article thumbnail

How to Decrease the Odds That Your Startup Fails

Both Sides of the Table

Most of this advice boils down to an argument in favor of basic planning before starting a company or raising money. In many ways the fact that it has become so cheap to start a company and relatively cheap to raise angel/seed money that we as an industry have gotten lazy on basic planning. Incumbent Strengths & Weaknesses.

Startup 150
article thumbnail

6 Tips To Tell Your Story Effectively

YoungUpstarts

As a business book publisher who’s been working with entrepreneurs and CEOs for over a decade, I can tell you that there are stories I heard in 2005 that have stayed with me and some from last week that I’ve all but forgotten. With an effective story, your company lives in the minds of customers. Without one, it fades into the background.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How the Seed-Stage VC Trend Began, The Downsides of Unicorns & Much More

Both Sides of the Table

If you are a 20-something tech entrepreneur you could be forgiven for thinking that seed-stage investors, Angellist Syndicates and widely available angel money always existed. Let me take you back just 10 years ago to 2005 in Silicon Valley where I returned after 11 years of living in Europe.

article thumbnail

Mentors-Plus-Capital Programs – Intense Incubation

Startup Professionals Musings

Paul Graham built the mold at Y Combinator , which he founded back in 2005. To get the mentors and the seed money, the start-up teams must clearly demonstrate what I call Moxie, the strength of character to play the game to its conclusion. The others go home, empty-handed, but typically energized, rather than defeated.

Incubator 201
article thumbnail

Should Founders Be Allowed to Take Money off the Table?

Both Sides of the Table

He’s been at it since 2005. I founded it in 2005 at the age of 37. I raised $500k in seed money to start the company. I believe this is wrong. Let me start with a couple of stories. A friend of mine is a serial entrepreneur and is running a high-profile, early stage company in NorCal.

Founder 329
article thumbnail

How to Start a Startup

www.paulgraham.com

March 2005 (This essay is derived from a talk at the Harvard ComputerSociety.) You need three things to create a successful startup: to start withgood people, to make something customers actually want, and to spendas little money as possible. Usually you get seed money from individual rich people called"angels."

Startup 105
article thumbnail

How to Fund a Startup

www.paulgraham.com

November 2005 Venture funding works like gears. A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. It wasnt because they werent accredited investors that I didntask my parents for seed money, though.