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Is the Lean Startup concept of MVP dead?

VC Cafe

VC’s were no longer insisting that startups spend faster, and “swing for the fences”. It was a nuclear winter for startup capital.” ” Steve Blank, “Is the lean startup dead?” ” The Lean Startup movement started out of necessity. Capital resources alone don’t do the trick.

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Startup Stock Options – Why A Good Deal Has Gone Bad

Steve Blank

VC’s have just changed the ~50-year old social contract with startup employees. In doing so they may have removed one of the key incentives that made startups different from working in a large company. For most startup employee’s startup stock options are now a bad deal. Why Startups Offer Stock Options.

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Seed Stage Startups Are Now Graded on a Curve

View from Seed

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. How much total capital has been put into the company since founding.

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Watch out for the most common scam in startup world?—?Sputnik ATX

Austin Startup

Watch out for the most common scam in startup world?—?Sputnik Rule Number One: the best help for start-ups comes from proven leaders who don’t need cash from your seed capital and genuinely want to help ideas they believe in. Watch out for the most common scam in startup world?—?Sputnik

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How Much Seed Capital Should You Actually Raise?

View from Seed

I suspect that the 18-month rule originated because that’s the approximate average time it takes for startups to reach an important value-inflection milestone. Yet the next round of capital is going to be based on what was accomplished, certainly not by how much time elapsed. Startups are hard. Don’t raise as much.

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When Is the Right Time to Raise Outside Seed Capital?

View from Seed

If the goal of the startup is that you know you want to go as big as possible from the beginning — “unicorn or bust,” so to speak — then raise as much capital as soon as you are able to successfully do so. Do you have the experience, reputation, and network that make it relatively easy to raise seed capital?

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How to Approach Your First Board Meeting After Raising Seed Capital

View from Seed

During the preceding pitch process, even founders who are highly transparent, honest folks try to put their startup in the best possible light for a new investor, so it’s only natural that a more complete picture of a company’s situation (warts and all) sometimes comes into focus after the round is closed and board meeting scheduled.