Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

We are in a bubble (with so many private $1bn+ valuations). pre-money valuation you certainly would want to exercise your right to continue investing if you had prorata rights. Unprecedented revenue growth + companies staying private longer =. Where are we today? .” Lots of new entrants moving to capture this value =.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

Steve Blank

JUNE 27, 2017

Its employees and investors don’t depend on an existing revenue stream. Uber – current valuation >$70 billion – knew the day they started that their ridesharing service violated the law in most jurisdictions. Airbnb – current valuation $31 billion – allows people to rent out their homes, rooms or apartments to visitors.

Startup 306

Startup New York City Valuation Distribution 306

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2013

Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies. VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups.

Angel Investor 231

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Early Stage Silicon Valley 231

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. The opportunity to transact at the point of purchase increases the sheer number of revenue opportunities. Web businesses can now grow revenue before they can even afford sales people.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies. VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. This has a tangible impact on the valuation of start-ups and the pace of investment.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 28, 2018

There’s a quick litmus-test conversation any early-stage VC will have with the founder and it’s one that you should be as prepared for as your elevator pitch. It’s true that some later-stage private equity firms like to fund “roll ups” (a company that acquires many related companies in it sector), but this is seldom the domain of VCs.

Burn Rate 247

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Dilution 247

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2010

Bottom line, early stage equity is very, very expensive. So at any point, if you are trying to raise money, and you are hearing from investors that you are too early and have too little validation, it may be a good thing. That is debt financing that converts into equity at the Series A valuation once the price for that is set.

Valuation 119

Valuation Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Bootstrapping 119

Gust

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

The Risk Factor Summation Method the fifth methodology for estimating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies we have described in recent posts. Readers may have noted that both the Scorecard Method and the Dave Berkus Method considered a narrow set of important criteria for investment in arriving at a pre-money valuation.

Valuation 102

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Ohio Early Stage 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. Get a real customer and real revenue. Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Only real results count. Attract a well-rounded team.

Intellectual Property 222

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 222

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Unfortunately in early stage startups the drive for financing hijacks the corporate DNA and becomes the raison d’etre of the company. What are Early Stage VC’s Really Asking? Good if you have your own money, better if the cash comes from investors, but best if it’s revenues from customers.

Customer Development 270

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 270

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Founded in November 2007 in New York City by Alexis Maybank and Kevin Ryan (co-founder of DoubleClick); CEO is Susan Lyne (ex-CEO Marta Stewart Living Omnimedia) Revenue estimates: $50mm in 2008; $170mm in 2009 (versus budget of $150mm); $450mm forecasted for 2010. OTHER DEALS: 1.

Partner 240

Partner New York City Cofounder Syndicate 240

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Just don’t quit your day job before your new company is producing revenue. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Friends and family. Commit to a major customer.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

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 147

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 147

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

As an early-stage VC I love this phase. Throughout the first year we made many fixes and saw our revenue base in these markets accelerate so we felt we were ready to attack Los Angeles, amongst the most important storage markets in the country.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The primary source of your funds should be your paying customers, i.e., your business should generate enough revenues and profits to fund the growth and expansion. These usually play a role in the very early stage of your business, primarily pre-revenue. Early-stage. Bridge or exit stage.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. Morgan Stanley had proposed a higher valuation to let them in. I’ve offered to fund an early stage company where I promised cash in bank in less than 30 days. million at a $15 million pre-money valuation. Morgan Stanley had proposed a higher valuation to let them in.

Technical Review 301

Technical Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Venture Capital 301

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

Just don’t quit your day job before your new company is producing revenue. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Friends and family. Commit to a major customer.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 233

VC Cafe

JUNE 10, 2022

Until now, early stage startups were relatively unaffected. According to new research by Pitchbook , the trickle down effect has already started in seed and series A startups with round sizes and valuations shrinking in size compared to 2021. Forget about Unicorns (valuations), it’s all about Centaurs ($ ARR).

Valuation 151

Valuation Marketing Israel Venture Capital 151

VC Cafe

JULY 13, 2022

Early stage (Pre-seed, Seed and Series A) continued to perform well in the first half of the year. Early stage deal count activity is growing. There is a a lag of 2-3 months between public markets valuation changes and private markets reported investments. billion in revenue in 2021. billion in 395 deals.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Israel Early Stage Merger 158

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

I hear tons of ideas for early-stage apps. 12m on a $60m for an early-stage business is a not a bet that most LA firms could or would take. We felt proud to be the lead investor in Maker Studios at a sub $5 million valuation. I simply couldn’t see it. I should have.

IPO 214

IPO Los Angeles Technical Review Silicon Valley 214

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

In product business it is often measured over multiple purchases and assumptions are made about the repeat rates and in the enterprise or services world LTV can be based on churn rates, which are notoriously hard to predict in an early-stage business. In SaaS (or any recurring revenue business) this is also a very difficult task.

Metrics 150

Metrics Cost Acquisition Startup 150

VC Cafe

JULY 5, 2010

based Angel capital with early stage technology companies in Israel, and do so in a way that substantially mitigates the risk of seed stage investing. Our objective is to double, triple or quadruple the valuations of these companies and get them ready for larger investments from VCs or other funding sources.

Israel 106

Israel Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

ValuatIon should be a function of value, not ego. Kawasaki’s Law of Pre-Money Valuation: for every full-time engineer, add $500,000; for every full-time M.B.A., But valuations, especially those in the private market, are not necessarily a predictor of growth/ success. Our goals, their goals. subtract $250,000. 9M Seed: $20M ?

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

Gust

JUNE 17, 2012

Just don’t quit your day job before your new company is producing revenue. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Friends and family. Commit to a major customer.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 164

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. I had lunch last week with Tom, the CEO of a startup that was quickly becoming a large company – last year’s revenue was $40M, this year likely to be $80M maybe even $100 million in ad revenue.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Salary Early Stage Software Review 120

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. In today’s fast moving market, the basic product development cost and time are critical to survival. Quick low-cost design and fabrication alternatives are extremely valuable.

Technical Cofounder 153

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Wiki Cofounder 153

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Many Asian entrepreneurs tell me that they want to raise funds from Silicon Valley firms because they perceive the valuations to be higher. But the problem with this is that most VCs in the Valley, especially early stage ones, only like to invest in companies that are within driving distance from their offices.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

Just don’t quit your day job before your new company is producing revenue. After bootstrapping, friends and family are the most common funding sources for early-stage startups. Use this approach before you have a real valuation, a real product, or any real customers. Friends and family. Partner with beneficiary company.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 149

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company. You may be able to generate revenue, but VCs want exponential growth. Be ready when it counts.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 2, 2011

A lot of my time is spent helping early-stage companies get to proof points so that they can raise capital. They might have some seed money and are thinking or raising a Series A based on success of an early release (MVP). Bill Payne is an expert on how early-stage investors should look at valuation.

Valuation 198

Valuation Revenue Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 198

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” How much is NewCo worth to investors at this point (pre-money valuation)? This is the most concrete valuation element, usually called the asset approach.

Valuation 270

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 270

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.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

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. Now comes the really tricky part: getting me to review all that stuff you just neatly uploaded.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review 153