Transitions in Business: from Feature led — > Business Model — > Feature for someone else?

(Your Cash; My Valuation) and the fallacy of Intent to Invest

Now you see me, Now you dont! — Absent Co-founder

Everybody Loves IP

Cold feet and a missed opportunity

What’s happening with valuations

Earnout And How It’s Used As A Negotiation Tool in M&A

The Sequoia Fund: Patient Capital for Building Enduring Companies

Reinventing Existing vs. Creating New Markets

Digitally native brands: Born digital, but ready to take on the world

DNBs’ online origins give them two important competitive advantages: deep knowledge of their customer base and extensive control over the customer file. Whether a DNB is a product, service, or a product-service combination, what sets them apart is the fact that brand owners know exactly who their customers are, what online behavior led them to their initial contact with the brand, and what they’re likely to buy next. This insight creates opportunities to build deep and lasting relationships with customers. It’s an advantage that can carry over even if, later in their life cycle, DNBs branch into brick-and-mortar

Today, low barriers to entry have encouraged an explosion of DNBs, flooding the market with the fruits of creative entrepreneurship. However, DNBs that break through with outsize investor returns are rare
- A brand’s investment attractiveness rests largely on a handful of key metrics, which include net customer growth, year-over-year customer cohort value, projected lifetime value (LTV), customer acquisition cost (CAC), contribution margin, and total addressable market (TAM). 
- Categories with the most potential: The most successful brands typically play in categories with distinct dynamics, such as predictable and routine consumption patterns, personal and gift-buying tendencies, strong gross margin profiles, favorable size/weight ratio for shipping, and low likelihood of returns
- Community engagement + Performance marketing + Predictive analytics

Successful DNBs monitor tiny shifts in consumer browsing and purchasing behaviors (for example, trial and switch propensity, length of the purchase cycle, responsiveness to new offers) to be able to constantly refine their value proposition to optimize demand and minimize churn. Over time, it is essential to move from start-up to grown-up and find sufficient scale to leverage core infrastructure and build on an active customer base
 

Enterprise Gateway Marketplaces Will Turn...