Most startups don’t make it. While some companies fail because they are trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist or trying to target a market that’s too small to produce profits, many falter because they aren’t growing quickly enough to attract or retain VC backing.
A venture studio is a model for entrepreneurship that combines company building with venture funding. Given the success of venture studios for startups and investors, the number of studios has grown to over 560 worldwide. What differentiates the venture studio model? And what is the next innovation of the venture studio model?
Stage Fund is raising $50 million for its second fund to buy startups that are struggling to raise their Series B rounds.
About half of the companies that raise Series A never go on to raise another round, but between 20% and 30% are still good businesses, according to Stage’s Krista Morgan.
2021 was a banner year for early-stage investments; venture funding doubled year over year to $200 billion across 8,000 startups. The uncertainty and disruption of a global pandemic did not compress valuations as initially expected, and the amount of funding per round means an average Series A company has now raised over $20 million. And yet, amidst this investment fervor, 50% of Series A companies will fail to raise a Series B round, taking them off the venture path.
Dan Frydenlund, Founder, Chairman, CEO & General Partner of Stage Fund, joins us for our third episode in our “Meet the GPs” series.
Dan speaks about
– developing the Stage Fund model
– building a female-led private equity fund and
– the evolution of Stage for their first and second fund
A 2019 report from the Bureau of Labor concludes that 21.5% of startups fail in the first year, 30% in the second year, 50% in the fifth year, and 70% in their 10th year. We talked with Brett Jurgens, CEO & co-founder of Notion, about his advice for other founders looking to make it to past Series A.
As founders, we all want to grow to breakeven by achieving scale, but sometimes your only option is to cut your way to breakeven. Here is Krista Morgan’s practical guide for founders & CEOs to build and execute a successful breakeven plan.
We are back with the second of our three part series introducing the General Partners of Stage Fund.
We sat down with Ingrid Alongi to learn
– her perspective on the “technical co-founder myth”
– guidance and advice for women in tech and
– the technical evaluation and diligence process for Stage Fund on acquiring B2B SaaS tech platforms
With 2021 coming to a close, we reflect on a year of building and for many, shifting from the disruption of 2020. We are excited to share our Year in Review as we look back on what the year offered for opportunity and growth. We head into 2022 with great momentum, an expanded Stage team, and an excellent outlook on Fund I performance.
A friend (and founder) called and said he was in a tough spot. An investor had committed to a sizable round, signed subscription docs, and then…bailed. With 6-weeks of cash, my friend wanted to know his options. The company was close to breakeven, but he needed a short runway to get there.
