Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2021

Business plans and other documents should always be labeled as confidential. If your new business is even remotely similar to that of your current or former employer, think hard about any written or implied non-compete agreements you might have. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Cost 363

Cost Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder 363

David Teten

MAY 9, 2012

VCAP©, the first program of its kind, bridges the gap between venture capitalists and angel investor networks and women and diverse entrepreneurs, many of whom have not traditionally had access to these sources of capital. HBSAANY members include venture capitalists, individual accredited investors, and other institutional investors.

Venture Capital 154

Venture Capital Programming Accredited Investor New York 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

If you need help building your first business plan or financial model, it’s getting easier and easier to find what you need, as well as connections to peers and investors, without an expensive business consultant. Visit the university library for access to otherwise costly business reports.

Arizona 310

Arizona Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Dividend 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

By definition, angels are accredited investors, who invest their own money for a percentage of the business. Warm introductions from common friends are even better, so networking with potential peers and future investors is highly recommended well before it’s time to ask for money.

Search 317

Search Accredited Investor Angel Investor Venture Capital 317

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 26, 2018

Actually, banks don’t finance business startups. Banks aren’t supposed to invest depositors’ money in new businesses. Myth #3: Business plans sell investors. The rare exception is a special case, in which investors know an entrepreneur well and are ready to invest in them at an early stage. You should.

SBA 161

SBA Venture Capital Angel Investor Technical Review 161

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2019

These events are swarming with potential investors, and this is the forum where they are actively soliciting new opportunities, so don’t be shy about handing out your business card at breaks, lunch, mixers, or scheduled activities. Don’t do cold calls or email blasts of your resume and business plan to potential investors.

Networking 227

Networking Accredited Investor Elevator Pitch Entrepreneur 227

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

This has resulted in a platform with over 150,000 companies actively using Gust for investor relations, over 40,000 Accredited Investors using Gust to manage their deal flow and portfolios…and over a billion dollars of seed and early stage investments tracked through the platform since we started.

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 10, 2010

As a member of the selection committee on one of these local organizations, I use Angelsoft on the investor side to review business plans, deal flow, and help orchestrate presenters at monthly meetings of the local organization. Keiretsu Forum.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor North America South America Accredited Investor 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 28, 2013

These events are swarming with potential investors, and this is the forum where they are actively soliciting new opportunities, so don’t be shy about handing out your business card at breaks, lunch, mixers, or scheduled activities. Don’t do cold calls or email blasts of your resume and business plan to potential investors.

Networking 250

Networking Entrepreneur Accredited Investor Elevator Pitch 250

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2014

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. No one contemplates including a business plan, investor presentation, or even the equivalent of an executive summary.

Non-disclosure Agreement 254

Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Equity 254

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2013

What is important is that they are wealthy and willing to invest a great deal of money in your business for a piece of the action in return. About 225,000 people have made an angel investment in the last two years.

Angel Groups 51

Angel Groups Angel Investor Software Review Accredited Investor 51

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 27, 2012

These events are swarming with potential investors, and this is the forum where they are actively soliciting new opportunities, so don’t be shy about handing out your business card at breaks, lunch, mixers, or scheduled activities. Don’t do cold calls or email blasts of your resume and business plan to potential investors.

Networking 242

Networking Accredited Investor Elevator Pitch Entrepreneur 242

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 7, 2013

Business plans and other documents should always be labeled as confidential. If your new business is even remotely similar to that of your current or former employer, think hard about any written or implied non-compete agreements you might have. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Non-Compete 235

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Startup Cofounder 235

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2016

These events are swarming with potential investors, and this is the forum where they are actively soliciting new opportunities, so don’t be shy about handing out your business card at breaks, lunch, mixers, or scheduled activities. Don’t do cold calls or email blasts of your resume and business plan to potential investors.

Networking 120

Networking Accredited Investor Elevator Pitch SEC 120

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

One excellent way to do this (with a good bit of help from the experts), is to create a draft business plan using LivePlan from Palo Alto Software. Gust is used by over 1,000 angel investment groups, accelerators, business plan competitions and support programs to manage their applications.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 25, 2016

As an active angel investor, here are some key ones I have seen, with some guidance on how to improve your odds. Poorly written or missing business plan. If you recently sold your last startup for $800 million, you probably don’t need a business plan at all to get money for your next startup.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Angel Investor Reputation 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2016

If you need help building your first business plan or financial model, it’s getting easier and easier to find what you need, as well as connections to peers and investors, without an expensive business consultant. Visit the university library for access to otherwise costly business reports.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Entrepreneur Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 10, 2012

Business plans and other documents should always be labeled as confidential. If your new business is even remotely similar to that of your current or former employer, think hard about any written or implied non-compete agreements you might have. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Non-Compete 249

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Cofounder Startup 249

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2013

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. No one contemplates including a business plan, investor presentation, or even the equivalent of an executive summary.

Non-disclosure Agreement 266

Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Equity 266

Up and Running

JUNE 14, 2012

Skills Part – A CEO in a high-tech may get about 6-10% of the equity post Series A (when a VC or some accredited investor puts the money into company) while a VP of Engineering may only get 2%. If they started at different times or brought different contributions, that should be adjusted accordingly.

