The Next Web

OCTOBER 3, 2012

I have heard many founders — even in the first few months of product development — expect to raise seed rounds, pay themselves salaries, etc. Your first three years you will get the startup off the ground, establish your core team culture, and fully validate your main product/market through rapid iteration.

Cofounder 155

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Technical Review Software Review 155

VC Cafe

JULY 5, 2010

A s venture funds struggle to raise money in Israel, seed capital, one of the earliest and riskiest stages of investment, is becoming harder and harder to secure. Secondly, we are selling a fixed investment product – a fixed number of investors, a fixed buy-in and a fixed number of portfolio companies.

Israel 106

Israel Technical Review Software Review Seed Stage 106

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

At NextView Ventures we have written many pieces about venture capital — how to raise it, build your business, engage with investors, iterate your product, navigate expanding industries, etc. Rethinking the Standard Fundraising Deck “I’d make it crystal clear what your product actually does. VCs sure do love writing.

Seed Stage 177

Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

View from Seed

JUNE 7, 2016

Based on that reaction, we wanted to continue improving the product through both additional revs/design and continuing to evolve how we think about board meetings in the first place. How to Approach Your First Board Meeting After Raising Seed Capital. Critical Tasks to Complete After Raising Seed Capital [Founder Checklist].

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Founder Seed Capital Institutional Investors 120

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 13, 2018

Over the past five years, we’ve witnessed an Atomization of the Seed Stage. Early fundraising is no longer a one-and-done fundraise of a single round of Seed capital subsequently followed by a Series A 12–18 months later. Crisply define when the “real” business started.

Seed Stage 136

Seed Stage Post-Money Valuation Valuation Startup 136

YoungUpstarts

JULY 31, 2019

Of course, a certain amount of initial capital without financial performance is absolutely necessary to get a business off the ground, especially in regulated industries. Founders need seed capital to get their operations up and running, and to begin generating revenue.

Cofounder 127

Cofounder Burn Rate Technical Cofounder Seed Capital 127

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 4, 2013

If you have a technical background and you are focused on product development, consider a co-founder with a sales and marketing background that can focus on selling your world class product. Rather, give titles such as VP of Engineering, Product/Technology, Sales, Marketing, Finance, etc. Early Stage.

Part-Time VPE 79

Part-Time VPE Fractional VPE Cofounder CTO Hire 79

Genuine VC

OCTOBER 19, 2015

Each gathering showcases early stage startups in their infancy, not as a capital-raising pitch, but rather as a way to show off their product to peers for both exposure and feedback. Seed capital is more readily available, including of course through NextView Ventures. The origins of WebInno are humble.

Boston 100

Boston Cofounder Seed Capital Software Engineering 100

crowdSPRING Blog

FEBRUARY 7, 2014

Raising Seed Capital – crowdspring.co/MX18CE. don’t return investors’ capital” – crowdspring.co/1dhuwIO. How about one of these strange products? Amazon is surprisingly quiet/inactive when it comes to acquisitions | Re/code – crowdspring.co/1dhwOrm. What’s up with the Series A?

Social Media 95

Social Media Small Business Design Media 95

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2016

When thinking about how much seed capital to raise, we need a more sophisticated lens than just the old rule of thumb of “18 months of runway.” But before you get that far, there is one additional factor to consider to determine the right amount of seed capital to raise: an honest reflection of your fundraising ability.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Burn Rate Seed Stage Networking 120

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

The fundamental objective and aim of seed investment is to assist a company in launching its operations successfully. It is necessary to cover the early stages of product development, thorough market research, and other processes during the initial step. Seed capital is a component of the initial investments made in young businesses.

Seed Stage 148

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 148

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

So I recently re-shared a 2019 blog post where I’d basically advised founders who’ve raised seed capital to worry less about “how will I raise the next round” and more about “how will I execute my plan?” They’re hiring remote roles in engineering and product design.

Founder 134

Founder Cofounder Metrics Technical Review 134

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

Facts: Many popular startup companies are tech companies because they can create highly specific products quickly and distribute it to a large audience fast, but a startup does not necessarily have to be a technology company. Create a specific product that satisfies the needs of your target market. Start on your good idea.

Cofounder 100

Cofounder Startup Montana Seed Capital 100

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

Think of your seed capital as a way to empower you to reach that important milestone in order to raise the next round immediately after … not leave you just shy of the interim prize. The post How Much Seed Capital Should You Actually Raise? For instance, are you anticipating that big, key customer in less than a year?

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Demand Finance 120

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

The following is a real (but anonymized) email to us at NextView where a founder debates the timing of his seed raise: I met with someone today who said I should push to close a seed round before I launch the product. Do you have the experience, reputation, and network that make it relatively easy to raise seed capital?

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Dilution Networking 120

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. Accept that many successful companies are going to want to be backed by big-name firms in other cities. Instead, focus on getting them ready for that stage. And do your customer development. Revisiting the Software Design Manifesto (and what.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

View from Seed

MARCH 26, 2015

In the last year or so, the debate over the definitions of seed versus pre-seed capital (sometimes called genesis rounds) has exploded. Much digital ink has been spilled about what dollar amount constitutes a pre-seed and how that might affect a startup’s ability to go raise a “normal” seed round from institutional investors.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Institutional Investors Venture Capital Partner 120

Up and Running

AUGUST 12, 2014

The notion of “founder fit” seems to have its roots in what entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen calls “product/market fit”the idea that you should be in a good market and be in possession of a product that can satisfy that market. Really, its a precursor to product/market fit.

