Thoughts in graphics from a 7x tech startup founder on how what makes a startup tick, what's needed to raise money, and how startups ecosystems evolve and thrive.
Insider's Guide to Raising Early-Stage CapitalNnamdi Okike
An insider's guide to raising early-stage capital. An explanation of the key things to think about when raising early-stage funding from angels, angel groups, and venture capital firms.
How much is your start-up worth? How much capital can you raise? How much equity will you have to give up? What will investor be looking at? What is too little? What is too much?
5 slides, quick and dirty job, far from perfect, but a good starting point.
FEEDBACK WELCOME
Valuation for Startups - What is your Start-up worth?TiE Bangalore
TiE Masterclass: Valuation for Startups
This 3 part workshop conducted by Anjana Vivek, Founder Director of Venture Bean Consulting, Parag Dhol, MD, Inventus Capital Partners & Pavan Sondur, CEO & Cofounder, UNBXD
Startup Valuation: from early to mature stagesTatiana Siyanko
Methods and approached to startup and company valuations.
Please be free to send me any additions/correction proposals.
Prepared for Startup&co lecture in Freud cafe, Kyiv, April 30, 2014
Insider's Guide to Raising Early-Stage CapitalNnamdi Okike
An insider's guide to raising early-stage capital. An explanation of the key things to think about when raising early-stage funding from angels, angel groups, and venture capital firms.
How much is your start-up worth? How much capital can you raise? How much equity will you have to give up? What will investor be looking at? What is too little? What is too much?
5 slides, quick and dirty job, far from perfect, but a good starting point.
FEEDBACK WELCOME
Valuation for Startups - What is your Start-up worth?TiE Bangalore
TiE Masterclass: Valuation for Startups
This 3 part workshop conducted by Anjana Vivek, Founder Director of Venture Bean Consulting, Parag Dhol, MD, Inventus Capital Partners & Pavan Sondur, CEO & Cofounder, UNBXD
Startup Valuation: from early to mature stagesTatiana Siyanko
Methods and approached to startup and company valuations.
Please be free to send me any additions/correction proposals.
Prepared for Startup&co lecture in Freud cafe, Kyiv, April 30, 2014
Raising your first $1mm to $5mm a view from both sides of the tableStartupWeekDallas
Presentation at Dallas Startup Week from Lee Blaylock, Founder and CEO, Who@
Lee Blaylock, a former Oracle exec and current serial entrepreneur and investor, offered up a multitude of advice for founders on Tuesday at Dallas Startup Week.
First, the Who@ founder started with his definition of entrepreneurship.
dallasstartupweek“It’s the undertaking of a business enterprise with a complete, total, utter lack of respect of the resources you currently control,” Blaylock said.
Blaylock listed a bevy of investing lingo that every entrepreneur should understand when trying to raise that first $1 million to $5 million. Among them:
- Fiduciary
- Traction
- Term Sheet
- Debt
- Equity
- Warrants
- Option Pool / Vesting / Cliff
- Capitalization Table
- Accredited Investor
- Due Diligence
- LTV / CaC
- Burn Rate
- Fume Date
- Making money and good investments concept
He then offered a “6 Things Before You Pitch” guide.
Startup Investing 101 - Learn how to invest in startups.
As one of the leading online startup investing marketplaces, Onevest's vision is to make investing in privately held companies easy by providing a gold standard in deal flow that matches your specific areas of interest. You tell us what you like, and we deliver just that.
Webinar Agenda
Top four most asked questions by newbie startup investors.
