Nick B.

Nathan Beckord has been a valuable resource to me and the various startups we're mentoring through NeoTerra Ventures and/or funding through NeoTerra Capital LLC. Startup valuations can be very subjective and can be calculated and justified by a variety of means, however knowing the "market rate" is also important when setting a valuation for a round of funding. In the end, the company is worth what an investor is willing to pay for it, which is the final determination of the venture's value in its current state of development. #startups #vc #funding #valuations

15

2 Comments

Should you raise VC money❓ A question for the ages, answered by Dylan Collins on the pod this week. No one is better placed to answer this than the man who sold three companies and is now an active investor. 💡 Dylan breaks down: - Why VC money isn’t for everyone - The hidden costs of taking investment - And how to know if you’re truly ready to scale 🚀 Listen or watch now YouTube: https://bit.ly/3COsRU1 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/4fPu6Rv Apple: https://apple.co/4gaVuJo

69

6 Comments

The conversation we had with Guy Podjarny (founder of Snyk, $7.5bn valuation) was one of the most insightful we've had on the podcast. He comes across as wise, commercial, creative, focussed. That's why Snyk was able to go from $0-7.5bn in about 5yrs. Great entrepreneurs aren't given enough credit for creativity. They might not be artists, but their minds work in ways that find new solutions from previously unconnected bits of information - it's applied creativity aka innovation. Great product entrepreneurs are master innovators, and Guy is one of them. I've put some of Guy's takes below but worth listening to the episode. Entrepreneurship is about creation and impact, thinking about problems from a new perspective and making a difference. Having a big vision is important, but it's crucial to break it down into small steps and focus on the next achievable goal. Putting your product out there early and optimising for learning is more valuable than waiting for a perfect product. Hiring the right people and continuously evolving the company culture are key to success. Communication skills and the ability to distill complex ideas into simple terms are essential for founders. Chapters 01:24 Defining Entrepreneurship and the Vision of Snyk 08:04 Product Management and Early Days of Snyk 15:28 Fundraising Strategies and Building Company Culture 21:47 Open Source, Blockchain, and Security 22:17 Fundraising Tips and Managing a Cap Table 28:00 Building Company Culture and Hiring Great Talent 36:25 Reflecting on Mistakes and Lessons Learned 45:45 The Future of Snyk and Dinner Party Guests

22

2 Comments

Want to make $1k in February—guaranteed? Here’s exactly how to do it: Step 1: Go to YouTube. Search for dash cam videos. Find channels dedicated to dash cam vids that aren’t selling dash cams in their description. Step 2: Create a simple Google sheet. Add columns for: → YouTube Channel URL → Subscribers → Contact Info Step 3: Launch a Shopify store selling dash cams. If you don’t know how, YouTube will walk you through it. OR... Can’t launch a store? No worries. Go to Google. Search for dash cam affiliate programs. Join those programs. Step 4: Go back to your Google sheet. Start reaching out to these YouTubers. Here’s the thing: Most of these channels aren’t making real money with Adsense. They’re hungry for brand deals. You’ll be shocked at the deals you can lock in. Step 5: Buy ad spots in their description boxes. Drop copy like: “Looking for an affordable dash cam? Grab yours here -> [yourstorenamecom].” If the channel drives solid sales, buy it. If you don’t have the cash, pitch a partnership. Make your offer to 100 channels. Reach out. Negotiate. Seal the deal. If you get your link live in 100 channels—you’ll easily clear $1k. If not, DM me. Show me what you did. If you got your store live in 100 channels and didn’t make it, I’ll personally send you $1k. Either way, you’re walking away with $1k and some killer skills. Clock’s ticking. Go.

2

Athletic Greens (AG1) bootstrapped their ecom brand to $150+ million 💪 Here's a breakdown of the funnel they're using to grow... 👉 https://lnkd.in/eQiFmV8u AG1 has the most streamlined subscription funnel I've ever seen for a DTC brand 👀. No wonder they were able to bootstrap to $150+ million in revenue, before raising at a $1.2 billion valuation. This funnel by AG1 uses three strategies to achieve their desired AOV and improve profit on ad spend: • Discounted bundle offer to boost sales & AOV • Multiple subscription options to increase LTV • A subscription frequency upsell to accelerate LTV collected, and reduce payback period on CAC I've broken down each step from ad click to checkout. You can get the free Figma file, with editable templates, here: 👉 https://lnkd.in/eQiFmV8u Or just comment "AG1", and I'll DM it to you. Some key strategies in their funnel that you won't wanna miss: • How their ad creative hooks customers and sells the benefits of their product • The compelling intro offer they use to acquire new customers • The price-comparison approach the landing page uses to make their product look like a no-brainer • How their landing page answers buying decision questions (BDQs) • The streamlined subscription builder they use to personalize the shopping experience and upsell customers to maximize AOV • And more

