Steve Blank

APRIL 10, 2019

Startup Compensation Changes with Growth Capital – 12 Years to an IPO. The three examples Suster uses – Salesforce, Google and Amazon – show how much more valuable the companies were after their IPOs. Venture capital growth funds are now giving startups the cash they would have received at an IPO.

Stock Options 335

Stock Options Stock Vesting Common Stock 335

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2021

That means that many companies are now forgoing the rush to go public (IPO), in favor of major equity investments from specialized venture capital funds, such as Japan’s SoftBank. Look for investors and organizations who practice 10x or 100x thinking, rather than earnings-per-share (EPS) every quarter.

Software Review 355

Software Review Algorithm Global IPO 355

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

They failed due to: the dearth of deals in the region that have IPO potential and. We believe that regional funds need to walk a delicate balance…but it doesn’t take huge IPOs to return multiples of capital on a small fund. Late stage large regionally based funds that invest in late stage or mezzanine deals.

Early Stage 295

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 295

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still half the rate of 15 years ago. According to a recent Ernst & Young global report , the first half of 2017 was the most active first half by global number of IPOs since 2007. Going public is an expensive process.

IPO 218

IPO SEC Prospectus Technical Review 218

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

IPO – public company initial public stock offering. entrepreneur exit IPO lifestyle m&a startup' This should be perceived as a win-win event, where your startup is bought or merged into a larger peer or competitor, allowing both you and investors to cash out. Marty Zwilling.

Exit Strategy 289

Exit Strategy Entrepreneur IPO Startup 289

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This should be perceived as a win-win event, where your startup is bought or merged into a larger peer or competitor, allowing both you and investors to cash out.

Exit Strategy 376

Exit Strategy Startup Private Equity Equity 376

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Cheap, mobile, social, global, massive, always-on, one-click-purchase has led to the most successful companies of our era hitting unprecedented scale early in their development and has massively shifted the value captured from post-IPO investors to pre-IPO investors as is demonstrated in the chart above.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

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. A rounds (first chart) have been largely flat in terms of deals and dollars as have B rounds (second chart).

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

VC Cafe

MARCH 16, 2025

Attractive Consumer Opportunities in 2025 and Beyond While there hasn’t been a blockbuster IPO for consumer tech companies (mobile apps, B2C model startups) that matches the scale of Uber, Airbnb, Roblox, DoorDash, or Unity over the past 5 years, it feels like the momentum for consumer tech is rapidly changing.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review B2C Generative AI IPO 78

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

What You Can Learn From Public Markets It doesn’t really take a genius to realize that what happens in the public markets will filter back to the private markets because the ultimate exit of these companies is either an IPO or an acquisition (often by a public company whose valuation is fixed daily by the market).

Technical Review 416

Technical Review Pre-Money Valuation San Francisco Valuation 416

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Raising capital remained difficult but possible and valuations were tied to underlying performance metrics and everybody accepted the the ultimate exit — whether through M&A or IPO — would also be based on some level of rational pricing.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

abovethecrowd.com

AUGUST 23, 2020

But in light of where we are in 2020, especially with regard to the degrading efficiency and sky-rocketing cost of capital through the structurally broken IPO process, SPACs may emerge as a legitimate third option for helping Silicon Valley companies efficiently and cost-effectively transition into the public markets.

IPO 118

IPO Silicon Valley Warrant Matching 118

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

IPO – public company initial public stock offering. This should be perceived as a win-win event, where your startup is bought or merged into a larger peer or competitor, allowing both you and investors to cash out.

Exit Strategy 264

Exit Strategy Private Equity Equity Technical Review 264

Steve Blank

JULY 11, 2017

The problem was that at some point past employee 1000, the big payoffs ended from pre-public stock and the stock’s subsequent run-up from their IPO. And those early employees got rewarded as their stock turned into cash. But the CEO never noticed that the payoff had ended for the other 95% of his company.

Part-Time VPE 329

Part-Time VPE Liquidity Event Stock Engineer 329

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2019

Initial Public Offerings (IPO) are back as an exit strategy. Three of these, JUUL Labs, Didi Chuxing, and Toutiao have already passed $50 billion. Thus a record number of entrepreneurs (and team members) are getting rich. Statistica reports that almost 20 percent more companies went public in 2018 versus 2017.

North America 320

North America Incubator Initial Public Offering Valuation 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 26, 2020

The options here include going public (IPO), merger/acquisition, liquidate, or no exit, just paying off investors. Outline a viable exit strategy for you and investors. Investors want to know how and when they might see some return on their investment, since startups require some event to show value.

Business Plan 423

Business Plan Product Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch 423

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2022

I was pleased to see this approach highlighted as well in a new book for startups, “ Zero to IPO ,” by Frederick Kerrest. Differences you find after the deal is consummated can be painful and expensive, just as in any marriage.

Technical Review 313

Technical Review Due Diligence Partner Cofounder 313

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. Somehow the world seems to be spinning faster these days than just a few years ago. It’s exhausting. Perhaps unsustainable.

Technical Review 317

Technical Review Incubator IPO Email 317

VC Cafe

JANUARY 14, 2022

There are two main forms of exits for startups: trade sale/M&A or IPO. SPACs had their moment in the sun in 2021, with a record number of companies choosing to go public using the SPACs in favour of traditional IPOs. Israeli tech companies using billboards in busy roads to attract tech talent. SPACs have backfired.

