Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

But if you raise the money at the big price (or any price) please go in with the expectation that you are going to build a large, long-term business. You are either bought for stock or for equity. Raising a large round at whatever price will almost certainly take many potential buyers off the table. Think about it.

Venture Capital 316

Venture Capital Pricing Social Network Acquisition 316

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2013

Projecting the financials should be the last step of your business plan preparation, since it assumes you already know the opportunity size, customer buying habits, pricing, costs, and competition. Here are some basic “rules of thumb” that every Angel or venture capital equity investor uses, to help you anticipate their reactions.

Startup 97

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Venture Capital 97

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2013

Those at the other extreme don’t look up from the grindstone long enough to notice whether all their work is producing sweat equity or just sweat. You have figured out how to undercut your competitor’s price, and still hold your margin. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. A business model that works.

Startup 100

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 100

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2012

Those at the other extreme don’t look up from the grindstone long enough to notice whether all their work is producing sweat equity or just sweat. You have figured out how to undercut your competitor’s price, and still hold your margin. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. A business model that works.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Patents Startup Ideas 102

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

So even within the “alternative class&# our LPs are looking at other asset investment choices such as distressed buyout funds, private equity or hedge funds. And of course Foundry Group, Union Square and a whole host of other firms including my own. Price MUST be in a certain range. VC will shrink. Oh yes it will.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Of course, customers love free, but investors hate it. Even non-profits need money to scale, but their pitch should be to philanthropists, not equity investors. Smart entrepreneurs highlight their own positives in competitive positioning, rather than competitor negatives. Spends time denigrating key competitors.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2012

Look how the Japanese entered the auto industry, or how McDonalds imitated White Castle, or how Wal-Mart “perfected” the low-price high-volume approach. Of course, the first one gets the patent. Even banks, as well as equity investors, look more favorably on a proven business model than a new and unproven one.

Patents 84

Patents Startup Statistics Course 84

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2015

Competitor positioning and sustainable competitive advantage. Of course, these should never be in a customer pitch, but investors expect an overall strategy with specific budgets, milestones and metrics. Partnerships, distribution channels and pricing models should be included. “If

Product 103

Product Slides Customer Custom 103

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2011

Look how the Japanese entered the auto industry, or how McDonalds imitated White Castle, or how Wal-Mart “perfected” the low-price high-volume approach. Of course, the first one gets the patent. Even banks, as well as equity investors, look more favorably on a proven business model than a new and unproven one.

Startup 91

Startup Patents Statistics Course 91

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

Of course there’s no exact number of VCs you should meet?—?these As a VC I of course want you to come see only me because that means I have no competition and have time to properly get to know you. Sometimes I encourage teams to create new analysis on cohorts, future revenue projections, competitor reviews, pricing studies, etc.

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 12, 2010

Those at the other extreme don’t look up from the grindstone long enough to notice whether all their work is producing sweat equity or just sweat. You have figured out how to undercut your competitor’s price, and still hold your margin. Love that sustainable competitive advantage. A business model that works.

Startup 88

Startup Patents Competition Social Network 88

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2016

Defy teaches them personal finance like how to keep a checking account, the difference between debt and equity, what cashflow is and so forth. Defy Ventures runs business plan competitions and has people like us who attend and give business advice and feedback. She was smart (she started her career in private equity!)

Writing 150

Writing Startup Design Training 150

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 4, 2015

Valuation is one of those ubiquitous words: at least when it comes to discussions around startups — and, of course, stock market multiples. Business valuations = the price of the company. The industry’s competitive dynamics. Do you see the overlap with the factors that come into play for equity valuations?

IP 40

IP Equity Examples Guide 40

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But the biggest thing to know is this: Companies who are scaling quickly in revenue and with a high gross margin often should invest as much capital in growth as they can manage responsibly because when you find a product / market fit and your company is growing at a very fast scale you want to capture market share before competition sets in.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better. Get a real customer and real revenue. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Funding 112

Funding Entrepreneur Startup CTO Hire 112

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

You never got around to agreeing exact equity splits but you had many conversations about it. Forget to get around to setting up that Employee Stock Option Plan and want to be able to give the early guys their options at a low strike price? Oh, they didn’t cover that in your Stanford CS course? But make it competitive.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better. Get a real customer and real revenue. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Startup 104

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 104

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

But of course all of these things are intertwined. Obviously you need to be mentally flexible enough to spot if your instincts were wrong and a change of course is necessary. You don’t have unlimited equity to dole out. Of course continued failure means it’s time for change. Know what you believe is important.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better. Get a real customer and real revenue. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Startup 101

Startup CTO Hire Press Customer 101

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 22, 2010

It doesn’t prove your business model of pricing, distribution, and support. It’s also the keystone to convincing investors that you have a “sustainable competitive advantage.” Of course, a real contract or purchase order from a big customer is even better. Get a real customer and real revenue. Letters of intent or endorsement.

Tips 88

Tips Startup CTO Hire Press 88

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

Without taking a dime of outside capital, the company has achieved impressive success in a competitive, SaaS market segment, landing companies such as Nike, Intuit, NASA, AutoDesk and PBS. We focus very much on finding employees who are a cultural fit and we share equity when appropriate. Of course there are risks.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Valuing any company can be difficult because it requires a degree of forecasting future growth & competition and ultimately the profits of the organization. What hogwash.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2010

OPEC (the organization of petroleum exporting countries) is a cartel that was set up in the 1960′s and represents the interests of the 12 biggest oil producing countries in the world with the goal of increasing prices of oil, a good supplied in limited quantities to a world that had insatiable demand for the product.

Hulu 292

Hulu Technical Review Content Advertising 292

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Of course I have. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. And of course you need a mature venture capital industry. This article originally ran on TechCrunch. I’m in Seattle this week. Can’t list them all.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

Equity-Only CTO and Equity-Only Developers - SoCal CTO , November 1, 2010 I had a recent email dialog with the founder of a company looking for a CTO for their startup. Competing To Win Deals - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , November 7, 2010 The venture capital business is highly competitive. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175