Adopting a Private Equity Approach to Venture Capital Investing
Stage GP Krista Morgan was a featured guest on The Private Equity Podcast hosted by Alex Rawlings. In this episode, Krista and Alex talked about:
– How PE firms take over companies and lead them to growth
– What it’s like to work in a female-led investment fund
– Why most start-ups fail
– The publicity and business that comes with winning awards
Is it time to fire the founding CEO?
Tough times means investors are likely to become more assertive across the board, and the question of replacing founding CEOs is going to come up more often. Early-stage investors are usually reluctant to get involved, but as companies face difficulty raising cash, fiduciary responsibility becomes more important and board members will feel increasingly accountable to the other shareholders.
How to prevent the loss of institutional knowledge when acquiring a company
The decision to acquire a company is often lead by spreadsheets and numbers. Some of the questions that may go into the decision might include: Does the company have an advantage in the market? Is revenue on the right track? Can any financial missteps be solved?
Economic pressures stress payment fintechs
Payments players PayPal, Klarna and Bolt all recently moved to restructure their businesses in the face of new economic pressures, and another peer, Fast, shuttered altogether, highlighting the emerging macro-economic perils for fintechs. Stage GP Krista Morgan comments on Lynne Marek’s recent Payments Dive piece on payment fintech firms.
Turnaround Venture Capitalists See Opportunity In The Current Downturn
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.
Innovation of the Venture Studio Model
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?
As The Venture Capital Market Cools, A Different Kind Of Startup Investor Prepares To Pounce
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.
Rethinking Startup Failure: An Alternative to Series B
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.
Stage wants to catch the Series B knife
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.
Meet the GP’s – Dan Frydenlund
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
How to Survive the Gap in Funding Rounds?
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.
How to Cut to Breakeven
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.
Meet the GP’s – Ingrid Alongi
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
2021 Year in Review
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.
How to extend your runway. Indefinitely.
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.
Stage Fund Acquires Worklete, an AI Based Data Platform for Injury Prevention
Worklete, founded in 2015, is a mobile device enabled solution that provides injury prevention training for frontline workers anytime, anywhere. The Worklete platform has proven to reduce preventable musculoskeletal (MSK) injuries up to 50% with less than five minutes per day utilization. The Company counts well-known Fortune 500 brands as clients.
Stage Acquires Haystack Mountain Creamery, an Award-winning Cheesemaker in Longmont, CO
“The opportunity to join Stage is outstanding,” said Chuck Hellmer, the President of the Company. “With our diverse and unique offerings of goat and cow’s milk cheeses, Stage will bring a new element in growing our brand and presence within local and regional markets.”
Stage Acquires Coops and Feathers, a Global Provider of Specialized Chicken Products
Coops and Feathers is a US based chicken products company dedicated to improving the lives of animals and their caregivers. The Company offers unique chicken coops and coop accessories, as well as, all-natural chicken treats and behavioral sprays and powders under its Healthy Hen product line.
Stage Acquires ThirdChannel, a National Leader in Optimizing Retail Execution and In-store Customer Experience
“We are excited to be partnering with Stage, a firm with significant experience developing SaaS businesses,” said Brian Tervo, CEO of ThirdChannel. “With their operational expertise and support, we will be able to refocus on providing specialized products and services and growing our market share.”
Stage Agrees to Acquire Needle, a Leader in Ecommerce Live Chat
Needle is a technology and service platform for e-commerce brands who utilize advocates for live chat and customer engagement. Founded in 2010, Needle has an impressive list of brands that use their service to provide a differentiated ecommerce chat experience including TaylorMade, Stuart Weitzman, Sonos, and Bare Necessities.
Denver firm acquires startups unable to raise a Series B
There’s an expectation in the startup sphere that successful companies raise through the alphabet from Series A to B and on with little friction, hitting funding milestones with each passing year.
Coops & Feathers Add Amy Ranae Schwarz as VP of Sales and Marketing; Product Expansion Planned for 2022
Coops & Feathers is a U.S. based pet products company dedicated to improving the lives of animals and their pet parents. The Company offers unique chicken coops and functional accessories, as well as all-natural chicken treats, water additives and treatment sprays under its Healthy Hen product line. Coops & Feathers products can be found in big box retailers, eCommerce channels and major rural lifestyle retailers in North America.
Stage Closes Fund to Acquire Early-Stage Companies Moving off the Venture Path
Stage’s playbook is a hybrid model integrating best practices from venture capital, private equity, and the venture studio model for shared services. With five portfolio companies already part of the Fund, early performance has dictated Stage to close Fund I early and begin the process of raising Fund II to scale their unique approach.
How a failure to raise turned me into a GP
We had what I thought was good traction, unique competitive positioning, tech to help us scale, and a strong team. With nearly two years of hindsight, I now know that it’s not that we weren’t good, it’s that we weren’t good enough to raise our Series B.
Year in Review
As the door closes on a strange and unpredictable 2020 and the cramped hands of historians get a few moments rest – the world collectively breathes a sigh of relief and is cautiously hopeful. Now, in the quiet of the holiday season, which both eases the strain of the year and magnifies just how different our zoom-infused, socially distanced, sanitized world has become, we reflect.