Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

<== Our conclusion was that this isn’t a temporary blip that will swiftly trend-back up in a V-shaped recovery of valuations but rather represented a new normal on how the market will price these companies somewhat permanently. When you look at how much median valuations were driven up in the past 5 years alone it’s bananas.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

In those years I learned to properly build product, price products, sell products and serve customers. Raising capital remained difficult but possible and valuations were tied to underlying performance metrics and everybody accepted the the ultimate exit — whether through M&A or IPO — would also be based on some level of rational pricing.

Venture Capital 466

Venture Capital Startup Marketing Pricing 466

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 29, 2010

Competitiveness - One attribute that I believe most VCs look for in entrepreneurs is competitiveness. If you stumble on to a really good idea believe me it will get competitive really quickly. I know that people who aren’t competitive always find competitive people slightly distasteful. I had to say it.

Competition 296

Competition Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners 296

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 19, 2019

The startup has raised $1 million in seed funding from RXBAR founders Peter Rahal and Jared Smith, CXT Investments, and Lean Luxe founder M. ” And in his view, Huron will be set apart with its “ability to create a brand with a tone of voice that resonates, with products that work, at a price point that makes sense for this guy.”

Startup 217

Startup Seed Funding Los Angeles Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

On the other hand, the biggest winners will turn out to be much larger than the prices people paid for them and this will happen faster than at any time in human history. And as a result of this there are now very robust secondary markets where founders and seed-funds alike are selling down their ownership long before an ultimate exit.

Venture Capital 471

Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

Xconomy

MAY 11, 2018

The administration’s “American Patients First” plan, released via a speech and an accompanying 38-page “blueprint” document , laid out some relatively modest actions aimed at spurring generic competition, making it easier for Medicare (the government-funded health program for seniors) to manage high drug costs and negotiate discounts, making drug prices (..)

Pricing 62

Pricing Advertising Competition Report 62

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds. You will realize much more from the ultimate sale of your business even if at a considerably lower price than if splitting the proceeds with investors. There is a lot to say about retaining control.

Venture Capital 295

Venture Capital Startup Class Invest 295

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2018

One of the hardest things about the fund-raising process for entrepreneurs is that you’re trying to raise money from people who have “asymmetric information.” VC firms see thousands of deals and have a refined sense of how the market is valuing deals because they get price signals across all of these deals.

Venture Capital 324

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 324

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 4, 2023

In reality, resource constraints should be seen by startups a competitive advantage, by forcing them to develop new markets, and to think differently and act differently than existing players. Startups funded by rich uncles rarely think about productivity. Adding priced services is another way to augment a product business.

Resource 112

Resource Ideas Competition Entrepreneur 112

Berkonomics

SEPTEMBER 3, 2020

Other investment bankers insist that the company create competition for a deal, even if the buyer has already submitted a letter of interest to the seller. Competition opens the deal to more public access, slows the deal and could give competitors wind of an otherwise confidential process. An unexplained conflict of interest.

Invest 156

Invest Competition Pricing Guide 156

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 23, 2013

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free, to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). In this more traditional product pricing model, the price is set at two to five times the product cost.

Pricing 116

Pricing Product Customer Custom 116

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

A few years ago it became fashionable for large VC’s to do seed funding. But I’m no longer an entrepreneur – I’m a VC at a $200 million fund called GRP Ventures , the largest active fund in Southern California. I think they definitely qualify as a VC and not a seed fund. They have a large-ish fund.

Seed Funding 283

Seed Funding Venture Capital Funding Software Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2023

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I still see entrepreneurs who spend money and time for months on a new business idea without any separation of personal and business funds, and any formal accounting system for their new business.

Outsource Development 115

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 115

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2010

If a round of funding does happen then this debt is converted into equity at the price that a new external investor pays with a “bonus&# to the inside investor for having taken the risk of the loan. They also trust VC’s to determine the right price to pay for the company securities that they buy.

Startup 290

Startup Funding Venture Capital Pricing 290

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 26, 2010

One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free (like Twitter), to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). Portfolio pricing. Tiered or volume pricing. Competitive positioning.

Pricing 98

Pricing Product Startup Competition 98

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 13, 2018

The most important advice I could give you before you set out in fund raising mode is to understand that fund-raising a sales & marketing process and needs to be managed. One of the most important aims of a fund-raising process is to keep similar firms at the same stage of your process. Why 8–10 and not just 3–4?

Venture Capital 332

Venture Capital Funding Startup Sales 332

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

I now observes the fund raising process as a profession. This is the fund raising perspective from both sides of the table. Fund raising (as is much of life) is a sale – pure and simple. Every company is different so it’s hard to listen to advice from the uber-successful fund raisers. Executive Summary.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

TechCrunch LA

JUNE 10, 2021

Just over three months after its last funding round, European fintech giant Klarna is announcing today that it has raised another $639 million at a staggering post-money valuation of $45.6 They can also do things like initiate refunds, track deliveries and get price-drop notifications. The new valuation represents a 47.3%

Los Angeles 266

Los Angeles Funding CIO Marketing 266

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 29, 2023

As investors continue pouring funding into artificial intelligence and consumer habits shift, many AI and subscription model startups have been enjoying rapid growth. Source: runwayml.com In June, Runway raised $141 million in funding, nudging its market valuation to an envy-inducing $1.5 Organic milk formula product Bobbie.

