

Ask HN: How to calculate initial valuation of start-up? - citizenkeys

How do you calculate the initial valuation of a start-up that's just co-founders and doesn't yet have a product, income, or assets?
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transmit101
Early stage startup valuations are a guessing game at the best of times, but
if you haven't even got as far as a knowing your product, then you'll have a
particularly difficult job in justifying a valuation of any amount.

So I would say, however much you think you can get away with.

Can you give us any more context? For what purpose do you need a valuation?

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citizenkeys
I'm trying to understand how seed-money investors do this. I can understand
valuations based on a real set of books, with assets and income. But how does
a seed-money investor like Y Combinator calculate the worth of a company with
just co-founders and an idea?

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transmit101
PG talks about it briefly in this clip (currently on the front page):
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMBTRf1kgm8>

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gsharma
<http://venturehacks.com/articles/seed-valuation>

