News
Remote Work Is Reshaping San Francisco, as Tech Workers Flee and Rents Fall
August 14, 2020
By giving their employees the freedom to work from anywhere, Bay Area tech companies appear to have touched off an exodus. ‘Why do we even want to be here?’
4 Tips for Small Businesses Developing a Strategic Plan
June 26, 2020
You and your senior management may not need to work any harder, but rather smarter. The first step to doing this is to step out of the box and do an objective assessment of what is working and what is not.
How to Value a Start-up
February 19, 2019
In theory, start-up valuation is similar to the valuation of any company. First, estimate the amount of money the company will make for its shareholders (typically through an acquisition or IPO). Second, approximate your future ownership and position in the company’s capital structure when that liquidation event happens. Third, calculate required return with respect to your personal objectives and constraints. Fourth, discount the company’s expected future value by step three. Fifth, compare the opportunity to your alternatives.
The Hardest Part of Growing A Company
February 15, 2019
Every business owner (or founder) has a different take on the hardest part of growing a company. And those same business owners will have different takes on the easy part of growing the business. Talk to a talented sales professional who started the company, and you may find that managing, marketing, and recruiting are the most difficult hurdles that a person faces in growing their business. Talk to the marketer down the street who started a company, and you likely will hear just the opposite.
Four Levers to Optimize your Funding Round
February 14, 2019
Too many founders optimize their fundraising based on a single metric: valuation. Of course, I understand where this comes from, and the desire to minimize dilution. As early-stage investors, we also care about the dilutive effects of follow-on rounds, both for us and the founders. A key lesson we’ve learned across our investments is that valuation isn’t often the most important factor, and it doesn’t exist in a vacuum.
Understanding Private Equity
February 14, 2019
Artivest serves some of the largest and most respected private equity firms in the world as a technology-enabled alternative investment platform. Our firm also manages proprietary private equity funds as an alternative asset manager. In this private equity primer, we provide a comprehensive overview of private equity investing, which continues its ascent to the top of the alternative investment industry. This whitepaper is provided in Q&A format and raises questions that a fiduciary or trustee might typically ask when considering an investment allocation to this asset class.