1. How do I compare startups to determine most attractive opportunity?
2. What type of due diligence should I do before making an investment?
3. What happens after I invest in the startup?
4. What type of return on investment can I expect?
The Startup Equity Valuation Timeline
Angel Investment & Valuation
Angel Funding: The Valuation “Triangle”
Three Valuation Methods
VC Valuation Approach: Industry Standard Discount Rates
Comparables Valuation Approach: Median/Mean Round Size
Comparables Valuation Approach: Pre-Money Valuation
Range
Angel Valuation Considerations
The Dave McClure Five “Million Dollar Point” Approach*
Ritesh Banglani takes us through some of the hard decisions a VC has to make on a day to day basis. This session was done for the pi fellows 2020 programme
How to avoid wasted time fundraising, and know a tire-kicker when you see one. Know your "customer" - understand how the venture business works, and what motivates VCs. Get educated on the basics of the venture fund business model, and how VCs stay in business. Find out how venture model dynamics and industry trends impact your company.
Understand the VC math and valuation from the investors perspective. What is fair deal and a super deal for the investee and the investor shares Madhukar Sinha, India Quotient
Entrepreneurs need to put a value on their start-ups in order to raise money, and investors need to put a value on their investments to ensure an adequate return on investment. No negotiating item between entrepreneur and investor creates a wider gulf than this one. The two parties may agree on every other point but will have diametrically opposing views on what the start-up is worth and how much equity the investor should receive in exchange for his capital.
Valuation is challenging for a start-up. Since young businesses take time to become profitable, the trick of valuing start-ups is to focus on the future. If you want your start-up to be a masterpiece, you’ll need to use the right side of your brain as much as your left to determine value.
Is business valuation art or science? Is it possible to place a credible valuation on a Start-up? What is Pre-money valuation? What is Post-money valuation? How much your company worth? Are you really worth anything until you’re profitable? How to value your start-up for a VC? What are the Start-up valuation methods?
The summary of how startups get fundraising and how to measure their valuation.
This file demonstrates the methods and procedures of startup valuation.
Raising your first $1mm to $5mm a view from both sides of the tableStartupWeekDallas
Presentation at Dallas Startup Week from Lee Blaylock, Founder and CEO, Who@
Lee Blaylock, a former Oracle exec and current serial entrepreneur and investor, offered up a multitude of advice for founders on Tuesday at Dallas Startup Week.
First, the Who@ founder started with his definition of entrepreneurship.
dallasstartupweek“It’s the undertaking of a business enterprise with a complete, total, utter lack of respect of the resources you currently control,” Blaylock said.
Blaylock listed a bevy of investing lingo that every entrepreneur should understand when trying to raise that first $1 million to $5 million. Among them:
- Fiduciary
- Traction
- Term Sheet
- Debt
- Equity
- Warrants
- Option Pool / Vesting / Cliff
- Capitalization Table
- Accredited Investor
- Due Diligence
- LTV / CaC
- Burn Rate
- Fume Date
- Making money and good investments concept
He then offered a “6 Things Before You Pitch” guide.
Startup Investing 101 - Learn how to invest in startups.
As one of the leading online startup investing marketplaces, Onevest's vision is to make investing in privately held companies easy by providing a gold standard in deal flow that matches your specific areas of interest. You tell us what you like, and we deliver just that.
Webinar Agenda
Top four most asked questions by newbie startup investors.
1. How do I compare startups to determine most attractive opportunity?
2. What type of due diligence should I do before making an investment?
3. What happens after I invest in the startup?
4. What type of return on investment can I expect?
The Startup Equity Valuation Timeline
Angel Investment & Valuation
Angel Funding: The Valuation “Triangle”
Three Valuation Methods
VC Valuation Approach: Industry Standard Discount Rates
Comparables Valuation Approach: Median/Mean Round Size
Comparables Valuation Approach: Pre-Money Valuation
Range
Angel Valuation Considerations
The Dave McClure Five “Million Dollar Point” Approach*
Ritesh Banglani takes us through some of the hard decisions a VC has to make on a day to day basis. This session was done for the pi fellows 2020 programme
How to avoid wasted time fundraising, and know a tire-kicker when you see one. Know your "customer" - understand how the venture business works, and what motivates VCs. Get educated on the basics of the venture fund business model, and how VCs stay in business. Find out how venture model dynamics and industry trends impact your company.
