Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

In class 1 , we learned that national power is the combination of a country’s diplomacy (soft power and alliances), information/intelligence, military power, economic strength, finance, intelligence, and law enforcement. Semiconductors: Technology and Market Primer 10.0” And after two decades focused on counter terrorism, the U.S.

Technical Review 407

Technical Review Taiwan Technology Silicon Valley 407

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

Was Paul Graham right in his “high resolution” financing post? What the entrepreneurs were really saying is, “I don’t want to take a lower valuation now, while I don’t have customers or a full team. This has worked very well in the 2009-2012 time frame because the tech market has boomed in this period.

Ratchet 354

Ratchet Liquidation Preference Equity Stock 354

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. The best thing to get is a “right sized&# valuation. A: It’s not best.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

My friend Michael Broukhim, founder & co-CEO of FabFitFun and I recently had a catch-up meeting for 3-miles on the Santa Monica “Bird Trail” No company has ever elicited so many questions by friends, colleagues, entrepreneurs, fellow VCs and journalists as has Bird, the company that pioneered the electronic scooter as a service market.

San Francisco 256

San Francisco Valuation Los Angeles Technical Review 256

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2011

Steve Blank , January 25, 2010 10 Tips for Adding Game Mechanics to a Non-Gaming Service - ReadWriteStart , September 21, 2010 Startups & VCs: Learn How to Design, Market, & Eat Your Own. - . - 500 Hats , February 1, 2010 When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication?

Silicon Valley 378

Silicon Valley Startup Term Sheet Venture Capital 378

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. They should heed the age old advice that raising slightly more money while you can is always better than trying to optimize future valuations. Why did the VC markets freeze so quickly? Short answer – yes.

Burn Rate 263

Burn Rate Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Private Equity 263

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

While the answers are somewhat semantic, the pre-seed funding round is making a comeback in 2024 startup financing. Seed is about showing initial product market fit. What’s the difference between an angel round and pre-seed round and why do I believe we’ll see more pre-seed rounds taking place in 2024?

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Steve Blank

JULY 11, 2017

Before the rapid rise of Unicorns, (startups with a valuation over a billion dollars), when boards were still in control, they “encouraged” the hiring of “adult supervision” of the founders after they found product/market fit. Adult Supervision. It was so compelling, everyone worked extremely long hours, for little pay and some stock.

Part-Time VPE 329

Part-Time VPE Liquidity Event Stock Engineer 329

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

MARCH 21, 2017

Revenue multiples, profit multiples, premium over the previous financing — these are metrics used by sellers to help determine a minimum acceptable price. ” “How can we become #1 or #2 in a new market?” Large companies don’t acquire small companies for their financials.

Balance Sheet 242

Balance Sheet Vertical Acquisition Revenue 242

Up and Running

DECEMBER 16, 2021

In order to avoid formal valuation report costs, shareholders utilize benchmarks of the industry and rules of thumb to estimate the ballpark values of their interests. This article will cover all about the rule of thumb business valuation approaches, when to use them, and their pros and cons. Rules of thumb and business valuation.

Valuation 86

Valuation .Net Metrics Balance Sheet 86

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Mike believes the reason AltaVista didn’t become Google ( despite their market leadership position ) was because they didn’t focus on search. I go on record saying that LinkedIn is ripe for disruption; and while Hashable might not be competing with them directly, the “personal relationship management” market is ripe for disruption.

Semantic 302

Semantic Acquisition Valuation Angel Investor 302

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

As a result of the IPO window shifting we saw a massive inflow of public-market capital into the latest stages of venture. why the hell has seed financing declined so much in the past 3 years?? In this post I set out to explain why the seed market emerged as its own category in the first place and why it’s declined as of late. (

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Uber , Zenefits , Tanium , Lending Club CEOs of companies with billion dollar market caps have been in the news – and not in a good way. This era was a “buyer’s market” – there were more good companies looking to get funded than there were VCs. And while new markets were created (i.e. Board Control.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? But I think there is a down side that I see in startups that raise artificially at prices above what a normal market might value. I would gladly work with you on a $50 million late-stage, complex financing.

Deal Flow 347

Deal Flow Early Stage Investment Bankers Technical Review 347

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 6, 2025

It was common knowledge that to compete in this market, companies need huge access to capital, compute, expensive data and expensive talent. The news sent the US stock market into a spiral, causing the market to shed $1 trillion in value, with Nvidia alone making the biggest single day drop of $600 billion in market cap.

