Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

In my experience as an angel investor for new startups, I’m always surprised by how many entrepreneurs are looking for funding without outside advisors. The cost of a co-founder is usually fifty percent of your equity. An experienced Board can give them credibility, as well as advice on the many pitfalls of starting a new company.

Startup 142

Startup Technical Review Equity Entrepreneur 142

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

According to a well-researched Motly Fool report, the challenge is very real, since around half of all businesses fail in the first five years. Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until real revenue flows. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Xconomy

OCTOBER 27, 2016

Prices for agricultural commodities such as corn, soy, and wheat are at their lowest levels in years, but investment in agricultural technology has never been better. The increase in dollars flowing to agtech comes despite commodity prices that are down 65 percent from their 2013 peak, the report says.

Venture Capital 40

Venture Capital Pricing Invest Report 40

Berkonomics

MAY 8, 2014

The company has been funded entirely by grants from the National Institute of Health, amounting to millions of non-dilutive dollars in all. And often, grants come with detailed accounting and reporting requirements. First, here’s a link to my recent TEDx talk, “Smiling at success; laughing at failure.”

Company 166

Company Companies Writing Education 166

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

Recognizing the tens of billions of dollars that the Southern Californian region leaves on the table, because it hasn’t taken its rightful place in the American technology industry, a new group called the Alliance for Southern California Innovation has just released a report to analyze how SoCal can work to assume its pole position.

Southern California 224

Southern California Dollar Shave Club SoCal Develop 224

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 16, 2013

A willingness to accept equity as part of your agency or law firm’s fees can bring in more work that stimulates your team and exposes you to disruptive opportunities that are potentially very lucrative. However, there are a number of considerations to explore before agreeing to accepting equity as a portion of your firm’s payment.

Equity 40

Equity Services Startup Google 40

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 16, 2013

A willingness to accept equity as part of your agency or law firm’s fees can bring in more work that stimulates your team and exposes you to disruptive opportunities that are potentially very lucrative. However, there are a number of considerations to explore before agreeing to accepting equity as a portion of your firm’s payment.

Equity 40

Equity Services Startup Google 40

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 7, 2013

CapLinked, Cloud-based enterprise platform for deal management and investor reporting, Wednesday announced a new suite of enterprise features in a move to take transactions mobile. The new features launched include business tools for reporting, file management, discussions and first-of-its-kind functionality for managing deals on an iPad.

Mobile 91

Mobile Report Pricing Tool 91

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2014

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.

Equity 99

Equity Venture Capital Invest Pricing 99

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2010

I know that the tone of the title and post will seem a bit aggressive for a post from a venture capitalist on fund raising. That means that they likely raised money at a particularly high price relative to 2010 prices. Dealing with an artificially high price can make fund raising hard. Clean up your own shite.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Capital Startup Pricing 289

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

JANUARY 12, 2018

According to a recent Motly Fool report, the challenge is very real, since around half of all businesses fail in the first five years. Self-funding or bootstrapping is still the most common and safest approach for startups Keep your day job until real revenue flows. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity.

Startup 53

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 53

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Dat Do: We produce valuation software that solves a lot of complex valuation issues for privately held companies, backed by venture capital and private equity. As a result of that, companies were having to pay on average $12,000 per report, and if you went to the Big 4, it might cost you $30,000 per report. How to price it.

Software Review 193

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Software 193

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2013

The new funding brings the company’s aggregate amount of capital raised to over $3 million. Jackson and Christopher Grey, CapLinked empowers its clients to manage complex business transactions such as mergers & acquisitions, financings, asset sales, and investor reporting. million in the Series A round.

Draper 68

Draper Google Software Engineering Invest 68

Xconomy

JUNE 10, 2016

Guardant is funding a series of trials around the country in people whose genetic or lifestyle profiles put them at high risk of five types of cancer. As the conference wrapped up, a Morgan Stanley analyst noted that Pfizer the previous week had raised its drug prices nine percent, continuing a regular pattern of price increases.

