Why would it be a failure if a corporate venture fund had its invested company purchased by a competitor?
Jason M. Lemkin In the Old Days, this was a big deal. Corporate VC was partially view, either explicitly or implicitly, as an lightweight option to purchase. No one cares today. They know this happens, and that all they are really buying is a look, and some loose...
What do investors look for in a startup CEO?
Jason M. Lemkin It really varies by VC. But I’ll tell you what I look for — just one thing. Someone better than me, as a founder-CEO … adjusted for time. I don’t expect a first-time 25 year old CEO to know everything I know today. But I do...
How do venture funds assess that proof of concept phase is over and the company now needs funding to grow?
Jason M. Lemkin I think there may be a bit of misunderstanding / fallacy here. Most VCs, even if they invest very early, don’t really invest capital to “help you grow”. Not really. They invest capital to help you continue to grow. To fuel an...
Why should anyone join Dropbox at this time? (10/2015)
Jason M. Lemkin It’s an amazing time to join — for the right people: DropBox will IPO, and you’ll get to be part of it. This is an amazing experience to go through, at least once. Everyone that wants to have the full “start-up”...
How will Dropbox’s valuation be affected by the decision to drop Carousel and Mailbox?
Jason M. Lemkin They are 100% irrelevant. Both are $0 in revenues, or close enough. Assuming DropBox is at $400m ARR today or so, dropping anything doing < $15-$20m ARR won’t be material. $0 certainly won’t be. See Questions On Quora View original...
Is it better to (1) build a product then find a market for the product or (2) Find an underserved market and design a product tailored to the customers’ needs?
It turns out we all sort of do both. Because the 1.0 (or 0.1) never really quite accomplishes what we’d planned, and the white space almost never ends up being filled exactly how we thought it would be. You have to see some white space. A need in the market. ...
Is it too late to start a tech business at 34?
Jason M. Lemkin Well, of course not. I’ve written before on this topic a lot and you’ll “know” when it’s too late. Tons of great start-ups were founded at 34 or far, far older. Especially in SaaS, it may even be the majority. Having...
Can you make your TAM larger by expanding into new verticals (B2B SaaS)?
Jason M. Lemkin You certainly can. It’s just usually, you get so busy just trying to own & dominate one, that it rarely works out in practice. Veeva is one of the more successful SaaS IPOs and start-ups of all times. It started off with a thesis of doing...
Is VentureBeat right that “number of exits” are a good indicator that unicorns are in trouble?
Jason M. Lemkin No. At least not in SaaS and B2B. There are few very acquirers in SaaS that can pay > $1b to buy another company. Salesforce has a $50b+ market cap, so it can occassionally pay >$1b (e.g., ExactTarget). SAP and Oracle can afford a $1b+ check. ...
If a VC gives you an opportunity to present your startup and then sets a subsequent meeting to present to their entire investor team how would you best leverage this?
Jason M. Lemkin This is probably the wrong time to “leverage”. It’s probably one stage too early. The best time to leverage is when either (x) you’ve just gotten a real term sheet, or (y) you are Pretty Darn Confident you are about to get one....
As a VC and investor, what’s the wisest first question I should ask an entrepreneur before I invest in their company?
Jason M. Lemkin If you mean Right Before You Decide To Invest … my favorite question is: What are the Top 3 or 4 things I’ll learn at the first Board meeting I don’t know now? I think this Columbo-style question will, in more cases than not, elicit...
I want to ask an angel investor I know for a $25k convertible note w/ 75% discount and 1.5m cap. Are these relatively attractive terms or should I modify that to make it more appealing?
Jason M. Lemkin I actually like this idea, but it is very situationally dependent. Most angels that are serious about it — i.e., making 5-10x on their angel investments as a cohort, not just Playing Angel — generally have some serious rules. If you...
I am 13 and aspire to be a venture capitalist. Could somebody give me advice on the best route to take to become one?
Jason M. Lemkin My best advice is actually very similar to what I give folks that think they want to be lawyers. It’s — understand what doing the actual job and profession really means. For real. One way to be a VC is to “stumble” into it...
Is the Square (SQ) IPO offering price a huge disappointment?
Jason M. Lemkin No, it’s a qualified but large success. For reasons that only partially make sense, an IPO that trades up at least 20% from its IPO price going forward is a success. That means everyone made money in the IPO itself, it had a “pop”,...
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