YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 24, 2017

Here are a few tips to ensure that you and your partners start out on the right foot. Is it prudent to have a set formula for valuation before you know how the company will perform or will you require the company to pay for an expert to value the company if one side wants to sell? Plan for your company’s eventual valuation.

Partner 208

Partner Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence 208

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

They have seen one side of a market where many of us have seen the ebb and flow multiple times. Still, market amnesia by ordinarily rational actors always surprises me. I believe a bubble occurs when a market is willing to pay greater than intrinsic value for an asset class. I spoke about a lot of things during the keynote.

Saudi Arabia 309

Saudi Arabia Valuation IPO Technical Review 309

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 28, 2020

Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Investors and partners now look only for a framework of your business essentials, within the context of your opportunity, solution, and financials. Just make sure you can fill in all the details.

Intellectual Property 404

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 404

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

Steve Blank

JUNE 27, 2017

Initially, a startup has no business model and no market share to defend. If they select a business model that targets industry incumbents, they don’t have to worry about upsetting existing customers, partners or distribution channels. Tesla – current valuation $50 billion – sells cars directly through its own distribution channel.

Startup 306

Startup New York City Valuation Distribution 306

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 1, 2021

In a nutshell, affiliate marketing is a form of performance-based marketing. This is where a company will reward one or several affiliates for every customer or visitor brought by the affiliate’s own marketing efforts. The main purpose of an affiliate marketing strategy is to influence others to buy from you.

Affiliate 197

Affiliate Marketing Technical Review Software Review 197

VC Cafe

MARCH 7, 2025

Anthropic has just raised $3.5bn in a round at a post-money valuation of $61.5bn. Kol hakavod Stav Levi Neumark and team Alta on coming out of stealth with a $7M seed round to bring AI-driven sales agents to market! NEW APPOINTMENTS Big congrats Iren Reznikov on joining Vintage Investment Partners as a Partner!

Israel 103

Israel Stealth Taiwan ChatGPT 103

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Set realistic milestones and achieve some.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 30, 2022

Every business owner and entrepreneur I meet in my consulting rounds dreams of finding that “ disruptive ” innovation that will supercharge their business and move it into the ranks of business unicorns (billion-dollar valuations), such as SpaceX and Apple. If you don’t keep it top of mind today, then you are going to be left behind.

Technical Review 252

Technical Review Silicon Valley Software Review Metrics 252

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I had been looking around at several deals in late 2008 as the markets were tanking. He told me he wondered if we should consider switching partners so the company could get more money and at a higher price. But my other VC partner had a smaller fund and raising price would have a big impact on his ability to finance the company.

Term Sheet 356

Term Sheet Silicon Valley Reputation Partner 356

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

Seed is about showing initial product market fit. Below are just a few contributors to the rise of pre-seed in the current market: Explosion of Micro funds – In recent years, there’s been a steep increase in the number of micro funds, which are generally below $100M in size.

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

I know – I was there when the first people debating funding it at less than a $5m valuation. And rather than a small group of our partners and associates all thinking it’s a good idea we don’t mind if there is strong internal debate and at Upfront there often is. Almost nobody believed and now look at it.

Technical Review 362

Technical Review America United States Partner 362

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

In many areas, not enough entrepreneurs meet the criteria, so it’s still a buyer’s market. While most entrepreneurs want to prove an enormous market size potential, rarely does the entrepreneur know how many real customers exist and how many products they could potentially buy over a period of time. Participation.

Intellectual Property 265

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Phoenix Arizona 265

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

When I was running startups I felt like a horse with blinders on because I was super focused on the content management market and ignored many other markets. They outline the problems that exist in markets, their approach to the solutions, they update me on competitors and they show me their economic models.

Technical Review 312

Technical Review Due Diligence Spain Warrant 312

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Set realistic milestones and achieve some.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

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. 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. ( Well, both of those things happened but they were lagging indicators.

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage IPO 328

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Make sure your plan answers every relevant question that you could possibly imagine from your business partners, spouse, and potential investors. For a business, you must define the absolute minimum features you need to satisfy the customer problem, and test it in the market. Set realistic milestones and achieve some.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

Steve Blank

MAY 29, 2011

Max and his partners interviewed and analyzed over 650 early-stage Internet startups. However, this does not mean that investors don’t have a significant effect on valuations and M&A). Founders overestimate the value of IP before product market fit by 255%. . Solo founders take 3.6x less likely to pivot.

Technical Cofounder 335

Technical Cofounder Early Stage Startup Silicon Valley 335

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 1, 2011

Mike believes the reason AltaVista didn’t become Google ( despite their market leadership position ) was because they didn’t focus on search. The Union Square Ventures partners started whispering in his ear that “it’s all about social now”. Part 1/3 of Interview: The Beginnings of Mike’s Entrepreneurial Journey [ Minutes: start – 13 ].