Israel 158

Israel Technical Review Lock-up Period South Korea 158

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

That means merger and acquisition (M&A), not initial public offering (IPO). What’s most realistic these days is an exit via sale to an existing major company for which you solve a meaningful problem. Shooting for that sort of exit over a three to five year period is usually the best strategy. No exit strategy means no return to investors.

Angel Investor 269

Angel Investor Cram Down Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 23, 2017

IPO market is broken”, positioning their offering as an alternative to capitalize on the dwindling supply of smaller IPOs, pointing out that only 18 companies completed IPOs that raised less than $50M last year, versus 557 in 1996.

Technical Review 154

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Software Review IPO 154

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

This method was perfected by Gil Elbaz and his team at Applied Semantics in LA and in what some have called “ the most important acquisition ever made by Google ” they acquired the company for $102 million before Google had even IPO’d.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 14, 2023

Inox India’s initial public offering ( IPO ) opened on Dec. 18, with the IPO scheduled to be allotted on Dec. crore (Rs 14593200000, or $175,110,373.74) with the IPO, with the company itself receiving nothing for the sales. The offering is not due to close until Dec. It will make its stock market listing debut on Dec.

IPO 60

IPO India Initial Public Offering Technical Review 60

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” There are certain topics that even some of the best journalists can’t fully grok. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Revenue Technical Review Flash 418

Steve Blank

APRIL 23, 2014

VCs like acquisitions as much as IPOs because the acquiring companies often can rationalize paying large multiples over the current valuation of the startup. They are actively organizing annual and quarterly activities to bring the portfolio and Fortune 500 decision makers together– in both large events and one-on-one visits.

Acquisition 334

Acquisition Intellectual Property Silicon Valley Startup 334

YoungUpstarts

MARCH 24, 2021

2021 promises to be a great year on the IPO market, as there are some amazing upcoming IPOs to keep an eye on. The post 3 IPOs To Watch In 2021 appeared first on Young Upstarts. Here's a look at 3 of them.

IPO 217

IPO Marketing 217

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

IPO markets had burned an entire cycle of retail stock investors and many institutional investors to boot. Try charging customers for your product when you have 12 competitors giving the product away free finances by $20 million of VC. The Exit Problem.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

VC Cafe

JANUARY 24, 2021

We’ve seen a 47% rise in use of Discord, a platform for clubs, gamers, artists and groups of friends spending time together” Game IPOs will continue and change the game industry – several experts including Dean Takahashi at Gamesbeat and Mike Vorhouse predict that the rumoured IPOs for Roblox, Epic and Discord will be some of the most exciting (..)

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Audio Forecast Social Media 207

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

He was previously VP Product at Runkeeper (sold to Asics), a General Manager and Director of Product at Zynga (IPO), and Director of Product at Conduit Labs (sold to Zynga). He was part of the founding team at HubSpot for 8 years, where he helped grow the company from $0 to $150m in revenue and through a successful IPO. Back to Top).

Operations 176

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 176

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2015

Initial Public Offerings (IPO) are back as an exit strategy. Last year was the most active year for IPOs in the United States since 2000. 275 IPOs were completed in 2014, topping the 2013 total of 222 by more than 23%. IPO proceeds also shattered 2013’s high-water mark of $55 billion, with an impressive $85 billion in proceeds.

IPO 120

IPO Angel Investor Startup Incubator 120

View from Seed

JUNE 13, 2019

I know some of the investors in Chewy prior to the PetSmart acquisition, but I am not a shareholder nor do I intend to purchase shares in the IPO. Much of the press on the company’s IPO highlights this fact, which is easy to discern from a casual read of the S-1. I’ll break down Chewy’s business based on their recent S-1 filing here.

Leadership 214

Leadership .Net Revenue Aggregator 214

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 2, 2021

If a founder’s goal is to grow the business for some time and exit by selling the company, through merger/acquisition, or through IPO, then the corporation (C-Corp) structure might be the best. Corporations perform better on their IPO openings, and they alone can receive tax benefits via Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS).

Technical Review 158

Technical Review LLC IPO Stock 158

View from Seed

APRIL 30, 2019

2019 is off to an exciting start for IPOs of VC-backed startups. In some respects though Zoom has had the most “successful” IPO of the three companies, which has surprised some folks. In the last decade or so, high profile consumer IPOs have often gotten lofty valuations.

IPO 180

IPO B2B B2C Institutional Investors 180

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2012

That IPOs and then continues rising. It creates recycled capital + 2nd-time entrepreneurs … on steroids. When I look at the one thing I’m still waiting to see in Los Angeles – it’s the tent-pole company that lifts up all else. That has a B on the front. I’m willing to bet it’s coming in the next decade.

Community 378

Community San Diego Silicon Valley Los Angeles 378

YoungUpstarts

MAY 24, 2018

These tax liabilities, which many companies believe don’t exist, can turn into a heavy burden in the event that a company seeks investors, financing, IPO or sale.

South Dakota 160

South Dakota North Dakota Wyoming United States 160

Version One Ventures

JANUARY 4, 2021

This will be Version One’s first prospective IPO! Let’s ride this momentum into 2021! . Announcements. Coinbase submitted their draft registration statement on Form S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Portfolio 148

Portfolio Technical Review Securities and Exchange Commission North America 148

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 12, 2018

We would have gladly followed Jamie (and Josh Roth, the CTO who is phenomenal and we’ve also known for a decade) right through an IPO if we could have. We funded the seed round, the A round, the B round, C round, D round and E round. Jamie is truly a visionary and a focused executioner. Were we SURE that consumers would buy a video doorbell?

Security 247

Security Los Angeles Silicon Valley Video 247