“We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!” ― Benjamin Franklin The phrase “software eating the world” is a common refrain in the tech industry, and Battery has…
Getting from Seed to Series A: Insider Tips from Tech’s Top Early-Stage Funders
What are the secrets to raising a Series A round, if you’re a seed-stage company, in today’s fast-paced but still discerning market? In this podcast—taped at a dinner in San Francisco hosted by Batter…
EmBARKing on a new journey: Dog Walking and the Power of Online Marketplaces
A little less than a year ago, we published the Battery Network Effects Index, a market index including 36 current or previously publicly traded, consumer-Internet companies, each valued at $1 billion…
Uber and Airbnb: Not All Marketplaces are Created Equal
So far, 2017 has been a non-stop PR headache for Uber, and that’s putting it mildly. From the online #DeleteUber campaign to explosive sexual harassment claims against the ride hailing company to the …
Network Effects – The Keys to Ascending the Consumer-Internet Throne
“Category kings”, defined as market-share leaders in particular business sectors, often wind up creating the majority of the market value relative to their competition. This advantage is particularly …
Battery Ventures Network Effect Index
The Battery Ventures Network Effect Index—which includes 36 current or previously publicly traded companies, each valued at $1 billion or more—highlights companies that exhibit profound “network effec…
A VC’s Tips: Communicating with Your Board During Tough Times
For startup CEOs, tough economic periods are like stressful stretches in a marriage: They test your mettle while making ugly truths impossible to hide. And these days, amid industrywide belt-tightenin…
5 Questions to Ask Before Saying ‘I do’ to Your VC
Most entrepreneurs focus on the hard economics of the deal when they negotiate with investors: percentage ownership, valuation, preferences and other terms. Those things are all important — but so is …
Do You Really Know Why Your Customers are Churning?
In previous posts I’ve written about the critical value of “customer success” for technology companies—tracking, retaining and upselling existing customers. Plenty of vendors are now offering sophisti…
A Bubbly Late-Stage Market? The Data Tells the Story
So: Are we in a late-stage, private-market tech bubble or not? It’s the talk of Silicon Valley today. Many investors and executives are fretting about the rise of pre-IPO company valuations, while the…