36

11 Comments

tl;dr: Finding external advocates for your product is one of the most foolproof ways to build developer trust. If you’re generous enough with your incentives, loyal customers don’t just become endorsers — they become revenue-generating machines. Your biggest fans could be generating 10% of your revenue. At ScraperAPI, our affiliate program did just that by converting loyal users into top salespeople. Here’s how we spotted the opportunity: We realized that a lot of our customers would outsource web scraping tasks to freelance software engineers who would use the same tool over and over again for different companies. That left us with a great opportunity to build relationships with those freelancers who had the potential to bring us more and more new customers over time. Here’s how we did it in practice: It’s super simple. We offered killer incentives to everyone involved: -25% recurring commissions for affiliates -10% first-month discount for the new customers they referred Because our product was well-designed and easy to use, freelancers were happy to recommend us over and over again.

19

2 Comments

Want to stand out in a VC screening call? Ask thoughtful questions. Why it matters: 1. Shows you've done your research 2. Demonstrates genuine interest 3. Helps you understand if they're a good fit Go beyond "What's your check size?" Get specific to that fund and even the person you’re talking to. Remember, it's not just about us evaluating you - you're evaluating us too. What's the best question you've asked (or been asked) in a VC meeting?

7

2 Comments

"Switch to a subscription model, and your company’s valuation will skyrocket." (FALSE) Investors and acquirers don’t value your company more just because you slap a "SaaS" label on it. SaaS all comes down to two things: 1. Predictability Investors love to know what’s coming. With SaaS, if you’ve locked in those contracts, you can confidently predict what your revenue will be next month, next quarter, even next year. That’s what makes SaaS attractive. It’s not the subscription model itself, it’s the ability to project future income with high accuracy. And from that, you can project proposed investments in growth and clearly understand ROI. If you have a SaaS model and you have high churn and an unpredictable sales funnel, your business will absolutely not be worth more money. 2. Margins & Payback If you’re moving to SaaS just to increase your valuation, you better be ready to talk margins. The value isn't in simply saying "we’re a SaaS company". It's in showing great gross and net margins (net margins outside of specific investments in growth initiatives). Solid margins, understanding ROI, and predictable recurring revenue are what really catch an investor's eye. What are your thoughts on SaaS valuations? Have you seen the predictability play out in your own business? Let’s talk about it below.

35

22 Comments

Tell your story from the customers point of view

1

The state of venture capital is wild right now. We are witnessing a surge of innovation across the spectrum: - Funds merging - VC doing PE - PE doing VC - Secondary funds - Buyout funds - Spin-out funds - Debt funds - Continuation funds - Infrastructure funds - GP turnover - Hard Tech surging - Family Office uptick

60

8 Comments

Here's what you shouldn't do to 10x your portfolio within 1 year 📈 - Get caught to scams that promise 100x - Don't take action on any information - Don't study about angel investing - Dont start a your own company - Don't join any venture syndicates - Stay within your comfort zone - Be skeptical about everything - Don't follow smart money - Refuse all opportunities - Don't work for Equity - Stick to your 9-5 - Invest in ETFs What did I miss? P.S - this post is inspired by a comment by Daigo Tanaka, PhD on my previous post #investing #ETF #Angel #Equity

61

15 Comments

The scenario... You're raising a new VC fund and you know people that have investor platforms with, they say, tens of thousands investors all opted in, liquid and looking for new fund opportunities. You shoot over the fund info, docs and deal room. They list it on their platform and email the list. 4 weeks go by and crickets. The odds of that happening is crazy! Even a list of 100 people would get at least 1 inquiry. People fall for these things all the time and it doesn't matter if you're a fund, a startup, a real estate developer... most of these platforms are a joke and they'll just say that your fund, business or deal is somehow "outside of their norm" which is why it's not getting any traction. Do your research, ask for referrals from people who were successful and never pay without doing your due diligence!

4

2 Comments

Been thinking about this a lot recently: the J-curve for gaming investments. Takes more capital and more time to launch a game compared to a consumer app or LLM-wrapper. This is more similar to biotech or hardtech investing but with less moats (no patents, no capex, Tencent/Netease might fast follow you). A few ideas to ease the curve: - Move faster with AI-enabled production (sfx, vfx, code, 2d assets, video) - Bootstrap to more before raising - Earlier liquidity through pre-sales (kickstarter or NFTs) - Go after high-leverage, multiplayer genres - Playtest earlier to get to retention earlier What else?

120

35 Comments