Understand the VC math and valuation from the investors perspective. What is fair deal and a super deal for the investee and the investor shares Madhukar Sinha, India Quotient
Entrepreneurs need to put a value on their start-ups in order to raise money, and investors need to put a value on their investments to ensure an adequate return on investment. No negotiating item between entrepreneur and investor creates a wider gulf than this one. The two parties may agree on every other point but will have diametrically opposing views on what the start-up is worth and how much equity the investor should receive in exchange for his capital.
Valuation is challenging for a start-up. Since young businesses take time to become profitable, the trick of valuing start-ups is to focus on the future. If you want your start-up to be a masterpiece, you’ll need to use the right side of your brain as much as your left to determine value.
Is business valuation art or science? Is it possible to place a credible valuation on a Start-up? What is Pre-money valuation? What is Post-money valuation? How much your company worth? Are you really worth anything until you’re profitable? How to value your start-up for a VC? What are the Start-up valuation methods?
The summary of how startups get fundraising and how to measure their valuation.
This file demonstrates the methods and procedures of startup valuation.
Now is the best time to start a company… Now what?Brian Kelly
It used to take years to launch a new software product. Now you can create, launch, and have paying customers getting value from your product in just a few months. This presentation explains why it's never been a better time to start a software company and what you need to consider to make it a reality.
Should you start with a side gig? Should you raise venture capital? How should you think about your cap table and employee options? What's your exit strategy? This presentation tackles these questions.
David Corcoran, cofounder at Third Rail Group, gave this talk at Do it Best Corp.'s annual Techapalooza on March 14, 2017.
UE Startups -- 9 Factors in Raising Funding in Silicon ValleyPeter Szymanski
9 Factors Silicon Valley investors consider for European startups, how to choose an angel or venture capital investor, and market trends that support growing a startup outside the USA.
20 Deadly Mistakes That Kill Startups (According to Experts)Vitaliy Verbenko
No matter what anyone says, there is no secret recipe for success. Over half of startups out there can’t make it past their fifth year on the market. Why is that? Simply put, they make a number of mistakes which we’ll try to dissect in this post.
20 Mistakes that Kill Startups (According to Experts)Vitaliy Verbenko
No matter what anyone says, there is no secret recipe for success. Over half of startups out there can’t make it past their fifth year on the market. Why is that? Simply put, they make a number of mistakes which we’ll try to dissect in this post.
Final cycles overview jan 2019 with toolkitBryan Cassady
Scaling up is hard and deadly if done wrong. We would like to help you get it right.
This presentation introduces the ABCs method of innovation and provides toolkits you could use to grow fast while reducing riks
Details
A study by Startup Genome analyzed the results of 3,200 start-ups, they found that of the majority of start-ups failed. That shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. What is more important is they found, 70% failed because of premature or faulty scaling.
In this workshop, you learn about the ABCs method. The ABCs method is a system-based approach to growing your business. It has been proven to build ideas up to 6x faster while reducing risks 30-80%.
How do Endowments Measure Up Against Cheap Market PortfoliosNeal Dikeman
Detailed analysis of portfolio returns and underperformance of Median US Endowments and Yale Endowment
Over 10 Years US Endowment Returns Fail to match Cheap Market Portfolios while Taking Significant Increased Risk
4.8% Compound Annual Returns for the Median US Endowment even failed to beat a portfolio of 10 Year Treasuries, let alone a balanced portfolio, while taking on significant risk
Underperformed cheap market portfolio by a 1/3rd with 3/5th more Risk
Returns barely exceeded average nominal withdrawal rates – asset growth largely from new donations
Asset Allocations/Market Timing largely to blame
Cleantech.org Energy Storage Venture Investment AnalysisNeal Dikeman
Cleantech.org Research Brief Energy Storage Venture Capital Investment and Valuation Analysis 2001-2009
Valuation analysis and trends of energy storage startups
Quick and dirty guide to venture capital in general with a segmentation on cleantech in venture from a long time venture capitalist and 7x startup founder and executive
Threats to mobile devices are more prevalent and increasing in scope and complexity. Users of mobile devices desire to take full advantage of the features
available on those devices, but many of the features provide convenience and capability but sacrifice security. This best practices guide outlines steps the users can take to better protect personal devices and information.
