Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

You don’t have to be a heavily funded later stage startup to get access to “big data,” customer analytics, and metrics dashboards. Angel groups, accelerators, and incubators are pervasive. Measuring progress with big data and analytics. Set milestones and manage to those targets.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Regional Angel funds that pool investors capital and typically make a one time investment in a startup, sometimes at an early stage but often at a slightly later stage. Late stage large regionally based funds that invest in late stage or mezzanine deals. Large regionally based early stage funds have mostly failed.

Early Stage 295

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 295

View from Seed

MARCH 19, 2015

He’s dubbed the approach “ pretotyping ,” and it shares many of the same principles as both its similar-sounding (if later-stage) cousin, prototyping, as well as the more well-known lean startup movement. The right metrics are key to identifying The Right It. AS: Good question.

Product 120

Product Technical Review Marketing Lean 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

I would say the norm for many early-stage companies is somewhere between 6-10 in-person meetings per year. The earlier stage the more likely it is 10 meetings and the later stage the more likely it is 6. Ask for short conference calls. In either case it is very helpful to have a series of 30-45 minute calls in between.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board Fractional CTO CTO Hire Los Angeles 365

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2021

You can link to multiple sources, either when you initially set up your dashboard or at a later stage. Identify your metrics. By selecting the right metrics for your dashboard, you can track the subject’s progress, identify any issues, analyze trends, and initiate the next steps. Select your chart. Time series chart.

Sales 137

Sales Metrics Customer Analytics 137

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. Later stage investors are using for sourcing private company marketplace services focused on more established companies, listed below under “Step 11: Exit”. They read reviews of the products of target investments.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

David Teten

SEPTEMBER 23, 2017

An investor had few hard metrics other than the actual financials, and little technology to make the process scaleable. Over the past few decades, better metrics became available, and investors could take a more analytical, data-driven approach. ExitRound helps early stage companies identify buyers.

Private Equity 60

Private Equity Venture Capital Equity Technical Review 60

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

What are the new financial metrics? Data from the last large crash in 2008 had seed rounds recovering early, but later stage funding cratered and took years to recover. If they pull back, there will be a liquidity crunch for later stage startups (Series B, C…). Are those assumptions about payers still correct?

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

VC Adventure

MARCH 17, 2022

With the markets down significantly, financings (at least at the later stages) slowing down, and inflation and interest rates on the rise, perhaps now is a good time to talk about your burn rate. Your underlying business metrics should.

Balance Sheet 121

Balance Sheet Burn Rate Valuation Metrics 121

Reid Hoffman

JUNE 11, 2020

Embedding individual performance metrics in team performance metrics is a central part of how Jeff operates, but he also concerns himself with setting a cultural drumbeat and making everyone feel part of the team. This is so important that I wrote an essay on how to hire a CEO as a later-stage co-founder.

Cofounder 36

Cofounder Leadership Metrics Later Stage 36

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

While 20th century metrics were revenue and profit, today it’s common for companies to get acquired for their user base. And in later stage rounds an explosion of corporate VCs and hedge funds now want in to the next unicorns. (Today’s version is Tesla – now more valuable than Ford.).

Founder 278

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 278

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 22, 2020

Good content that’s likely to impress search engines contains the following metrics. Good content offers the ability to generate leads, warm them, and transit them into the later stages of the sales journey. Consequently, Google and other search engines pick these signals. In turn, they reward your content with high rankings.

Affiliate 230

Affiliate Startup Later Stage Search 230

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Analytics is about designing, reporting, and leveraging operating metrics to aid strategic and functional decision-making. These are operating metrics because they are not part of GAAP financial statements, even though they are critical for everyone from the CEO to marketers and PMs to make data-informed decision on a daily basis.

Analytics 149

Analytics Hiring SQL Forecast 149

ConversionXL

MAY 1, 2019

Trend lines aren’t impressive if they track metrics that appear distant from business goals. Catalog the information you’ll need to convey at a later stage. Trend lines aren’t impressive if they track metrics that appear distant from business goals. Results aren’t persuasive if reports seem like a jumble of acronyms.

Marketing 124

Marketing Sales Cycle Retention Differentiation 124

View from Seed

JUNE 5, 2018

The quest for building such hiring machine is universal across companies at various stages. Keeping that in mind, we designed the program in such way that later-stage portfolio companies such as Dia&Co and MealPal could gain insights alongside younger ones such as Voodoo Manufacturing , ExecThread , and Virgent Realty.

Hiring 120

Hiring Portfolio Metrics B2C 120

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

The rest of Asia is still developing with far more angel and early-stage investors than mid-to-later stage folks. Singapore is by far the most developed behind those big three markets with government schemes attracting over a dozen early stage firms to set up shop here (e.g.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Berkonomics

JUNE 16, 2022

We can invent lots of metrics to measure progress for a leader, including revenue, profit, employee satisfaction, cost containment, percentage of available market, and more. There are many roads to Rio, so they say. But there is one overwhelming method of appraising the effectiveness of a business leader.

Later Stage 62

Later Stage Early Stage Valuation Acquisition 62

Duct Tape Marketing

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

17:16] Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on? [19:43] Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on as. Mr. So look, you know, know as a SAS based company, you've got SA classic SA SA metrics and we are a very different organization in terms of marketing than I would say at other kind of corporations or big company.

SEO 95

SEO Channel Campaign Audience 95

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

The earlier you invest the higher the chances the company won’t work out and thus you pay a lower price than later-stage investors. Another firm we saw tried to raise $15 million at a $60 million pre-money with similar metrics. So how exactly are prices determined? There is no great science to it. Here’s the problem.