Semantic 302

Semantic Acquisition Valuation Angel Investor 302

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Investors and partners now look only for a framework of your business essentials, within the context of your opportunity, solution, and financials. Just make sure you can fill in all the details.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2009

Assuming normal valuations at fund raising rounds you’ll be down to 6-12% after you’ve created a stock-option pool and raised capital. Research your market. I know it’s obvious but I’m always surprised how many people just start building products without thinking enough about the market.

Founder Vesting 365

Founder Vesting Intellectual Property Stock Options IP 365

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2016

At the Upfront Summit in early February, we had a chance to have many off-the-record conversations with Limited Partners (LPs) who fund Venture Capital (VC) funds about their views of the market. LPs See The Over-Valuations and Don’t Like It. That’s money that fuels our startup ecosystems.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital LP Silicon Valley Marketing 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

The goal of any cartel is to control production, distribution & marketing of a set of goods with the goal of maintaining high prices. I might talk openly about how Hulu is my partner, while simultaneously launching an iPad player before hulu does (as ABC did) – even when I’m a shareholder.

Video 292

Video Technical Review Advertising Distribution 292

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 7, 2013

Yet 2013 is still projected by The Fiscal Times as a difficult IPO opportunity for startups, due to choppy markets, continuing fiscal uncertainty, and the Facebook fiasco. The market and venture capitalists are looking for business, but with a continuing focus on proven business models.

Venture Capital 252

Venture Capital IPO Elevator Pitch Initial Public Offering 252

View from Seed

MAY 2, 2019

My experience is that YC partners tend to encourage founders to hold off on taking more money shortly after getting into YC, arguing that their value will increase significantly in just a few months. So your net dilution may end up worse and you may miss out on working with a really hands-on pre-seed partner early in your company’s life.

Early Stage 214

Early Stage Dilution Valuation .Net 214

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator.

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2011

Twitter wanted to raise money for this new venture at a pre-money valuation which was quite a bit higher than First Round’s $10 million limit. Office Hours – Two or three partners post a sign-up sheet to meet with entrepreneurs. Office Hours – Two or three partners post a sign-up sheet to meet with entrepreneurs.

Pre-Money Valuation 284

Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review Cofounder Cram Down 284

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 30, 2024

Despite the war, in the last nine months Sequoia , Greylock and Accel all opened offices in Israel, and Founders Fund appointed a partner to cover Israeli deals. With attractive valuations and immense growth potential, the Israeli tech ecosystem remains resilient—no matter the circumstances.

Israel 183

Israel Technical Review Startup Generative AI 183

View from Seed

OCTOBER 31, 2018

The main value propositions are: user experience and value – home sellers can manage the entirety of their selling activities through its app and cloud-based platform, from valuation to showing scheduling to negotiation and closing, while paying a $5,000 flat fee vs. the industry tradition of 3% commission.

Atlanta 159

Atlanta Cofounder Software Review Technical Review 159

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. Because companies are raising way more capital in private markets than they ever did in the past. So the answer is: sometimes they take it, sometimes they don’t. Times won’t always be good.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

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

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

The key elements of leadership in a company, both individual and organizational, are less tangible, but very critical in setting a market value for investment, acquisition, or going public. Every business and brand has unique requirements to fit into their market environment. Leadership brand development.

Leadership 120

Leadership Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation 120

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Of partner? 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. Picking a VC is hard. Reputation of firm?

Portfolio 364

Portfolio Chicago Sales Incubator 364

The Startup Magazine

FEBRUARY 21, 2024

The increasing importance of private credit in today’s market cannot be overstated. The challenges I faced building companies were multifaceted, ranging from securing adequate funding to navigating the labyrinth of market dynamics and building a team that shares a common vision and drive.

Technical Review 158

Technical Review Due Diligence Bankruptcy Intellectual Property 158

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2018

On the other hand, everyone is doing it, so that means more competition, and the market and technology are changing faster than ever before. Those that do it right also have the unprecedented opportunity to join the elite ranks of 250 unicorns (relatively new companies with a current valuation of over $1 billion).

Technical Cofounder 184

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Silicon Valley LLC 184

VC Cafe

JANUARY 14, 2022

Many of the companies that went public via SPACs saw their valuations dramatically reduce in the months that followed post IPO. The effect is additional pressures on the talent costs mentioned above, where startups struggle to compete with larger players in the market. Plenty of fresh powder in the market across stages.

Israel 158

Israel Technical Review Lock-up Period South Korea 158