Startup 213

Startup Generative AI Newsletter Tool 213

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 16, 2023

Projecting financials is a natural extension of the homework every entrepreneur needs to do on customer opportunity size, product costs, pricing, competition and customer value. For additional value, I suggest the use of a spreadsheet such as Excel as a financial model, with a few variables, like price and volume.

Startup 116

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 116

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2010

In my own effort to keep up with the times, I just finished a new book by Landy Chase, titled “ Competitive Selling: Out-Plan, Out-Think, Out-Sell to Win Every Time.” This concept applies equally well to convincing investors to fund you, employees to join you, or customers to buy from you. Establish the competitive playing field early.

Competition 92

Competition Entrepreneur Startup Customer 92

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2020

Today, a startup that is doing this in the specific area of distressed property is announcing a round of growth funding to ramp up its team and expand its business. The funding is being led by QED Investors; Founders Fund, Susa Ventures, Navitas Capital, and Prudence Holdings also participated.

Sales 282

Sales Demand San Diego Funding 282

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

He said it was better than the Yellow Pages because he would provide pricing transparency. And when I say this I don’t mean they funded billion dollar companies – they literally created them. If it worked in the Yellow Pages, why not on the Internet? So he launched a company with exclusively paid search. Shopping.com.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2021

In reality, resource constraints should be seen by startups a competitive advantage, by forcing them to develop new markets, and to think differently and act differently than existing players. Startups funded by rich uncles rarely think about productivity. Adding priced services is another way to augment a product business.

Startup 164

Startup Resource Entrepreneur Competition 164

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

2 preamble issues having read the comments on TC today: 1: I know that the prices of startup companies is much great in Silicon Valley than in smaller towns / less tech focused areas in the US and the US prices higher than many foreign markets. You can be pissed off, but I don’t set prices. That’s stupid.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. Competition. Investors look for a sustainable competitive advantage, like a patent. Decide whether the product is local or international. Revenue model.

Sales 102

Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 7, 2020

As a startup investor, I often see business proposals looking for funding that really look like expensive hobbies looking for donations. I still see entrepreneurs who spend money and time for months on a new business idea without any separation of personal and business funds, and any formal accounting system for their new business.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Outsource Development Startup Competition 131

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 20, 2019

The feature illustrates how Postmates, one of the earlier entrants to the billion-dollar food delivery wars , is trying to remain competitive by appealing to price-sensitive customers. Earlier this year, Postmates raised an additional $100 million in equity funding at a $1.85 billion valuation.

Orange County 200

Orange County Long Beach San Diego Los Angeles 200

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 10, 2013

Other investment bankers insist that the company create competition for a deal, even if the buyer has already submitted a letter of interest to the seller. Competition opens the deal to more public access, slows the deal and could give competitors wind of an otherwise confidential process. Is there any conflict of interest?

Invest 207

Invest Competition Pricing Startup 207

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2018

You can expect some strong competition, but it’s unlikely that there will be 5 great scooter companies. This is why so many great LA funds like Upfront, Greycroft and B Capital Global have all backed Bird. One huge advantage the early-movers have is “density.” Bird is the natural evolution in billion-dollar++ outcomes in LA.

Santa Monica 256

Santa Monica Funding Startup Course 256

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 29, 2023

In my view, this focus on the wrong skill set is the primary reason why over half of new businesses fail in the first five years, and only one out of a hundred startups get their requested funding from professional investors. Value is far more than cost versus price. Opening relationships and creating opportunities.

Startup 154

Startup Sales Entrepreneur Customer 154

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 2, 2010

Some objections are real and they end up becoming changes to your product, your service plan or your pricing / bundling. As a founder, when you’ve been dealing with these kinds of objections for a couple of years it becomes natural and you easily handle objections on price, product & competition without much thought.

Sales 289

Sales Startup Training Pricing 289

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 19, 2023

Nearly all new businesses aspiring to reach meaningful scale require some sort of outside funding to finance a competitive growth trajectory. Make your business model your competitive differentiation, like Fred Smith with Federal Express, or Ingvar Kamprad with IKEA. True business titans deliver both invention and innovation.

Entrepreneur 101

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Competition 101

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2014

Most technology startups seem to be funded by product people or business people. They like a solid product, well defined pricing, good references to sell against, a clear quota and well defined competitors. Sales people will often blame your pricing. They lost the deal because your competitors dropped price.

Sales 382

Sales Help Startup Pricing 382

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

I’ve written about the topic of convertible debt at length before specifically about how angels & entrepreneurs should think about pricing. Convertible debt is an investment that “converts&# into equity in the future usually at a discount to your next funding round price and sometimes has a “cap&# (maximum price).

Equity 319

Equity Pricing Venture Capital Entrepreneur 319

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 15, 2010

We started this week’s show with a Q&A session where I answered viewer questions about fund raising and the VC industry. Heck, stick around and watch me discuss the seed funding debate that is going on right now and what is happening in the VC industry overall. If you watch the video I go into greater detail.

Venture Capital 210

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Southern California 210

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2021

Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. I find that startups looking for funding often never even think of asking strategic partners, rather than just venture capitalists.

Ideas 171

Ideas Patents Training Entrepreneur 171