Pre-Money Valuation 336

Pre-Money Valuation Valuation Silicon Valley Stock 336

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Early-stage valuations are up 70%, and late-stage valuations are up 103% (source Pitchbook ). Seed investors are being compensated for the risk because later-stage investors are paying higher prices, and diluting early-stage investors less.

Valuation 319

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 319

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2016

I think I’m better at the product stage of a business and helping with strategy, marketing, pricing, feature sets and so forth than I am at evaluating later-stage businesses based on financial results and business metrics and priced accordingly.

Early Stage 254

Early Stage Non-Compete LP Later Stage 254

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 4, 2023

17:16] Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on? [19:43] Is there a small set of metrics that you rely on as. So the emphasis and the laser focus on metrics is like, not optional. (18:49): 14:08] As a mature organization, how do you balance the need for branding versus the need to acquire more users? [17:16]

SEO 95

SEO Audience Channel Campaign 95

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Early-stage valuations are up 70%, and late-stage valuations are up 103% (source Pitchbook ). Seed investors are being compensated for the risk because later-stage investors are paying higher prices, and diluting early-stage investors less.

Valuation 295

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 295

Steve Blank

JUNE 15, 2010

Certain VC’s like the new class of Super-Angels and small VC funds specialize in the early stage of a startup where you are searching for a business model. And some larger funds that specialize in later stage deals may have a partner or two who likes to invest at this stage. Have they heard about Customer Development ?

Founder 232

Founder Vesting Later Stage Early Stage 232

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

And lastly, most business metrics, which are rich in information, are kept private (and this leads to unavailable data). At later stages, there’s more access to private data that they can benchmark against their own successful portfolio. So, what do we do at the seed stage? 2) Does success = a $1B unicorn? .

Seed Stage 126

Seed Stage Later Stage Algorithm API 126

ConversionXL

JUNE 2, 2022

Does your company clearly understand current CAC , LTV, CAC payback period, and other core growth metrics? The most significant financial returns will happen in the later stages, after you’ve identified and engaged target accounts. Are you on a trajectory to meet your mid-term and long-term growth targets?

Customer 98

Customer Marketing Channel Acquisition 98

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 15, 2015

Pay attention to your metrics, because a company will build what the CEO measures. Lecture 20: Closing Thoughts and Later-Stage Advice. It’s better to build something a small number of users love, than a large number of users like. Very few companies become super-successful without users loving their product.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Delaware Startup Technical Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

I know it sounds obvious but just so you understand: There are more capital sources available for earlier-stage capital, the information on which they are evaluating the investment is less (it is almost certainly just team and product) and the risk of the investor getting things wrong is diminished. You are in a classic cap table pinch.

Burn Rate 150

Burn Rate Cap Table Valuation Software Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 25, 2015

In a period of “uncertainty” about the future venture capital rounds take longer – particularly later-stage deals. And it doesn’t change the fact that our late-stage venture markets are over-valued relative to public markets, so either. public stocks go up and privates can grow into IPOs; or.

Balance Sheet 150

Balance Sheet Valuation Burn Rate Stock 150

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

In venture capital, in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. – Internal diversity.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

David Teten

JANUARY 9, 2018

In venture capital, in particular, early-stage companies are often operating in frontier industries, where the rules are unpredictable and conventional analytic frameworks may be misleading. – Internal diversity.

Venture Capital 60

Venture Capital Private Equity Silicon Valley Differentiation 60

This is going to be BIG.

AUGUST 24, 2017

There are tons of examples of later stage venture firms not only placing seed bets, but also skipping right to Series A with huge "seed" rounds right out of the gate. You might take enough risk off the table for them in the future and they might come in at a later right, sure. Too early" is a pass.

Term Sheet 124

Term Sheet Later Stage Partner Founder 124

ReadWriteStart

AUGUST 26, 2022

Do you have other efficiency metrics that you look at when you evaluate businesses to check the quality of growth and the quality of the revenues? . You can break that down to revenue retention because different types of models, whether subscription, usage-based, or transactional, will have different retention metrics. . Yeah, yeah.

Partner 132

Partner Cofounder Retention Acquisition 132

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 14, 2021

Warning – this assumes some basic knowledge of VC performance metrics. Early-stage valuations are up 70%, and late-stage valuations are up 103% (source Pitchbook ). Seed investors are being compensated for the risk because later-stage investors are paying higher prices, and diluting early-stage investors less.

Valuation 156

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Distribution Early Stage 156

Austin Startup

AUGUST 30, 2018

So while the number of dollars pouring into Austin may be increasing, that metric is only favorable to businesses that warrant those sized-rounds. Of these rounds, nearly every one was classified as a Series B or later-stage round, with the exception of a few debt and equity financing rounds. What does this information mean?

Austin 48

Austin San Francisco Early Stage Later Stage 48

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 24, 2018

You can go with the base plan for starters and choose to upgrade in the later stages for additional features such as full API access and multiple monetization options. Video performance analytics to see video metrics, audience metrics, and popular content trending on the platform. Multiple monetization options.

Software 105

Software Bandwidth API Flash 105

K9 Ventures

OCTOBER 10, 2017

If the Micro-VCs are looking for Series A-like metrics, what does a company do when it’s just getting started? In order for a company to attract a full Seed round ($2M – $3M), that company needs to show an almost completed product, an advanced prototype, or some kind of traction/demand metrics.

Seed Stage 82

Seed Stage Finance Later Stage Equity 82