Both Sides of the Table

MAY 23, 2012

There are obvious reasons the industry has had less-than-desirable returns, including: massive over-funding of the sector, huge increases in inexperienced venture capitalists that took a decade to peter out, and the massive correction in the value of the public stock markets that closed many exit opportunities for half a decade.

Venture Capital 348

Venture Capital Capital Technical Review Startup 348

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Private, flash sales site focused on apparel goods (women, men and children). Metrics: 2.5mm members, 1,000 brands, 2,500 sale events to-date. Metrics: 2.5mm members, 1,000 brands, 2,500 sale events to-date.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

Because at least while the VC spigot is open and flowing for high-potential individuals that fit a pattern that some VCs seem to favor they can access cheap capital that isn’t terribly dilutive and can use the to fund development and swing for the fences with limited focus on monetization. That leaves 99.99% of you. Let’s see.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2012

My other co-founder, Rusty Jenkins, was also with that company, doing sales. Can you talk about how your company is funded? Michael Wong: We're with StartEngine, and have received a small amount of seed funding from them. We're also funding it out of pocket. Based on his number, we decided to pivot.

CTO Coach 223

CTO Coach Startup Mobile Artificial Inteligence 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2016

That should make you wonder - how do you measure traction in a metric? If it’s so important to investors, perhaps you should be using traction to measure your own progress, independent of a need for additional funding. Growth constraints would include staffing shortages, funding needs, quality problems, and sales coverage.

Metrics 57

Metrics Funding Startup Customer 57

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 4, 2013

Put simply – you need enough users in a segment who care about what you’re doing to dictate investing further in the product or in sales & marketing resources. Figure out the appropriate time to step on the gas with more funds. The team has stated it and has built metrics around key goals for future success.

Startup 402

Startup Customer Custom Technical Review 402

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2013

This is why I am such a big fan of General Assembly both because they’re teaching more tangible skills but also because they’re working directly with employers to fund classes as well as to onboard the more successful GA students directly. The numerator (return) encourages more sales, which is fine. Neither does Clayton.

Venture Capital 404

Venture Capital Education Offshore Outsource Development 404

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 5, 2021

The total funds include backing from a Republic campaign, pre-seed investors and capital from the co-founders. Boyd Myers explained that there are sales and repeat customers, but it was too early to discuss growth metrics. The company will also hire additional talent and ramp up its sales and marketing efforts.

Startup 191

Startup Los Angeles Sample Funding 191

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 5, 2011

I have conversations with entrepreneurs and other VCs on a daily basis about fund raising, the prices of deals, how much companies should raise, etc. For example: If you were to invest $41 million into a company (and one could assume that you owned between 33-50%) then the company is worth $82-123 million at funding.

Startup 336

Startup Pricing Technical Review Marketing 336

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

But more importantly we talked in the video about fund raising and how Scott has become so efficient at it. And finally, Scott demonstrated his internal management tool for managing the metrics of his business. Company plans to use the capital to build out sales and marketing and r&d. -a It’s awesome. Foursquare.

Zag 249

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 249

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales. Even though the Internet is pervasive and free, you should not assume that a website is all you need for sales and marketing.

Sales 165

Sales Customer Custom Social Media 165

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2011

We've worked with Microsoft, Live Nation, Variety, and other clients, plus just closed our funding of $2.2M Those can be sales, coupon redemptions, or downloads. We're looking to staff up pretty aggressively, and are buildling out our engineering team, sales team, and ad operations team. from a group of VCs and angels.

Advertising 198

Advertising Startup Santa Monica Social Network 198

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2022

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Shorten the close cycle to grow faster.

Startup 134

Startup Search Engine Optimization Social Media Metrics 134

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 17, 2018

" Revenue doesn't pay your bills, GM does  —  @msuster 2/ Founders obsess with revenue as a vanity metric. But if you want to add some in the comments section on Medium and I’ll make sure to read them. Some even grow "bad" revenue just to show growth. Things happen, people tire, sometimes tragedies.

Software Review 242

Software Review Technical Review Pricing Metrics 242

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2020

Others do far too little, assuming the viral effect and word-of-mouth will soon kick in, and sales will suddenly grow exponentially. There is no magic lever for growth, so several initiatives are required, with metrics to assess value returned. Ask every employee to focus on sales. Shorten the close cycle to grow faster.

Search Engine Optimization 131

Search Engine Optimization Startup Social Media Metrics 131

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2021

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections. First of all, a definition.

Startup 121

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 121

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Understanding where your VC partner sits in their respective fund and where their fund is in the cycle of its investment lifecycle will help you understand your VCs behavior. So if all I need to do is make some customer calls, interview potential employees or help with his fund-raising decks – hallelujah. Further Reading.

Tips 366

Tips Email Venture Capital CTO Coach 366

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

How is your company funded, and where are you now? Rachel Payne: We have been around for a couple of years, and have raised a round of funding. However, I got to set up and run the sales team in Venice Beach, and was running technology for cross platform at the Venice Beach office, because they relocated me back here at my request.

