make future sales calls and marketing messages more effective. Don't dilute your message. Your homepage becomes laser-focused. Most Expensive.

Open Source 239

Open Source Dilution Software Development Software Developers 239

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Can you imagine investing in the stock market where your price was determined at a future date and the better that company performed the HIGHER the price you paid for that investment. This has worked very well in the 2009-2012 time frame because the tech market has boomed in this period. So you’re taking all of the pricing risk.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

The challenge with pre-seed rounds is that pricing will sometimes be pretty dilutive. The downside is that YC is itself quite dilutive, the program itself may not be a great fit, and there are many many companies out of your batch that won’t be one of the anointed winners. The Pre-YC Pre-Seed.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

Markets like these are very kind to angel investors because you get taken out early and see a nice pop on your investment. I know some people think the whole market has been disrupted and startups and funding work differently these days. Total disruption on the funding market? avoid being diluted). I doubt it.

Cap Table 283

Cap Table Angel Investor Liquidation Preference Dilution 283

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. When the market run started in March people were relieved that “the world wasn’t ending” so they started spending again. Unemployment coupled with a stock market drop will stop this spending cold IMHO.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

they can build teams that really focus on building & marketing great products. Too many entrepreneurs focus on dilution. But over-optimizing for dilution is a bad attribute relative to focusing on creating a big & winning company. This has been their formula for nearly 15 years. I further that.

Product 350

Product Tuvalu Dilution Incubator 350

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2019

That’s a tall order, especially when your business culture has to fit into the myriad of international and local cultures that are part of every market these days. This is where the culture of the startup has to adapt to the cultures of the markets served. In the classic book, “ Fish Can’t See Water ,” Kai Hammerich and Richard D.

Dilution 224

Dilution Merger Flash Global 224

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

.&# Still, I’ll bet that functionally you divide areas of competence like sales & marketing, product, engineering, biz dev, etc. I usually encourage people to think about titles like, “Founder & CTO&# or “Founder & VP Marketing.&#. Dilute your cash, equity or both. and my favorite].

Operations 292

Operations CTO Hire Startup Early Stage 292

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 21, 2013

Integrate PS Work Into Sales & Marketing Processes. If you’re in your first year of developing your product chances are you haven’t yet found product / market fit and you don’t yet have enough value to sell your product for as much as you’d like. At a minimum co-ownership of the IP.

Software Review 321

Software Review Software IP Technical Review 321

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2015

That’s a tall order, especially when your business culture has to fit into the myriad of international and local cultures that are part of every market these days. This is where the culture of the startup has to adapt to the cultures of the markets served. business culture issues market pace startup culture' Marty Zwilling.

Matching 120

Matching Marketing Dilution Startup 120

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Markets always evolve toward higher resolution. The key is making sure the second close isn’t too high (I think 50% of X sounds about right) because you’ll be adding on that dilution to yourself & “X&# investors will own less of the company. You may not need to use convertible notes to do it.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. Because companies are raising way more capital in private markets than they ever did in the past. So the answer is: sometimes they take it, sometimes they don’t. Aren’t they getting screwed?

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

VC Cafe

JUNE 10, 2022

The market correction has come for series A and seed startups. For the past few week I’ve been sharing here the impact of the current downturn that started in the public markets on startups and venture capital. As a result, founders are accepting increased dilution of the stakes they hold in their own companies.

Valuation 151

Valuation Marketing Israel Venture Capital 151

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2013

That’s a tall order, especially when your business culture has to fit into the myriad of international and local cultures that are part of every market these days. This is where the culture of the startup has to adapt to the cultures of the markets served. In a new book, “ Fish Can’t See Water ,” Kai Hammerich and Richard D.

Dilution 187

Dilution Merger Flash Global 187

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. I can’t control the market. Private markets for stocks are the opposite.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

View from Seed

OCTOBER 24, 2019

The reality is that if a founder raised every one of these rounds, and lead investors always got their “target” ownership, the level of dilution would be ridiculous. No good investor would want the founder/CEO of a company to have insufficient ownership by the series A, and every founder I know is sensitive to taking too much dilution.

Dilution 149

Dilution B2B Burn Rate Early Stage 149

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 9, 2022

As part of our Founder interview series , The Startup Magazine caught up with Salo Sterental, Co-Founder of the SoStereo, a marketing firm that enables brands and artists alike to unlock the marketing power of music. Salo: We help brands unlock the marketing power of music. TSM: Music is an important tool in marketing strategy.

