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. Even for startups, it takes years for a new product to become good enough to demand many millions of dollars in revenue.). Yet mobile advertising revenues were paltry.

Balance Sheet 242

Balance Sheet Vertical Acquisition Revenue 242

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

" Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them.

Founder 242

Founder Dilution Software Review Later Stage 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

MAY 23, 2012

Yes, it’s true that FOMO (fear of missing out) is driving some irrational behavior and valuations amongst uber competitive deals and well-financed VCs. The opportunity to transact at the point of purchase increases the sheer number of revenue opportunities. Web businesses can now grow revenue before they can even afford sales people.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Technical Review LP Mobile 347

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 24, 2017

— Unremarked and unheralded, the balance of power between startup CEOs and their investors has radically changed: IPOs/M&A without a profit (or at times revenue) have become the norm. Typically, this caliber of bankers wouldn’t talk to you unless your company had five profitable quarters of increasing revenue.

Founder 281

Founder Technical Review CTO Hire IPO 281

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 16, 2023

Who would not want to join the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Before you bring on partners, develop intellectual property, raise capital, or generate revenues, you need to establish an official business entity. Incorporating a business entity early through online services.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Angel Groups Social Media 261

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

Throughout the first year we made many fixes and saw our revenue base in these markets accelerate so we felt we were ready to attack Los Angeles, amongst the most important storage markets in the country. An example of the systems companies build are pricing & revenue management tools to best help to optimize yield.

Operations 286

Operations New York City Technical Review Startup 286

Steve Blank

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

Five Quarters of Profitability During the 1980’s and through the mid 1990’s startups going public had to do something that most companies today never heard of – they had to show a track record of increasing revenue and consistent profitability. There was now a public market for companies with no revenue, no profit and big claims.

Silicon Valley 237

Silicon Valley IPO Technical Review Venture Capital 237

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 10, 2018

How do you find the balance between not too small to prove itself but not too big to have an off-putting valuation? Minimizing losses in the year before you begin shopping around for buyers will increase profit and help you get that higher valuation. Another important metric is churn. This plan will help you with that.

Valuation 145

Valuation Technical Review Exit Strategy Metrics 145

VC Adventure

AUGUST 31, 2017

If you read my blog regularly you know I love (LOVE) metrics. So no surprise that when River Cities Capital released an overview of SaaS operating and valuation benchmarks, I hung on every juicy detail. They took the 92 public SaaS companies and analyzed their key operating metrics. The valuation metrics show this clearly.

IPO 113

IPO Vertical Balance Sheet Valuation 113

ConversionXL

JANUARY 9, 2019

But even data-driven attribution , robust as it may be, usually improves attribution of form fills or PDF downloads—marketing metrics that may be weak indicators of sales. Charles Farina of Analytics Pros explained: If you are able to qualify a lead quickly, work to connect your metrics to center on qualified leads. Page Value.

Sales Cycle 127

Sales Cycle Bootstrapping Conversion Web 127

Austin Startup

APRIL 25, 2017

Revenue needs to grow 20x, and margins must expand dramatically. I won’t dive into cost structure in this blog post, but let’s think through how Snap could grow revenue 20x. I won’t dive into cost structure in this blog post, but let’s think through how Snap could grow revenue 20x. How can one justify a $20B valuation for Snap?

Valuation 48

Valuation Technical Review Social Network Forecast 48

The Startup Magazine

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Data analysis helps keep a detailed product portfolio whereby you can assess your products on several different metrics. For example, you can ascertain which products earn you the most revenue, which products generate the most goodwill, the seasonal demands of the products, etc. Not every product aims at the entire market.