Unlocking Productivity: Leveraging the Potential of Copilot in Microsoft 365, a presentation by Christoforos Vlachos, Senior Solutions Manager – Modern Workplace, Uni Systems
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
The Art of the Pitch: WordPress Relationships and SalesLaura Byrne
Clients don’t know what they don’t know. What web solutions are right for them? How does WordPress come into the picture? How do you make sure you understand scope and timeline? What do you do if sometime changes?
All these questions and more will be explored as we talk about matching clients’ needs with what your agency offers without pulling teeth or pulling your hair out. Practical tips, and strategies for successful relationship building that leads to closing the deal.
In his public lecture, Christian Timmerer provides insights into the fascinating history of video streaming, starting from its humble beginnings before YouTube to the groundbreaking technologies that now dominate platforms like Netflix and ORF ON. Timmerer also presents provocative contributions of his own that have significantly influenced the industry. He concludes by looking at future challenges and invites the audience to join in a discussion.
PHP Frameworks: I want to break free (IPC Berlin 2024)Ralf Eggert
In this presentation, we examine the challenges and limitations of relying too heavily on PHP frameworks in web development. We discuss the history of PHP and its frameworks to understand how this dependence has evolved. The focus will be on providing concrete tips and strategies to reduce reliance on these frameworks, based on real-world examples and practical considerations. The goal is to equip developers with the skills and knowledge to create more flexible and future-proof web applications. We'll explore the importance of maintaining autonomy in a rapidly changing tech landscape and how to make informed decisions in PHP development.
This talk is aimed at encouraging a more independent approach to using PHP frameworks, moving towards a more flexible and future-proof approach to PHP development.
UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series, part 4DianaGray10
Welcome to UiPath Test Automation using UiPath Test Suite series part 4. In this session, we will cover Test Manager overview along with SAP heatmap.
The UiPath Test Manager overview with SAP heatmap webinar offers a concise yet comprehensive exploration of the role of a Test Manager within SAP environments, coupled with the utilization of heatmaps for effective testing strategies.
Participants will gain insights into the responsibilities, challenges, and best practices associated with test management in SAP projects. Additionally, the webinar delves into the significance of heatmaps as a visual aid for identifying testing priorities, areas of risk, and resource allocation within SAP landscapes. Through this session, attendees can expect to enhance their understanding of test management principles while learning practical approaches to optimize testing processes in SAP environments using heatmap visualization techniques
What will you get from this session?
1. Insights into SAP testing best practices
2. Heatmap utilization for testing
3. Optimization of testing processes
4. Demo
Topics covered:
Execution from the test manager
Orchestrator execution result
Defect reporting
SAP heatmap example with demo
Speaker:
Deepak Rai, Automation Practice Lead, Boundaryless Group and UiPath MVP
Generative AI Deep Dive: Advancing from Proof of Concept to ProductionAggregage
Join Maher Hanafi, VP of Engineering at Betterworks, in this new session where he'll share a practical framework to transform Gen AI prototypes into impactful products! He'll delve into the complexities of data collection and management, model selection and optimization, and ensuring security, scalability, and responsible use.
State of ICS and IoT Cyber Threat Landscape Report 2024 previewPrayukth K V
The IoT and OT threat landscape report has been prepared by the Threat Research Team at Sectrio using data from Sectrio, cyber threat intelligence farming facilities spread across over 85 cities around the world. In addition, Sectrio also runs AI-based advanced threat and payload engagement facilities that serve as sinks to attract and engage sophisticated threat actors, and newer malware including new variants and latent threats that are at an earlier stage of development.
