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8 Questions You Should Ask Before You Join A Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

Every startup founder loves to prompt for questions from investors and potential key team members about their vision, and the huge opportunity that can be had with their disruptive technology. If the company has been around for more than a couple of years, and still has no product or revenue flow, there better be a good explanation.

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Startup Stock Options – Why A Good Deal Has Gone Bad

Steve Blank

A version of this article first appeared in the Harvard Business Review. For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options. As Venture Capital emerged as an industry in the mid 1970’s, investors in venture-funded startups began to give stock options to all their employees.

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Stock Market Drops. Then It Rallies. What Happens Next for Funding?

Both Sides of the Table

Companies with less than $2 million in revenue were asking for $50-60 million valuations and getting them. Let’s review all of our existing investments. So when the market started showing good signs (iPhone, Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, stock market growth) it was happy days again. was still a term being bandied about.

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Why Uber is The Revenge of the Founders

Steve Blank

A version of this article is in the Harvard Business Review. — 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. 20th Century Tech Liquidity = Initial Public Offering.

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It’s Morning in Venture Capital

Both Sides of the Table

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

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Strategies to Improve Cash Flow Management for Startups

The Startup Magazine

Yet, most small businesses fail due to poor cash flow management. Image source Startups often face unpredictable revenue streams and mounting operational costs, making cash flow management particularly challenging. Setting aside a percentage of monthly revenue creates a financial buffer that can cover urgent expenses when needed.

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Should Startups Focus on Profitability or Not?

Both Sides of the Table

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. Simplifying: Revenue -.

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