Analytics 174

Analytics Portfolio Advertising Technical Review 174

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations.   I’ve sat down with entrepreneurs and a copy of a term sheet guide I like [ “Term Sheets & Valuations - A Line by Line Look at the Intricacies of Venture Capital Term Sheets & Valuations ” by Alex Wilmerding, Aspatore Press.] The Valuation Question.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Ben's Blog

MARCH 24, 2011

As we do so, keep in mind that the relevant bubble statistic is not valuation. High valuations are fine if the underlying value is there. In the great bubble of 1998-2000, the boom in public valuations mirrored the boom in private valuations. If too much venture capital hits the streets, valuations will bubble up.

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Valuation Venture Capital Database 78

Gust

JULY 23, 2014

So even if my own mother asked me to meet with you, and you were pitching me a biotech opportunity for a $10 million investment at a $90 million valuation, I might take the meeting, but it wouldn’t be particularly useful for either of us. Now comes the really tricky part: getting me to review all that stuff you just neatly uploaded.

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review 153

The Equity Kicker

FEBRUARY 8, 2012

Starting with ‘customer’, unsurprisingly, the more customers and revenues a company has the more a VC will look to what they are doing to tell him or her whether the product is good. Valuation for Pre-revenue, pre-traction startup (jackyyapp.com). supply chain management, marketing), but not a good product. Related articles.

Technical Review 123

Technical Review Product Venture Capital Valuation 123

VC Cafe

OCTOBER 23, 2022

The CEO shared the revenue target for the year at X, and the revenue target for next year at 3X. One of the board members asked a simple question: “Why is revenue our North Star KPI? One of the board members asked a simple question: “Why is revenue our North Star KPI?”

Metrics 179

Metrics Revenue B2C Portfolio 179

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

What’s critical for entrepreneurs to understand is that valuations for startups do not increase at a linear rate; they increase geometrically based on achieving the right milestones. The best entrepreneurs raise enough money to achieve a set of interim milestones and then raise capital again at a significantly increased valuation.

Valuation 100

Valuation Dilution Chicago Technical Review 100

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

You may be able to generate revenue, but VCs want exponential growth. You’ll certainly want to be clear about your unique differentiators, but VCs also want to see numbers and metrics, along with well-thought-out plans for how you’ll meet those metrics. Like you, they’re looking for opportunity. Be ready when it counts.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

The Next Web

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Many Asian entrepreneurs tell me that they want to raise funds from Silicon Valley firms because they perceive the valuations to be higher. Valuations are based more on typical later-stage type of metrics. Finally, don’t over-optimize on valuation. This is even true for the Asian arms of Silicon Valley VCs.

Asia 132

Asia Silicon Valley India Term Sheet 132

Hearpreneur

SEPTEMBER 27, 2020

For example, are you measuring revenue growth, or profitability? A business can be highly successful revenue-wise this year, by leveraging things that will come back to your organization’s bottom line next year. Business success is not overrated; as long as you are the one that defines the metric which qualifies the success.

Entrepreneur 133

Entrepreneur .Net Metrics Revenue 133

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2016

Who would not want to joint the unicorns (recent startups with a current valuation of over $1 billion)? Before you bring on partners, develop intellectual property, raise capital, or generate revenues, you need to establish an official business entity. Incorporating a business entity early through online services.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Groups Social Media 120

crowdSPRING Blog

MAY 4, 2011

Must read article for all startup entrepreneurs about valuation – [link]. Advertising CTR rates are abysmal and may be even worse than the metrics show – [link]. agency revenues – [link]. What It’s Like To Be An Entrepreneur – Mark Achler – [link]. Top 10 tips for email newsletters – [link].

Social Media 92

Social Media Small Business Design Media 92

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

More and more startups are pursuing Revenue-Based VCs , but “RBI” doesn’t fit everyone. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. By tying payments to actual revenues, founders and investors remain aligned around the company’s real-time performance, good or bad. “Too Of the Inc. 5000 companies, only 6.5% raised from angels.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

crowdSPRING Blog

NOVEMBER 1, 2013

Good whitepaper on advertising measurement metrics | by Ben Kunz – crowdspring.co/HsVIMR. Good whitepaper on advertising measurement metrics | by Ben Kunz – crowdspring.co/HsVIMR. The Pricing Model That Increased Our Free Trial Signups by 358% (and Revenue by 25%) – crowdspring.co/1alarDV. Nuts - crowdspring.co/1akpXj7.

