Perspective, Pontification and Propoganda about Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital, brought to you by David Hornik of Lobby Capital.

« Congratulations Dave Marquardt for 30 Years on the Microsoft Board! | Main | The Wisdom of Jeff Bezos, Part 1 »

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Peter Schlegel

Great post - thanks for that.

As you have seen quite a few pitches (and number from quite a few businesses), it would be great to see a post to help inform entrepreneurs seeking to build a less-than-total-BS-plan.

E.g. for a SaaS business, what are middle-of-the-road cost of acquisition cost? Churn/renewal rates? For any business, how long does it realistically take to hire new engineers? Sales reps? How long does it take the average sales rep to ramp up to his/her "on-par" performance? What percentage of sales hires don't work out and need to be replaced? Can you assume to take payment up front for consumers? And is expecting to defer payment for 30 days realistic in B2B or should you model in 90 days?

I realise that there is no golden rule that applies to all startups and/or businesses, but understanding what is "outlandish fiction" versus "fiction with a ring of truth" would be exceptionally valuable. And would also get you better pitches, one would assume.

Bpkeil

All excellent points on the importance of the process of creating financial projections for a start-up. The outcome of the process is less important than the thinking the goes into it. I agree that it tells you a great deal about the founders.

krishnamaraju dommaraju

All starts with a big dream and it is very difficult to get financials to create the road map but that is where entrepreneurial ability is brought into play to be successful.

Venture capitalists with much larger understanding of eco-system around the entrepreneur have to help the entrepreneur to define the road map much more sharply to realize the results at the end of the tunnel.
I have seen venture capitalists who claim credit for the success and dump the entrepreneur when in trouble.

Rita Gehman

Really well written and clearly defined. Reminds me of some things Michael Gerber talks about in E-Myth Mastery.

Moncler

tgrha Recent articles. I think this is the most beautiful in the world the article, there must be many people like it your works will get everyone recognized you is the best I will always support you srtgr

coach online outlet

rteyh Yeah~~~~~~~~~~`This has nothing to do with layers. You can either individually select or window select objects to be isolated or hidden. Good!!!!!!!!!!!! rthdgf

michael kors outlet

trey SO good, I like it very much, I will reread it some days late. gsrtg

learn chinese

so nice post!! i really enjoy your blog. please keep update for us. thanks

robe

thx for sharing, interesting

Marc by Marc Jacobs Bags

The main face of the cards is young and trendy women. As long as you like the bag, as long as you worship trends.

Air Max

The nomination of the winner depends on the capability and spirit of the personality to finish the race.I like the post very much as it contain informative in knowledge.I like pics of Chelsea shares of the beauty of running in Madison, Wisconsin.I want to congratulate the winner for the nomination race.I want to know suggestion from others.

Cmfryer

Dude, after reading "Venture Deals" I walked away thinking why the hell do we bother making hockey stick revenue projections if VCs know they are way off? This definitely explains the importance of justifying a burn rate. Most of the stuff that you posted concerning assumptions has more to do with the burn rate than revenue projections. I guess the best justification for including the hockey stick is to provide insight into how passionate/optimistic/stupid you may be.

I also get that having us work through cashflow issues and break even estimates will demonstrate prowess or lack thereof but man, there's gotta be a better way. It would be interesting to study the company that hit their projections and see what they did differently.

http://www.airjordanshoponline.com/

I want to congratulate the winner for the nomination race.I want to know suggestion from others.

Jordan Max

Life is measured by thought and action, not by time.
Ideas are like the stars --- we never reach them, but like mariners, we chart our course by them.

Ekmack

I spent months working on the financial forecast for my first business, I struggled to come up with what I thought were realistic expectations for the company. I finally came up with what I thought was sound projections, turns out after opening the business, my projections were more than double actual sales.

Onitsuka Tiger Shoes

He who enables himself for being insulted, deserves to be.

Liebermanlaw

So it turns out that when we say "Projections," we mean "show me your milestones and the key assumptions to meeting your milestones." Maybe we should say that.

Air Jordan Shoes

Wise man have their mouths in their hearts, fools have their hearts in their mouths.

2012 Griffey Shoes

Life like a book, the details should be more exciting and less boring words; Life is like a song, the melody should be more spirited and less sad note; life like a painting, it should be more bright colors, and less dark colors.

casque dr dre

Yeah~~~~~~~~~~`This has nothing to do with layers. You can either individually select or window select objects to be isolated or hidden. Good!!!!!!!!!!!!

beats by dr dre

Recent articles. I think this is the most beautiful in the world the article, there must be many people like it your works will get everyone recognized you is the best I will always support you

Nike Air Max

I like this blog, Ellen sat before her tall secretary each morning,Add me a feedback reader.Keep it up.

air max shoes

I have used these shoes mostly on hard court and I'm a strong big guy causing extreme stress on any of my shows
I have used these shoes mostly on hard court and I'm a strong big guy causing extreme stress on any of my shows

jordans outlet

Thanks you for your support, all the information is just what i need.

nfl jerseys

It is very good ,what do you think !

elliptical reviews

No offense, but if there's a facebook like button, it'll be much easier for me to share.

The comments to this entry are closed.