The 4 Types Of Exits: M&A

I recently had lunch with Gary Kats, a friend from business school who has gone on to work as a tech banker. As part of our chat, we discussed the current exit environment and how it has affected the four types of exits: M&A, IPO, Secondary and Recapitalization. During the course of…

The Phases Of Due Diligence

There are typically two phases of the due diligence process.

The first phase typically begins after the VC has decided that he is interested in your company. At this stage, the VC begins to explore all of the key assumptions that must be true to make…

What Is A Desirable Outcome?

VCs often ask entrepreneurs the question: “what’s a desirable outcome for your startup?” While this question might be posed in different ways (e.g., ‘what are your goals?’, ‘where do you see this company going?’), all of these questions are a way of assessing your ultimate…

New Blood: Innonate Takes Over The NYTM

Yesterday the NY Tech Meetup elected Innonate (Nate Westheimer) to be its new organizer. There is no doubt that the NY region is lucky to have Nate offer to contribute so much of his time to our collective cause. As many know he has been an active part of our…

Two-Sided Addressable Markets

Companies that are building networks need to sell to two types of customers. For example, advertising networks sell to both owners of inventory (e.g., websites) and advertisers. As a result, the addressable market for a network needs to reflect both customer segments and is…

IPOs Usually Take Longer To Realize Than M&A

The average company exiting through a public offering is more mature than a company that exits through an acquisition, at least since 2000.

There is good reason for this extra maturation. Public investors are often seeking to…