Google 233

Google Content Startup Venice 233

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 18, 2020

Difficulty in securing and protecting funding. Even in the best of times, funding for change initiatives can become a tempting target. You need to maintain explicit C-suite and Board buy-in for constant transformation through effective communication, highlighting the struggles of peer businesses, and establishing the right metrics.

Metrics 122

Metrics Training Satisfaction IBM 122

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. No investor wants to wait that long for his payback, or fund the years of waiting. Marketing, sales, and partners. Funding requirements. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 116

Competition Metrics Startup Sales 116

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

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

Jody didn’t exactly have an easy time fund raising because he’s not one of the prototypical Silicon Valley funded entrepreneurs. Jody self-funded the company and worked from his spare bedroom in February 2009. EcoMom’s metrics improved throughout this process and that’s when I decided to invest.

Startup 293

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 293

SoCal CTO

MARCH 4, 2010

The short story is that he received 400+ responses and goes through how he categorized/vetted the responses: 300 Didn’t Fit – Outside expertise/interest, pushing for immediate funding assistance, too many ideas (not focused), looking for sales agents.

Technical Review 170

Technical Review Technical Advisors CTO Coach Startup 170

socalTECH

APRIL 24, 2019

Shane Bernstein: We look at actionable data points and data metrics which are quantifiable across the web, and we qualify them and normalize that data, and sort them based on what they've done. The team is myself and my co-founder, Alex Mostafi, our CTO, and we also have a sales director and director of engineering up north in San Francisco.

Sites 240

Sites Startup Tool CTO Hire 240

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

In fact, a business plan is needed more by you than investors, as the blueprint for your company, team communication, and progress metrics. No investor wants to wait that long for his payback, or fund the years of waiting. Marketing, sales, and partners. Funding requirements. Financial forecast and metrics.

Competition 113

Competition Metrics Startup Invest 113

socalTECH

MAY 17, 2019

Perspectium recently raised a funding round from TVC Capital. David Loo: Ultimately, at the C-level, the CIO requires data metrics and intelligence, in order to compete and make decisions and take actions to further a company's agenda. You're received some funding lately? What is Perspectium?

SaaS 113

SaaS Startup Customer Custom 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2019

Often board members themselves don’t do the work to say “what metrics would we like to see.” Any great board member should tell you, “please don’t create any performance metrics or materials that analyze the business that you’re not already creating for your own management’s use.” Sometimes they don’t even know.

Startup 226

Startup Slides Metrics News 226

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2021

If you have had to pivot from the consumer market to enterprise customers, that requires new pricing models and new sales channels. Re-evaluate processes as they are today and set metrics to better represent the new sales, operational, and service needs. Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Social Media 143

Social Media Startup Framework Course 143

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

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2020

Yet, in the interest of full disclosure, and an honest intent to save future entrepreneurs some grief and money, I would remind you that starting any business has key dependencies on at least five major elements, including product design and delivery, the right people on the team, adequate funding, a sizable market opportunity, and marketing.

Startup 131

Startup Entrepreneur Examples Customer 131

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Have you projected sales and marketing costs, cash flow, and capital requirements? Develop metrics with which to measure yourself and use these to incrementally expand and improve your offering as fast as the market and capital will allow. Show return on investment, growth rates, and market penetration. Don’t stand still.

Startup 156

Startup Coach Metrics Marketing 156

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 31, 2022

Idea people often don’t get funded as entrepreneurs, because a new business is all about results, not just ideas. This work requires market feedback, managing trials, and working with the sales team as well as developers. Galvanizing: rally a team and customers for action. Assess your satisfaction and ability for this type of work.

Activity 108

Activity Satisfaction Metrics Startup 108

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2013

Almost every early-stage startup who has approached investors for funding has heard the innocuous sounding rejection “I love your idea, but come back when you have more traction.” As an investor, I would like to see one month of sales, and see how that compares to your projections. First of all, a definition.

Startup 106

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 106

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 24, 2015

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 99

Outsource Development Startup Competition Ideas 99

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales. Even though the Internet is pervasive and free, you should not assume that a website is all you need for sales and marketing.

Customer 109

Customer Custom Satisfaction Sales 109

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

Decide early where and when money will come from, set some milestones and metrics, and work to a plan, or be caught short. Word of mouth is not adequate for marketing and sales. Even though the Internet is pervasive and free, you should not assume that a website is all you need for sales and marketing.

Startup 107

Startup Sales Customer Custom 107

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 3, 2021

To keep you on a positive track with potential investors, I recommend the following logic principles, to balance your passion in presenting your vision of a new business: Make sure your plan includes some business metrics. Equity investors realize that they won’t see any real return until an exit occurs, such as a sale, merger, or IPO.

Entrepreneur 162

Entrepreneur Social Media Examples Metrics 162