Cofounder 90

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Accredited Investor Equity 90

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2013

See how many you have personally experienced already, or are currently mentioned in your business plan: Crowd-sourcing equity. Sites like KickStarter have for years offered rewards and pre-sales for crowd investments, but real equity won’t be legalized until sometime this year for people other than accredited investors.

Entrepreneur 274

Entrepreneur Accredited Investor Silicon Valley Angel Investor 274

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 12, 2013

What is important is that they are wealthy and willing to invest a great deal of money in your business for a piece of the action in return. About 225,000 people have made an angel investment in the last two years.

Angel Groups 40

Angel Groups Angel Investor Software Review Accredited Investor 40

Austin Startup

JUNE 9, 2017

PPMs are lengthy documents that include risk factors, financial projections, business plan information, etc. Assuming that they are taking the classic approach of raising money only from accredited investors , a well-made deck and a solid operating plan are often their core needs for closing on early money.

Finance 54

Finance Accredited Investor Private Placement Texas 54

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2011

Business plans and other documents should always be labeled as confidential. If your new business is even remotely similar to that of your current or former employer, think hard about any written or implied non-compete agreements you might have. Founders ignore non-compete clauses from former employers.

Non-Compete 246

Non-Compete Accredited Investor Entrepreneur Cofounder 246

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 10, 2010

These events are swarming with potential investors, and this is the forum where they are actively soliciting new opportunities, so don’t be shy about handing out your business card at breaks, lunch, mixers, or scheduled activities. Don’t do cold calls or email blasts of your resume and business plan to potential investors.

Networking 242

Networking Accredited Investor Elevator Pitch SEC 242

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

Angel investors may invest individually or as part of an angel group, which are usually local organizations made up of Accredited Investors*. Per SEC rules “accredited investors” need to meet one of the following criteria: 1. Have $1,000,000 in assets excluding the value of their primary residence.

Finance 93

Finance Accredited Investor Angel Investor Seed Capital 93

Berkonomics

MAY 22, 2014

A Private Placement Memorandum (PPM) is a special business plan defined to meet an SEC exemption. I am an angel investor, that is, an accredited investor who is assumed by the SEC and others to be sufficiently wealthy to afford to lose the investment and supposedly experienced enough to make good choices on fundable companies.

Early Stage 79

Early Stage Accredited Investor SEC Private Placement 79

Gust

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. No one contemplates including a business plan, investor presentation, or even the equivalent of an executive summary.

Non-disclosure Agreement 160

Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Equity 160

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

For angel investors, early-stage means there is a good business plan and maybe a prototype, but no customer revenue. The recently passed JOBS bill now allows even non-accredited investors to contribute small amounts to new startups through “crowd-sourcing” sites, like Kickstarter and Crowdtilt. Crowd funding.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

By definition, angels are accredited investors, who invest their own money for a percentage of the business. Warm introductions from common friends are even better, so networking with potential peers and future investors is highly recommended well before it’s time to ask for money.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Venture Capital Startup 120

Gust

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

But, in the US, only wealthy accredited investors * have been allowed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to invest in entrepreneurs and their startup companies (without extensive disclosure of the business plan and risks inherent to such new ventures).

Securities and Exchange Commission 154

Securities and Exchange Commission Accredited Investor Angel Investor Due Diligence 154

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

At the moment, Gust for individual angels is only available to Accredited Investors who either (a) belong to an official angel group, venture fund or other organization that provides verification of their investor status, or (b) have already invested in (or been invited by) a startup using Gust for its investor relations communications.

Angel Investor 150

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 150

Business Plan Blog

OCTOBER 25, 2013

The proposed rules allow all individuals – not just accredited investors – to invest in companies via crowdfunding subject to certain thresholds. It is for this reasons that startups were traditionally mandated to raise capital solely from accredited investors who inherently understand this risk. Startup Funding'

SEC 76

SEC Accredited Investor .Net Framework 76

Business Plan Blog

NOVEMBER 14, 2013

It is also a smart way to get feedback from people you trust and a great starting point before you approach investors on a larger scale. Another uncomfortable position is qualifying if your friends and family are actually “accredited investors.” The two can’t occur concurrently.

Accredited Investor 63

Accredited Investor .Net Campaign Security 63

Tim Keane

MARCH 8, 2010

" Entrepreneurs looking for investors know about "accredited investor" status and the myriad benefits it provides.    The premise is that having sufficient net worth makes the investor more sophisticated.  John Mullins: Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model.

Accredited Investor 60

Accredited Investor Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 60

Up and Running

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

You go to a local startups meeting after dinner, and the panelists tell the crowd they’re looking for investor. Or you can talk to accredited investors , as defined by the the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Maybe we forget because we’re used to business plan projections, which are just that, projections.

Accredited Investor 60

Accredited Investor Securities and Exchange Commission SEC Startup 60

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

For angel investors, early-stage means there is a good business plan and maybe a prototype, but no customer revenue. The recently passed JOBS bill now allows even non-accredited investors to contribute small amounts to new startups through “crowd-sourcing” sites, like Kickstarter and Crowdtilt. Crowd funding.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177