Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

This requires a visible focus on the company’s revenue model, the costs to get there, and cash on hand. Angels expect at least a working prototype and a hint of market acceptance (traction) before investing. That means merger and acquisition (M&A), not initial public offering (IPO). Scalability.

Angel Investor 269

Angel Investor Cram Down Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2022

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Being public makes the company more visible to shareholders and potential acquirers, and provides a presumption of future liquidity.

Merger 261

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 261

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2022

In the old days, every entrepreneur planned on taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is finally up from the dead zone of the last two decades, and is now double the rate back in 1999. Startup founders don’t fit in a public company.

IPO 245

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 245

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 1, 2015

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still less than half the rate of 15 years ago. Violent market swings usually hit public companies first.

IPO 120

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 8, 2019

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Being public makes the company more visible to shareholders and potential acquirers, and provides a presumption of future liquidity.

Merger 303

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 303

YoungUpstarts

MAY 31, 2016

In order to be successful as an innovative company, never mind a start-up or small entrepreneurial company, it’s essential to be able to identify the few truly strategic initiatives that will most favorably impact the top revenue line. Is a marketing plan important? Is high yield important? Are promotional materials important?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Leadership Early Stage Initial Public Offering 100

YoungUpstarts

MAY 23, 2012

One thing is clear: mobile gaming – an industry whose market value is projected to exceed $54 billion in 2015 – is highly lucrative for the brains behind the games. In deed, in 2009,World of Warcraft alone represented 10% of global online gaming revenues. And such business is very profitable.

Mobile 157

Mobile Video Design Initial Public Offering 157

ReadWriteStart

JULY 20, 2023

In this article, we delve into the world of tech-ish companies and explore the seismic impact of initial public offerings (IPOs) on their growth and profitability. Despite not being a traditional tech company, Cava’s IPO shattered expectations and sent shockwaves through the market.

IPO 107

IPO Startup Initial Public Offering eCommerce 107

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 7, 2014

At first glance, Hubspot and Moz are very similar companies: both are popular marketing platforms, use web-based subscription models, and primarily target the SMB market (although larger brands use both). However, as Scott Krager points out in his post, the companies have vastly different approaches for generating revenue.

Initial Public Offering 148

Initial Public Offering IPO SEC Valuation 148

VC Cafe

JANUARY 15, 2024

With the IPO window closed, growth funding severely dwindled and multiples down as a result of the public market, unicorns face tough choices in 2024. M&A/ Exits – This situation is compounded by a narrowing window for mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and initial public offerings (IPOs).

IPO 88

IPO Valuation Israel Private Equity 88

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

VC Cafe

MARCH 11, 2010

T aking a company through an initial public offering (IPO) is not an easy task. Eyeblaster pulled out of its initial IPO filing in October 2008 citing the “market conditions&# as a reason for the delay. Revenue inched up only two percent to $65.1 million in 2009. Net income did however increase to $9.8

IPO 68

IPO SEC Initial Public Offering Stock 68

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2018

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the side door as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. A PwC survey averages the burden of public companies at $1.5M Is your startup really ready to play in the corporate world?

Merger 198

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 198

Version One Ventures

OCTOBER 7, 2014

At first glance, Hubspot and Moz are very similar companies: both are popular marketing platforms, use web-based subscription models, and primarily target the SMB market (although larger brands use both). However, as Scott Krager points out in his post, the companies have vastly different approaches for generating revenue.

Initial Public Offering 77

Initial Public Offering IPO SEC Valuation 77

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2015

Entrepreneurs often ask me why investors expect financial projections for a new startup even before the product is built and while the market is still being defined. I recently saw a startup projecting $50 million in revenue for the first year. Revenue projections show penetration of target opportunity. Neither extreme is good.

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Startup Initial Public Offering Equity 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Investors call this the seed stage , where money is required to build a market and a real product. The final product works great, and all the early users love it.”

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2012

Assuming your startup takes off, you will probably find that the fun is gone by the time you reach 50 employees, or a few million in revenue. For bigger companies, it’s a more efficient and quicker way to grow their revenue than creating new products organically. Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Exit Strategy 241

Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering IPO Startup 241

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 3, 2014

A reverse merger is the acquisition of an already public company (usually a dormant shell) to avoid the Initial Public Offering (IPO) process and cost, to quickly get your startup on a public exchange for fund raising through visibility and selling stock. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy.

Merger 246

Merger OTC IPO Stock 246

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

At this stage, your startup better be selling a commercial offering, have price and cost validated, with significant customer sales and a real revenue stream. Companies at this stage must have a large market, good traction, and be focused on scaling infrastructure and market adoption. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Investment Bankers 241

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 241

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of someday taking their startup public, and making it a multi-national powerhouse. Violent market swings usually hit public companies first. Private companies in less-relevant market segments can often fly under the radar in turbulent times like the recent recession.