Cofounder 158

Cofounder Founder Miami Marketing 158

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

What sized team can I afford in order to sell, market & provide service to these customers? But expanding beyond our core customers was going to take more effort than simply launching in new markets. We realized that operating a business in distributed markets presented multi-city coordination efforts that we weren’t prepared for.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

I had joined MIPS Computers, my second semiconductor company , as the VP of marketing and also took on the role of the acting VP of Sales. I worked with engineering to try to find product/market fit ( big endian or little endian ?) I worked with engineering to try to find product/market fit ( big endian or little endian ?)

Part-Time VPE 335

Part-Time VPE Employee Cofounder Hiring 335

The Next Web

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Too dilutive.”. At that time, Mac computers made up a mere 6 percent of the market and I argued we needed to focus on other areas. But having cofounders who can give perspective can help you see a different side of the market. Skills – I do product, business, marketing. Skills – I do product, business, marketing.

Cofounder 143

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Kenya Dilution 143

Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

The premise of Growth capital is that if that by staying private longer, all the growth upside that went to the public markets (Wall Street) could instead be made by the private investors (the VC’s and Growth Investors.). Before these three went public, they weren’t unicorns – that is their market cap was less than a billion dollars.

Stock Options 335

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 335

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 4, 2014

– while the other might want a quick sale and pocket some bucks while the tech market is hot. It either needed to get more aggressive in pricing, pivot to a new business or business model or raise more capital (and take the dilution) in order to have more time to figure things out. Those are the easy cases.

Founder 340

Founder Cofounder Sacramento Technical Review 340

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Market downturn – We all know that investors move in herds. Short answer – yes. The most obvious reason downturns affect investors is psychology.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Seed is about showing initial product market fit. Below are just a few contributors to the rise of pre-seed in the current market: Explosion of Micro funds – In recent years, there’s been a steep increase in the number of micro funds, which are generally below $100M in size. who’s talking to customers?)

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 22, 2024

Just as a reminder, Quantum technologies are used in three very different and distinct markets: Quantum Computing , Quantum Communications and Quantum Sensing and Metrology. What are the physical specs – unique hardware needed ( dilution cryostats , et al) power required , connectivity, etc. How will the computer be programmed?

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Illinois Algorithm Software Review 268

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

And when prices are dropping on a VCs existing companies in market, there is a substantial reduction in FOMO (fear of missing out) for new deals, which means that investors take their time in making investment decisions. Optimize for a W more than % dilution in these circumstances. Founders hate them because they’re dilutive.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Startup Dilution 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 2, 2017

That’s a tall order, especially when your business culture has to fit into the myriad of international and local cultures that are part of every market these days. This is where the culture of the startup has to adapt to the cultures of the markets served. In the classic book, “ Fish Can’t See Water ,” Kai Hammerich and Richard D.

Dilution 134

Dilution Merger Flash Global 134

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 19, 2015

Web design is a major part of any website or online marketing strategy; as is the content and structure of your site. There are scores of web designers and marketing agencies out there. That way, they will design you a site or marketing strategy that works for you. Don’t dilute your content. It’s as simple as that!

Dilution 100

Dilution Web Web Development Flash 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

No cookies for guessing which reason they use to market to us. I’d far rather dilute 10% early and get some investor traction than to wither for another 3-6 months trying to get my seed round together. But even so, I find it immensely useful to see what companies are getting traction in the angel market.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

This is similar to the role that public markets play in helping shape publicly traded companies. Boards are not appointed to be founder-friendly lapdogs for the 1–3 founders who start companies and usually own the largest equity positions in the company.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

View from Seed

DECEMBER 4, 2019

This equates to something in the neighborhood of a 10% IRR, which isn’t great given the illiquidity of the asset class and strength of the public markets. Over the last 10 years, we’ve been in a bull market with considerable froth in late stage financing activity and valuations. How Have the More Recent Vintages Performed?

LP 256

LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2013

” “Worthworm is designed to fill the market void, providing users with an affordable, rigorous, web-based valuation system that derives a reasonable and defensible pre-money valuation from which entrepreneurs and angel investors can begin negotiating,” Lobock adds.

Pre-Money Valuation 150

Pre-Money Valuation Web Technical Review Angel Investor 150

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 14, 2022

Advertising and marketing tech. Here the company looks to grow and strives to create a dominant position in the market. The equity dilution at this nascent stage is on desirable terms; such investing can lead to profitable returns. Indian startups have excelled in various segments and industries. Education tech. Financial tech.

Technical Review 167

Technical Review Due Diligence India Startup 167