The latest edition of the OT/ICS and IoT security Threat Landscape Report 2024 also covers:
State of global ICS asset and network exposure
Sectoral targets and attacks as well as the cost of ransom
Global APT activity, AI usage, actor and tactic profiles, and implications
Rise in volumes of AI-powered cyberattacks
Major cyber events in 2024
Malware and malicious payload trends
Cyberattack types and targets
Vulnerability exploit attempts on CVEs
Attacks on counties – USA
Expansion of bot farms – how, where, and why
In-depth analysis of the cyber threat landscape across North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and the Middle East
Why are attacks on smart factories rising?
Cyber risk predictions
Axis of attacks – Europe
Systemic attacks in the Middle East
Download the full report from here:
https://sectrio.com/resources/ot-threat-landscape-reports/sectrio-releases-ot-ics-and-iot-security-threat-landscape-report-2024/
Essentials of Automations: The Art of Triggers and Actions in FMESafe Software
In this second installment of our Essentials of Automations webinar series, we’ll explore the landscape of triggers and actions, guiding you through the nuances of authoring and adapting workspaces for seamless automations. Gain an understanding of the full spectrum of triggers and actions available in FME, empowering you to enhance your workspaces for efficient automation.
We’ll kick things off by showcasing the most commonly used event-based triggers, introducing you to various automation workflows like manual triggers, schedules, directory watchers, and more. Plus, see how these elements play out in real scenarios.
Whether you’re tweaking your current setup or building from the ground up, this session will arm you with the tools and insights needed to transform your FME usage into a powerhouse of productivity. Join us to discover effective strategies that simplify complex processes, enhancing your productivity and transforming your data management practices with FME. Let’s turn complexity into clarity and make your workspaces work wonders!
Removing Uninteresting Bytes in Software FuzzingAftab Hussain
Imagine a world where software fuzzing, the process of mutating bytes in test seeds to uncover hidden and erroneous program behaviors, becomes faster and more effective. A lot depends on the initial seeds, which can significantly dictate the trajectory of a fuzzing campaign, particularly in terms of how long it takes to uncover interesting behaviour in your code. We introduce DIAR, a technique designed to speedup fuzzing campaigns by pinpointing and eliminating those uninteresting bytes in the seeds. Picture this: instead of wasting valuable resources on meaningless mutations in large, bloated seeds, DIAR removes the unnecessary bytes, streamlining the entire process.
In this work, we equipped AFL, a popular fuzzer, with DIAR and examined two critical Linux libraries -- Libxml's xmllint, a tool for parsing xml documents, and Binutil's readelf, an essential debugging and security analysis command-line tool used to display detailed information about ELF (Executable and Linkable Format). Our preliminary results show that AFL+DIAR does not only discover new paths more quickly but also achieves higher coverage overall. This work thus showcases how starting with lean and optimized seeds can lead to faster, more comprehensive fuzzing campaigns -- and DIAR helps you find such seeds.
- These are slides of the talk given at IEEE International Conference on Software Testing Verification and Validation Workshop, ICSTW 2022.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Transcript: Selling digital books in 2024: Insights from industry leaders - T...BookNet Canada
The publishing industry has been selling digital audiobooks and ebooks for over a decade and has found its groove. What’s changed? What has stayed the same? Where do we go from here? Join a group of leading sales peers from across the industry for a conversation about the lessons learned since the popularization of digital books, best practices, digital book supply chain management, and more.
Link to video recording: https://bnctechforum.ca/sessions/selling-digital-books-in-2024-insights-from-industry-leaders/
Presented by BookNet Canada on May 28, 2024, with support from the Department of Canadian Heritage.
LF Energy Webinar: Electrical Grid Modelling and Simulation Through PowSyBl -...DanBrown980551
Do you want to learn how to model and simulate an electrical network from scratch in under an hour?
Then welcome to this PowSyBl workshop, hosted by Rte, the French Transmission System Operator (TSO)!
During the webinar, you will discover the PowSyBl ecosystem as well as handle and study an electrical network through an interactive Python notebook.