Venture Capital 90

Venture Capital Founder Angel Investor North America 90

View from Seed

FEBRUARY 25, 2015

A few weeks ago, we launched two startup pitch deck templates for raising seed capital — part of NextView’s platform of exclusive startup resources. Again, like the above mentioned “why” slide, this clarity and focus is also great practice for selling your product to customers. #3:

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Seed Stage Boston Startup 120

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

In order to be competitive, a company needs to have just about everything in place, from its product to its team to market traction, before it is ready to seek funding. Your private profile is where investors will look with a critical eye on everything that makes you a business rather than just a product or a sexy idea.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

Sigh… What I should have been hearing is the search for the business model, specifically the progress on product/market fit, but I hear the fund raising story first at least 90% of the time. Does our product or service solve a customer problem (product-market fit)? But to achieve scale, startups need risk capital.

Venture Capital 335

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 335

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Once a startup has raised seed capital, plenty of theories and advice exist on how to successfully raise a Series A. Foster product development and marketing which creates organic (or somewhat organic) user traction. They may not raise Series A quicker, but they’re more likely to raise more dollars. They are: 1.

Syndicate 333

Syndicate Syndication Seed Stage Startup 333

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 5, 2019

Stuck in a meeting which wasn’t productive. The service trends these Net Meeting Scores over time, benchmarking meetings to other people’s, teams’, and companies’, while also providing actionable recommendations that can result in real change & improvement in productivity. Meetings can suck. I know that you’ve been there.

Seed Capital 222

Seed Capital Syndicate Syndication .Net 222

Hunter Walker

MARCH 10, 2025

One byproduct of this movement, especially during the blitzscaling era , were new startups in areas such as finance, healthcare, housing, education, using venture capital to acquire customers at accelerated rates. I’ve said before this is one reason why we are very very careful about investing in addiction or mental health startups.

Software 83

Software Cap Table Accredited Investor B2C 83

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

The group also hosts its annual QPrize competition, awarding winners with $750,000 in seed funding. Roberts talks of social networks as mediums that may very well help your product or name attract VC attention. Advice for First-Timers If you’re a first-timer, Kapor highly recommends building a working product prior to pitching.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

David Teten

MAY 7, 2019

Do you have a great team at your seed startup, but your product just isn’t working? Do you wish there was a product to help companies “Get things done” by leveraging your own employees, your employees’ networks, and more broadly other influencers around you? You must have a strong product management pedigree.

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

Looking 4 entrepreneurial product mgr/biz-dev killer 4 a network-based service. Do you have a great team at your seed startup, but your product just isn’t working? I am only interested in talking with people who want to work full-time on this, once we have raised capital (or ideally before). We’re off to the races!

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2010

You’ve got the perfect product. There are these great big companies that have large sales departments looking to supplement their existing products so when they’re with clients they can increase their average order size. Sort of amortizing the costs of their sales reps over more products. A Channel Love Story.

Channel 293

Channel Startup Sales Partner 293

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

CargoX has developed a decentralized platform based on the Ethereum network, and their Blockchain Document Transaction System (BDTS) technology, and it has a pipeline of future products for the supply chain industry?—?among among them the Smart L/C and other trade finance solutions, and Smart Air Waybills for the air freight industry.

Slovenia 62

Slovenia Technical Review Startup Seed Capital 62

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 26, 2014

Yesterday I wrote a post about The Silent Benefits of PR in which I pointed out that most young companies I encounter don’t fully grasp the benefits of PR because they are less measurable than product milestones or customer acquisition analyses (like CAC/LTV). It super charges a business that is closer to product delivery.

PR 319

PR Venture Capital Hiring Seed Capital 319

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2013

Sigh… What I should have been hearing is the search for the business model, specifically the progress on product/market fit, but I hear the fund raising story first at least 90% of the time. Does our product or service solve a customer problem (product-market fit)? But to achieve scale, startups need risk capital.

Venture Capital 227

Venture Capital IRR Liquidity Event Business Model 227

Genuine VC

MARCH 24, 2014

The strategy here is to foster product development and marketing which creates overall (semi-)organic user momentum. For B2B startups especially, revenue is the best signal of product-market fit. Showing eye-opening demand, even if it’s just a proxy for the eventual business, helps alleviate those concerns. Generate Real Revenue.

Seed Capital 212

Seed Capital Metrics Cofounder Revenue 212

Genuine VC

AUGUST 14, 2012

For entrepreneurs, seeking seed capital means meeting with numerous VC firms and sometimes dozens of angels… fun? But that doesn’t mean it can’t be productive beyond obtaining the capital itself : Running a great fundraising process involves crafting real story and not just a pitch. Those three letters.

Seed Capital 163

Seed Capital Customer Development Partner Developer 163

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

In reality the “private capital market” now really consists of three distinct markets: Seed capital (the start), Venture capital (scale or bust) and Growth Capital (private IPOs). That is why you’ve seen so many VC firms that only 20 years ago have $150 million funds raise $ billion growth vehicle.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

View from Seed

MAY 14, 2019

A number of blog posts recently have mentioned this, but we seem to be experiencing a rise in repeat founders starting new businesses and raising seed capital. You needed to find the most scrappy and cost efficient way to get a product out, and in the process learned tons about the market and customer you are trying to serve.

Founder 256

Founder Agile Cofounder Seed Capital 256

View from Seed

SEPTEMBER 11, 2019

Seed stage VCs are realistic about how much traction a very raw company might have. At NextView we invest across the spectrum of seed stage companies so roughly 1/3rd of the companies we invest in are pre-product, roughly 1/3rd are post-product but pre-revenue, and perhaps 1/3rd have some very early revenue.

Seed Stage 149

Seed Stage B2B Seed Capital Revenue 149