IPO 242

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 242

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2011

Today, the signs of the new bubble are the Linked-In initial public offering (IPO), Facebook’s stratospheric valuation and the rapid rise of early-stage startup valuation. Long before others, they saw that these applications could have hundreds of millions of users with “off the chart&# revenue and profits.

Silicon Valley 331

Silicon Valley Stealth Valuation Mississippi 331

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 5, 2011

Assuming your startup takes off, you will probably find that the fun is gone by the time you reach 50 employees, or a few million in revenue. For bigger companies, it’s a more efficient and quicker way to grow their revenue than creating new products organically. Initial Public Offering (IPO).

Exit Strategy 231

Exit Strategy Initial Public Offering Startup IPO 231

Steve Blank

MARCH 18, 2011

The Golden Age (1970 – 1995): Build a growing business with a consistently profitable track record (after at least 5 quarters,) and go public when it’s time. Dot.com Bubble ( 1995-2000): “ Anything goes” as public markets clamor for ideas, vague promises of future growth, and IPOs happen absent regard for history or profitability.

Internet 335

Internet IPO Silicon Valley Agile 335

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2010

At this stage, your startup better be selling a commercial offering, have price and cost validated, with significant customer sales and a real revenue stream. Companies at this stage must have a large market, good traction, and be focused on scaling infrastructure and market adoption. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Investment Bankers 231

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2015

Thus I’m getting more questions on new mechanisms, like crowd funding, or going public through the backdoor as a reverse merger. Being a public company isn’t cheap or easy. Experts estimate the burden of public companies at up to $1M a year. Is your startup really ready to play in the corporate world?

Merger 120

Merger OTC IPO Due Diligence 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2011

It has been at least a decade since going public via an Initial Public Offering (IPO) has been considered a credible exit strategy for startups. The timing of an IPO is driven heavily by the state of the economy in general and the stock market in particular, in concert with your profitability. How’s the timing?

IPO 223

IPO Social Media Media Exit Strategy 223

Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

At this stage, your startup better be selling a commercial offering, have price and cost validated, with significant customer sales and a real revenue stream. Companies at this stage must have a large market, good traction, and be focused on scaling infrastructure and market adoption. Growth stage. Exit stage.

Venture Capital 171

Venture Capital Investment Bankers Angel Investor Initial Public Offering 171

Berkonomics

JULY 8, 2021

It was an Internet CEO roundtable in early 2000 (almost a year before the crash of the stock market) where it became obvious before the public was aware, that the bubble was just beginning to burst for such tech businesses.

Initial Public Offering 62

Initial Public Offering Angel Investor Stock Email 62

Version One Ventures

JUNE 29, 2017

What I missed in most of this commentary was the fact that Matt Salzberg and his team had created a company with over $800m in revenues and a $2b valuation in a short 5 (!) As one can imagine, the media commentary was not pretty, calling the IPO a disappointment , the stock stale out of the box , and lamenting that the stock forgot to pop.

IPO 141

IPO Stock Valuation Business Model 141

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Just this week, entrepreneur and investor Tim O’Reilly wrote a powerful piece in which he challenged Hoffman’s blitzscaling strategy, which often encourages companies to grow as fast as possible by raising venture capital to dominate new markets, a strategy leveraged by Uber among other unicorns (i.e. Certainly.

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Technical Review Venture Capital San Francisco 48

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 11, 2015

This compensation can come in the form of a stock option , a stock appreciation right, or a similar financial instrument, which can potentially be quite lucrative for employees at the time of a merger, acquisition or initial public offering (IPO). A company can have value, even if there is no current income or revenue.

Valuation 100

Valuation Stock Options CPA Merger 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 2, 2018

Tiny markets may excite your passion but won’t sustain a business or leave you with a long-term positive legacy. Investors look for a team with business, financial, marketing, and operational skills, as well as a social passion. Includes balanced and hard-hitting marketing and sales.

Intellectual Property 48

Intellectual Property Initial Public Offering Merger Acquisition 48

Rob Go

OCTOBER 1, 2014

It’s the eve of Wayfair’s Initial Public Offering, and I’m so excited for the company. Big congrats to the entire team there, especially NextView Venture Advisors Niraj and Steve (who were among the first people to get behind NextView in the early days). What an amazing company.

Initial Public Offering 51

Initial Public Offering Metrics Revenue Operations 51

Reid Hoffman

MARCH 19, 2019

There are times when small and slow is the right strategy for a specific market opportunity. When the market conditions are right, you should blitzscale for the benefit of all stakeholders: customers, employees, investors, and society. Blitzscaling is a response to market dynamics, not the cause.

Cofounder 28

Cofounder Business Model IPO Non-Compete 28

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 2, 2012

The real truth is, since the "Internet bubble" burst in 2001, initial public offerings have not resumed the vitality levels of the late 1980s, let alone the boom years of the '90s. It refers to this specific, new group of young, low-revenue companies for whom some of the SOX reporting regulations will no longer apply.

IPO 121

IPO Startup Florida Seed Capital 121