PowSyBl is an open source project hosted by LF Energy, which offers a comprehensive set of features for electrical grid modelling and simulation. Among other advanced features, PowSyBl provides:
- A fully editable and extendable library for grid component modelling;
- Visualization tools to display your network;
- Grid simulation tools, such as power flows, security analyses (with or without remedial actions) and sensitivity analyses;
The framework is mostly written in Java, with a Python binding so that Python developers can access PowSyBl functionalities as well.
What you will learn during the webinar:
- For beginners: discover PowSyBl's functionalities through a quick general presentation and the notebook, without needing any expert coding skills;
- For advanced developers: master the skills to efficiently apply PowSyBl functionalities to your real-world scenarios.
GridMate - End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid...ThomasParaiso2
End to end testing is a critical piece to ensure quality and avoid regressions. In this session, we share our journey building an E2E testing pipeline for GridMate components (LWC and Aura) using Cypress, JSForce, FakerJS…
SAP Sapphire 2024 - ASUG301 building better apps with SAP Fiori.pdfPeter Spielvogel
Building better applications for business users with SAP Fiori.
• What is SAP Fiori and why it matters to you
• How a better user experience drives measurable business benefits
• How to get started with SAP Fiori today
• How SAP Fiori elements accelerates application development
• How SAP Build Code includes SAP Fiori tools and other generative artificial intelligence capabilities
• How SAP Fiori paves the way for using AI in SAP apps
SAP Sapphire 2024 - ASUG301 building better apps with SAP Fiori.pdf
Startuplandia Unplugged - How to do a Startup
1. StartupLandia Unplugged
“We each have a choice in life: work for somebody, or start something.” - Neal Dikeman
“Anyone can be an expert on anything, given 5 years.” - Bill Salathiel, PhD
2. Concerned that your
startup is not flying
or your town is weak
on startups?
Let’s explore what
makes a startup tick
3. Start with the problem
statement
So, you want to build a
startup or attract startups
to your town?
You need to understand
how startups and startup
herds evolve
StartupLandia Unplugged is
a brief storyboard on the
key elements of a startup
herd from a 7x founder
4. Herd
Herds are just an aggregation of individual startups. Herds
evolve and move fast – customer interest, competitor
progress, and investor demand. To build or compete in a
Herd, you have to move fast, or evolve, too.
5. Startup Herd 101
Founding a
Startup
To understand how to build an ecosystem,
you need to understand the elements that
make a single company
a) able to launch and aggregate capital,
b) able to successful
Startup
Herd
How Does a Startup Herd Thrive?
• In the Tier 1 startup markets
• Public - private partnership and
nonprofit has a huge role in
education, infrastructure, and R&D
• Startup Herd handles company
formation, and ecosystem, capital
6. Money follows
teams,
Exits drive repeats.
Teams hunt the
next big problems
and big ideas and
big customer
demand,
How Startups and Herds evolve
There is always
capital for good
deals
Money and
technology does
not make a good
deal, people and
problems do
7. Sectors get
Disrupted
By Themes
To create new
Industries
IoT
Blockchain
Machine
Learning
The Next Big Thing Themes and Trends are Frustratingly Fast – launching in overlapping waves as short as 9-15 months
8. Software is eating the
world has yet to be
proven untrue
… and is dangerous to bet against.
Software
Force multiplier for
almost all markets
9. Underneath, most hubs and trends are
the story of just a couple of founders
Netscape
Virginia/Dotcom
Amgen /
Genentech
Biotech SF
Amazon Seattle Intel Portland
Dell Austin Tesla EVs
First Solar
Cleantech
Uber Mobility
Twitter San
Francisco
Grubhub/Groupon
Chicago
Apple
Smartphone
Facebook Social
10. Launching
Launching is not actually about Lean Startup or delivering
results – that’s what Winning is about – Launching is about
doing what it takes on limited resources to aggregate
enough people and cash resources to take a shot on goal.
