article thumbnail

Why Misunderstanding Startup Metrics Can Cost You Your Business

Both Sides of the Table

There has been a lot of public debate over the past several weeks about whether it’s a good thing to be “gross margin positive” or not and commentary always reminds me that some people at startups don’t quite understand financial metrics or even how to think about which ones are healthy. So if you’re able to raise easily no problem.

Metrics 150
article thumbnail

Praying to the God of Valuation

Both Sides of the Table

There were startups and a software industry but barely. 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. There was no money train. It was 1991. We still loved every moment.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

What Entrepreneurs Can Learn From The Grateful Dead

InfoChachkie

Entrepreneurs often must take counter-intuitive, contrarian positions in order to succeed. As noted in Entrepreneurship Is A Compulsion , entrepreneurs often view the world from a slightly different vantage point, rejecting the oxymoronic term Conventional Wisdom. . Old School Software Distribution Is Doomed. That’s logic.”.

article thumbnail

For Many New Ventures, Location Is The Key To Success

Startup Professionals Musings

I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S. Today, Silicon Valley is the consumer and enterprise software capital of the world. But it is an important metric for firms in pursuit of explosive growth.

article thumbnail

8 Tactics To Make You A Fearless Business Innovator

Startup Professionals Musings

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. Define realistic metrics to keep track of progress.

article thumbnail

6 Ways To Improve Your Odds Of New Business Success

Startup Professionals Musings

Almost every entrepreneur and new business owner I mentor is certain that his/her idea has a very high probability of success, and all find it hard to believe that ninety percent of startups ultimately fail. I once met with an entrepreneur who had developed a new algae strain to cure world hunger and make him rich.

article thumbnail

Joey Flores On Earbits' Life, Death, and Resurrection

socalTECH

In fact, my cofounder had already put in notice to move out of his place, he had bough tickets to Columbia, where he had decided to spend the next six months to work on coding. They immediately wired us money, and even paid myself and my cofounder a stipend while we were in due diligence. So, we decided to shut down the company.