Social Media 94

Social Media Small Business Design Media 94

Feld Thoughts

JULY 9, 2019

This was before the IPO Summer of 2019 when all conventional valuation metrics have entered the land of “suspension of disbelief” which is short-term good and long-term well-we-will-see-…-eventually. We ended up talking about using Gross Profit, instead of Revenue, to do valuation analysis.

Revenue 182

Revenue Valuation .Net Boston 182

Steve Blank

MARCH 17, 2020

Next, take a look at your actual revenue each month – not forecast, but real revenue coming in each month. Subtract your monthly gross burn rate from your monthly revenue to get your net burn rate. All your assumptions about customers, sales cycle and most importantly, revenue, burn rate and runway are no longer true.

Burn Rate 436

Burn Rate Startup Valuation Sales Cycle 436

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

It goes like this, “If your next round investor can see how fast you’re scaling then you can raise money based on your user traction and your valuation can hit the sky. The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” I see this weekly.

Burn Rate 412

Burn Rate Dilution Revenue Valuation 412

betashop.com

OCTOBER 8, 2012

From the start we said that we would never make a decision as to what features to build or what products to sell based on revenue alone, rather we would focus on things that make our customers smile and by doing so lots and lots of revenue will fall out over time. Never, ever, choose your investors based on valuation.

Technical Review 108

Technical Review Technology Software Review Valuation 108

ConversionXL

OCTOBER 22, 2018

As a group, we’ve gotten a firmer grasp on top-of-the-funnel metrics. To get marketing a seat at the table and prove that it can drive revenue and pipeline, we’ve become borderline obsessed with numbers. Conversions (e.g. form fills). Black box]. However, some visibility is better than none at all. Why do I say that?

B2B 131

B2B Marketing Analytics Campaign 131

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

Lean Case provides standard business models & metrics, so you can apply a standard approach to business planning, modeling, and profitability tracking. Lighter Capital, a Revenue Based Investing VC, offers a Cost of Capital Calculator. Similarly, Corsis uses benchmarking data to understand technology spend patterns. 7) Negotiate .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. And then in the late 90’s money crept in, swept in to town by public markets, instant wealth and an absurd sky-rocketing of valuations based on no reasonable metrics.

Valuation 466

Valuation San Francisco Ratchet Liquidation Preference 466

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

DECEMBER 16, 2014

Still… Now Slack has been valued at over a billion dollars, less than a year after launch, every month adding more than a million dollars of annual recurring revenue. What does it actually mean that metric X is better than average and metric Y is below? “It’s not fair,” we all said to ourselves.

Metrics 246

Metrics Early Stage Retention Revenue 246

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 9, 2013

Deal with company admin: 409a valuations, approve stock options, vote on key measures (15%). should we charge SaaS revenue, ad revenue or volumetric billing revenue? should we cut staff early since our revenue isn’t growing? Provide information / context (15%). Ineffecient Board Meeting.

Advisory Board 337

Advisory Board Valuation Stock Options Seed Money 337

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 22, 2021

They need to believe your valuation, based on current revenue and intellectual property, and feel the equity offered gives them a real return for the risk. These show a focus on the business elements required for success, and metrics for ensuring accountability, management control, and feedback along the way.

Intellectual Property 352

Intellectual Property Equity Bootstrapping Valuation 352

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2013

Good press and industry mojo wasn’t enough to overcome the financial metrics of the business and the offers came in at more like $10 million. Sure, our revenue is growing, but is that enough to raise an internal round? Dilution / valuation. It was not. I wasn’t surprised. We decided not to sell. Are you kidding me?

Startup 417

Startup Dilution San Diego Stock Options 417