11. What matters to launch a startup:
• People
• Problem in a Big Market
• Technology
• In that order, then everything else
• and if you only get one, pick
people, they can find the other 2
Go
Technology
Problem
People
Go
Customer
Traction/
Validation
Fundable
Go
12. What makes a fundable "deal"
and Accelerating demand, traction, validation and investor interest while you raise
Full team that's either experienced
and successful in other startups, or
beginning of career, unproven but
displays lightning fast results,
command of its problem, and
coachable like a sponge
Sexy as hell technology/innovation
that just resonates and knocks the
key barrier to adoption
Customer and user traction on
whatever is built/demonstrated so
far
Clear path to make money and scale
in a VBM (Very Big Market)
Fundable
13. Houston, we have a problem
What you think
you Need
What you
actually NeedI need
money
To hire people
To build
product
To grow
revenues
I have a team
That has
customers
For the tech
we’ve built
I need money
To deliver my growth
faster
14. A startup can go lightning fast, very big, on very
little -- lack of capital is rarely the real culprit
Very little cash and time is actually needed to launch a successful startup if the team knows what they are doing . Good ones can go big, fast.
Everyone starts small.
Google - $25 mm in total venture capital to build a company bigger than Shell in barely a decade
•Averaged c. $300K seed investment and 9-12 months to reach a $3-$10 mm A round e.g.
•Zenergy (GridEdge): $300K to $300 mm in 30 months in superconductors
•Smart Wires (GridEdge): $300K $10 mm A round in 15 months lab to field in 330 days
My own startups - 7x founder of startups that raised cum >$250 mm in venture capital
15. 3 skills required in the
founding team
It always seems to take 3 – 3 who understand
or can learn how to translate skills to a
startup environment
Built around a CTO
who is just short
of genius.
A
rainmaker
in sales,
and
A CEO
who's got
game
16. People first
• If the founders can't pull an A team, there is no startup, and
he/she/they are no founder
18. Winning
Building a business that can win is not always the same as
doing what you need to do to get the A round and launch.
Once Launch is done, you have enough resources to make
a go – now you have to deploy them to build product,
make happy customer, grow, scale, and get more resources
19. You need critical mass of startup talent in your
tent to compete.
Young is ok, experienced but new to StartupLandia – not so much.
• other successful startups, and
• top flight technical graduate/undergraduate programs, and top flight MBA
programs
• venture funds
Great founder talent tends to be early to mid career, and tends to comes from
1 of 2 places:
• serial entrepreneurs in other startups, and
• venture firms,
• But big company with no startup or tech experience is always risky
Great startup talent in general comes from a range of places
20. A startup's culture is usually pretty set in the first couple of years – by
the first few hires - and your culture is your life.
Advisors,board,incubators,consultants
etcarereallyjustacommodity(butwe
allpretendtheyaddvalue).
Great founders, leaders, sales
people, engineers, matter most
Advisors,
Board,
Lawyers etc
Incubator/
Accelerator
21. It’s fast rough and tumble
Startup
world is
not nice
Ideate, test,
aggregate
resources,
build deliver
or fail and
try again
Premium
on speed –
up or out
If you are
talking
about the
same
things 9
months
from now,
you’re
already
dead
“Baptism by fire”
“Vulture capitalist”
“Up or out”
“Root hog or die”
“What have you done for me lately”
“The only constant is change”
…
Pick your favorite aphorism
…
But don’t stand still
If you talk “Fail Fast” and “Lean Startup” be ready to walk the walk
22. Your stuff has to be new and good
Content is
still king
Vision
matters.
Tech
delivers.
Metoodoesnotusuallywin
asfirstmoveradvantagesarereal
23. It’s the Product Stupid
• Product - what you build and how you take it to market, is as
important as the technology in most cases, even in high science tech
like life sciences and energy.
• If it isn’t going fast or well – look to the product - you generally need Product
Management/Channel/ Product Marketing expertise so bad you can taste it.