China 97

China Artificial Inteligence ChatGPT Generative AI 97

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I had been looking around at several deals in late 2008 as the markets were tanking. But it was early 2009 and not many companies were getting new financings at all so I thought they should take the deal. The truth is that I wasn’t as valuation sensitive as my original VC partner was and I would have been willing to raise price.

Term Sheet 356

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Reputation Partner 356

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 18, 2024

The decentralized finance landscape is constantly shifting, with new projects, innovations, and risks emerging regularly. With the right data, you can respond strategically, adjust your positions, and avoid unnecessary risks, even in unpredictable markets. High trading volumes suggest an active market.

Metrics 157

Metrics Valuation API Distribution 157

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

TEC is one of Canada’s largest and most experienced private credit firms, specializing in providing asset-based capital solutions to companies that are underserved or overlooked by traditional sources of financing, primarily banks. The increasing importance of private credit in today’s market cannot be overstated.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 158

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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 18, 2019

An Insider’s Perspective “Bird Zero” that are custom designed by the company There is a story arc of the electric scooter market that took the world by storm in 2018, was second-guessed late in the year and has quietly re-emerged as a powerful force of growth where few really appreciate the speed and scale of what has happened.

South America 250

South America Global New York City Software Review 250

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. In the old days there weren’t many fights about whether angels would take their prorata rights in financing rounds. This is for a more complicated reason I call “the mark-up game.”

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Technical Review Balance Sheet Government 298

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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? I would gladly work with you on a $50 million late-stage, complex financing. What price? With which other investors? Should I focus on geographies or industries? To all my banking friends … I’m not a hater.

Early Stage 361

Early Stage Deal Flow Investment Bankers Technical Review 361

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

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. It is necessary to cover the early stages of product development, thorough market research, and other processes during the initial step.

Seed Stage 148

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 148

The Startup Magazine

MAY 27, 2020

The cryptocurrency market continues to evolve despite an increasing number of critics claim it’s doomed to fail. In fact, since the market tumbled in 2018, a lot of developments had occurred, and the trend for cryptocurrencies is expected to continue during 2020. Expanding the derivatives market. Volatility. Volatility.

Technical Review 159

Technical Review Offshore Sweden China 159

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

SEO marketing vs. social marketing. I’ve watched VCs help with valuation support (spreadsheets, comps) on next round financing, participate in M&A meetings, interview senior job candidates – even help terminate tricky senior hires. Think of web vs. mobile. Traditional software vs. SaaS.

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Incubator Sales 364

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 8, 2016

The startup industry may be “resetting,” which doesn’t mean a “crash” but rather just a resetting of valuations, timescales, winners/losers, capital sources and the relative emphasis of growth rates vs. burn rates. The terrible consequence is that some great companies struggle to get financed. Start early.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Startup Dilution 150

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The next reason is to establish a competitive advantage over your competition and quickly acquire a substantial market share. Let’s take an example – In the case of an internet or app business, the user traction and market penetration is a must. Establish a competitive advantage. Both of which are expensive and time-consuming.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

Once early data exists, there are all sorts of comps out there that create some gravitational pull towards “market” pricing. But prior to actual data, valuation ends up being driven entirely by demand, competition, and ownership targets. If the strategy is successful, they will emerge with less dilution and more funding more quickly.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Very few people turn up with a strong sense of “what we should be doing” or ready to lean into a productive conversation The financials were prepared by the VP of Finance / CFO. The law firm has done its job of preparing the stock option requests, board meeting minutes, 409a valuations. There are too many pages. The meeting starts.

Stock Options 226

Stock Options Metrics Stock Valuation 226

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

Using NextView as an example, since we both seek to lead the seed round and only lead during this round, I’ve seen this trend manifest in one of two ways: In a priced round, the entrepreneur will often share their valuation ask (or a stated floor) for the pre-money valuation of their company much sooner in the process.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

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.

LP 256

LP IRR Distribution Portfolio 256

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020

For startups and entrepreneurs, awareness of the stock exchanges will help prepare you for a potential public financing of your company through an initial public offering, known as an IPO. The New York Stock Exchange has been the largest stock exchange by market capitalisation in the world since the end of the World War.

Stock 114

Stock Initial Public Offering New York China 114

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?” The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary.

Valuation 270

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 270

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing. There is no discussion of burn, runway, and more financing yet.

Burn Rate 155

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 155