PROBLEM:
Top VCs and founders have something in common: their time is substantially more valuable than that of their peers. A partner that can get 3X to 5X multiples on deals is creating more value than one that can’t. Similarly, in most cases a founder that can reach milestones is more valuable than a founder or CEO that cannot. In general, both of these leaders will actively seek and refine ways to get better quality information, faster and in a format that they can challenge, interact with and verify. Fortune 500 companies might refer to these systems as "dashboards."


THE SOLUTION:
A Venture Dashboard a 12-Year Old Can Build In Under an Hour

When a nimble, high-growth firm hears the word “dashboard” they almost always think of charts, diagrams, bells and whistles arranged in squares on a screen that costs millions and took years to implement. To prove that’s not the case, look at the lower right hand side of your screen or cell phone display right now. Now, determine your approximate position compared to the Sun, Moon and Stars. Or, alternatively, determine what time it is.

That’s what a living dashboard does. It reduces complex processes to information almost anyone can act on. You don’t have to be an astrophysicist to know that when the display reads “3:30 PM” it’s time for a key meeting, or to pick your kids up from school.

Now, double-click on that time display and change the date to 13 months from now. After changing the date, can you tell what multiple each fund in a deal will get, how much cash a company has, how much revenue and product development expenses were incurred, are warrants and options in the money, and by how much, plus 1,000,000 other questions unique to you, your fund or your company? If you can’t, and your time is more valuable than your peers’ time, then you need a living Venture Dashboard.

THE GOAL OF THIS PAPER – “WHO CARES?”
Much of preparing this paper involved studying people in the early stage venture space that actually cared about getting better information regarding everything about a deal as quickly and efficiently as possible. In the same way a quality student usually knows if they missed any questions on an exam, the individuals that had attempted to develop a “dashboard” of insights into their portfolio companies or venture were also more likely to get an “A” as a result of their efforts.

By the 5th page of this whitepaper a founder, venture partner, CFO or analyst with a vision of marquee outcomes will visualize the world of key data lying dormant on their team’s server, desktops, favorite websites or email files waiting to be transformed into multiple "electronic" team members.

By the end of this whitepaper, you will be able to gain at least a 2 to 1 improvement in venture visibility. Simply put, you will be able to transcend the "Current Situation" that weighs down the coat tails of top performers in early stage ventures.