24. Speed kills
• Startups ideas come in waves, aka the “herd
mentality” catching waves matters, leading
waves wins, chasing waves is death
• The lifecycle of the early stage window and
investable front end of a theme or wave in
venture tends to be short - 36-60 months max
• What investors are talking about now, is what
they invested in LAST year
• A fund commits most of its capital in < 36
months
• A startup has 12-24 months between raises
• That’s why call it burn rate
• Often massively parallel can catch from
behind as fast as you can add engineers
• You need to measure your actions in days and
weeks – and build speed into your team
25. The only way to kill a
startup is to run out of
And if you have one, you can usually get the other …
ergo, the only way to kill a startup is to run out of BOTH
people and cash …
- Raise cash when you can, as much as you can – your
business is good enough to win, you’ll
- Never stop recruiting people and raising cash
- Pay attention to burn rate/time
- Hire from the top down, not bottom up – get exec
people who know how to raise cash and get more
people
- Get Chiefs who will work like Indians first, not Indians
or Chiefs who need to have Indians to work
People or
Cash.
.
26. Bigger stakes, better field
• The lean startup "cookbook" and
proliferation of
• low cost tech and scaled VC +
• competition, grant, social, corporate, ICO,
accelerator and catalyst sources of seed
money
• has changed the startup
marketplace for the better and
lowered the cost of startup entry
• Enabling hubs and leveling the playing
field
• This hasn't changed the rules, just
upped the prize and the stakes.
• The unicorn phenomenon has accelerated
the upping.
Lean startup
"cookbook"
Seed Capital
The unicorn
phenomenon
Leveled
Playing
Field
27. Massively parallel R&D/
commercialization vs
stage gate style
Startups win by going massively parallel on
R&D and product development, at the
right moment – when they’ve found the
pain point, figured out the right product,
and nailed the go to market.
…
But we train our scientists and engineers
and project teams on stage gate, then
teach them Lean to fix it …
Then wonder why they get run over and
caught from behind by Agile and Massively
Parallel
Component DevP1 R&D P2 R&D
1a 1b 1c 2a
Mfg Engineering
Component Dev
Pilot Data
2b Pilot Engineering
28. Startup resource & skills math
c. 50/50 split between
$ to get tech/product
developed and ready
for market and $ to
get tech into market
and sold
Meaning finished
R&D is just 1/8th the
resource battle
0 20 40 60 80
100
Startup Resource
12.5 37.5
50
Prototypical Startup Resource Allocation
R&D Product/Mfg Customer Facing/GTM
Resource allocation usually correlates to skills, plans and valuation
e.g. if you overspend R&D/underspend Product/Go to Market in a
growth/product play, you’ll struggle
If you starve R&D/IP in a tech heavy play, you’ll get caught
30. Author Neal Dikeman
7x Cofounder and Seed
Investor in startups that
raised over $250 mm, 3
continents
CEO, CFO, Chairman, VP,
Board, multiple times over
On team @ 9 startups
Investor in 15+ tech deals,
Advisor on a dozen others,
2 IPOs, multiple M&A
Jane Capital, Globalgate,
Shell, etc.
@ 6 startups achieved
>$100 mm in <5 years, 3
as founder
Exp includes: Zenergy
(IPO), Yellowpages.com
(AT&T), BlockShield (IPO),
Smart Wires (private)
11+ Sectors: Web, SaaS,
Cloud, Solar,
Superconductors, Smart
Grid, Networking,
Controls, Fuel cells,
Electronics, Cleantech
6 Years Big Corporate
Shell Corporate Venture/
Bankers Trust in
Investment Banking
Advisor to $1 Bil + in CVC
at Meridian Energy Ltd,
Macquarie,
ConocoPhillips, et al
1st company founded in
San Francisco, age 25
Bachelor’s Texas A&M
Top industry
writer/speaker and analyst
in cleantech
Lived in Houston, NY, SV,
and San Francisco