Incubator 67

Incubator Thousand Oaks Screening Pricing 67

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2013

They don’t realize that this option would likely be their worst nightmare, since it costs millions for the road show, usually dilutes your equity to a tiny fraction, and takes away all your entrepreneurial control. Annual reporting and audit requirements continue to increase. Consider the recent example of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg.

Startup 89

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 89

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2012

They don’t realize that this option would likely be their worst nightmare, since it costs millions for the road show, usually dilutes your equity to a tiny fraction, and takes away all your entrepreneurial control. Annual reporting and audit requirements continue to increase. Consider the recent example of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg.

Entrepreneur 95

Entrepreneur Startup Report Summary 95

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

It’s what signals to existing investors how quickly their teams need to be fund raising and the level of risk the company is facing and also it signals to potentially new investors both how quickly you need to raise (ie you have less leverage if you’re in a rush) as well as how much cash you’ll need if they fund you.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2011

They don’t realize that this option would likely be their worst nightmare, since it costs millions for the road show, usually dilutes your equity to a tiny fraction, and takes away all your entrepreneurial control. Annual reporting and audit requirements continue to increase. Higher administrative expenses. Disclosures of information.

Startup 94

Startup Entrepreneur Report Summary 94

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 2, 2011

I was thinking back to a few previous “insider baseball&# blog debates that raged for several weeks: AngelGate (aka Bin38 secret cabal), convertible debt vs. equity, bubble vs. not, and now the AngelList discussion. Just look at what happened with Yuri & Ron funding the YC deals. Probably we all have different filters.

Email 287

Email Blogging Venture Capital Writing 287

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 9, 2014

Perhaps it’s time to raise a round of Venture Capital funding and want a pitch presentation a bit more composed than the dusty Keynote you put together last year for your friends and family round. When you have big business decisions (management consulting, entering new markets, pricing sheets, etc.), ” How It Works.

Outsource Development 105

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review Outsource 105

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2011

By John Williams Fast Company magazine recently reported that PayPal founder Paul Thiel is giving away $100,000 to twenty-four young men and women to finance startup businesses. But if you've spent all your money on the website for party supplies, you may not have the funds to have the site redone.

Startup 92

Startup Capital Blogging Ideas 92

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 16, 2018

We spent a lot of time talking about what type of company we wanted to create, how many employees we’d eventually have, whether we would take funding, our lifestyle, and a dozen other things that had nothing to do with writing software. We focus very much on finding employees who are a cultural fit and we share equity when appropriate.

Venture Capital 115

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Santa Barbara SaaS 115

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

The founders could reinvest this in growth (0% tax, focus on future equity growth) or take the profits of $12 million and divide amongst the founding partners. If you can show regular cashflow and are willing to put your profits into their bank you can often fund expansion this way. In fact, that’s all that I fund as a VC.

Services 332

Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332

Berkonomics

APRIL 17, 2014

Simply stated crowd funding or crowdfunding is the raising of capital in small amounts, from a broad base of investors. It’s similar to microfinance, but for the most part using equity instead of a low-interest loan. Participants can raise funds without having to do a public offering, which is a costly undertaking.

.Net 209

.Net Pricing Ideas Invest 209

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We want to invest in early-stage technology enabled startup businesses – upfront in the funding cycle. We like to hire people and fund people who are deeply ethical and we try to be long-term in our investment thinking. You don’t have unlimited equity to dole out. You can’t make everybody an SVP.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. short answer: very, very rarely. But it does happen.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

Pricing models, the freemium myth and why you may not be charging enough for your product - Seth Levine's VC Adventure , August 12, 2010 I’ve been pulled into a number of product and pricing meetings recently (for reasons unknown I’ve become the Foundry pricing and productization guy). equity debate. How it happens.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Chris Devore & Andy Sack have created Founder’s Coop with the goal of funding, incubating & launching more early-stage ventures in Seattle. because every community needs its local tech press to report on companies and run conference. I know that Founder’s Coop has a fund as does TechStars Seattle.

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. Venture Bonsai enters the increasingly active market of enabling new methods to fund startups. It may be that all the doomsayers are right. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175