YoungUpstarts

JUNE 1, 2019

In the first post , we drilled down into the often-overlooked notion of “market-engineering” and why it’s so critical. Go-to-Market. In two of these three phases – the first and third – volumes of helpful information and numerous organizations are readily available to help guide and support founders of startups. Go-to-Product.

Cleveland 150

Cleveland Framework Marketing Early Stage 150

The Next Web

DECEMBER 30, 2012

These are with no doubt worthwhile goals, but I’d like to pose an important challenge for founders: Make learning and development your key resolution in 2013. How to identify and engage the first customers for your product, and how to gather, evaluate and use their feedback to make your product, marketing and business model far stronger.

Artificial Inteligence 156

Artificial Inteligence Founder Private Equity Ruby 156

The Startup Magazine

MAY 26, 2024

Bucher, founder of venture capital firm Day One Ventures, was recently accepted into the Milken Institute’s membership program, with her official induction taking place at the prestigious global conference. Stepping Up to the Plate The portfolio companies of Day One Ventures are largely helmed by minority or women founders.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Global Founder Venture Capital 78

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

It is necessary to cover the early stages of product development, thorough market research, and other processes during the initial step. Seed capital is a component of the initial investments made in young businesses. The criteria change after a company reaches the growth stage when it is deemed to have attained product market fit.

Seed Stage 137

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 137

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

To most founders a startup is not a job, but a calling. Founders can now access the largest pool of risk capital that ever existed –in the form of Private Equity (Angel Investors, family offices , Venture Capitalists (VC’s) and Hedge Funds.). What does this mean for startup founders? ——-.

Liquidity Event 120

Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

Up and Running

AUGUST 17, 2022

In another case, I saw an angel investment group reject a founder who, during his presentation, blamed every setback on somebody other than himself. Instead, they gave him useless clichés, like “you’re not there yet” and “too much noise in that market.”. They argued every point the investors tried to make.

Venture Capital 146

Venture Capital Intellectual Property Angel Investor Bootstrapping 146

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2019

The reasons are a lot more complex than the meltdown of key investment banks in the US a few years ago, so don’t expect a big change in the numbers soon, even with recent stock market rallies. Friendly or hostile takeover attempts are just a couple of the many ways that company founders sense a loss of control of their own destiny.

IPO 210

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 210

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Marketing is everything these days.

Business Model 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

The concept our Guilds is simple: We want to bring together small groups of Product and Go-to-Market experts to lend their time to support our portfolio company founders and key operators. Pierre Valade, Co-Founder of Sunrise & Mobile Designer at Microsoft. Go-to-Market Guild. Jessica Meher, VP, Marketing at Notarize.

Operations 177

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 177

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. These areas include market, process, and team transitions.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor Technical Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Most of these investors are members of Angel groups that have a rigorous filtering and screening process, to select the top 3% and most fundable proposals. Build an investor presentation and summary.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 260

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. These areas include market, process, and team transitions.

Startup 161

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 161

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Success depends on finding startups that have identified acute customer pains in large markets where conditions are ripe for a new entrant. Few entrepreneurs find this scalable and repeatable business model because it’s not easy. This experience has provided me a whole new set of pattern matching filters as an investor.

Early Stage 292

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 292

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. These areas include market, process, and team transitions.

Startup 296

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 296

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Image via Flickr by Side Wages Some entrepreneurs forget that they need an innovative business model along with an innovative solution to have a successful startup. Inventors alone, or business gurus alone, generally fail. It really takes a complementary pair of founders to improve the odds.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Startup Angel Investor Social Media 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 11, 2017

The reasons are a lot more complex than the meltdown of key investment banks in the US a few years ago, so don’t expect a big change in the numbers soon, even with recent stock market rallies. Friendly or hostile takeover attempts are just a couple of the many ways that company founders sense a loss of control of their own destiny.

IPO 218

IPO SEC Prospectus Technical Review 218

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Success demands testing the solution early and quickly in the market, then iterating to get it right. Nail the go-to-market strategy. Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. These areas include market, process, and team transitions.

Startup 286

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 286

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 31, 2020

Maybe it’s statistical analysis, growth marketing, or deck making. Whatever it is, it helps diligence opportunities, win deals or service the portfolio in ways that make the founders and GPs feel good. In exchange for doing this repeatedly, you get to learn the rest of the business. You’ve got some operational superpower.

North Carolina 90

North Carolina Hiring Angel Investor Technical Review 90

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2018

Most of you new venture founders I meet as an angel investor seem convinced that starting the business is the hardest part. You look forward to the day when your business becomes self-sustaining, and settles into a long-term growth curve, ensuring financial success.

Angel Investor 167

Angel Investor Dilution Software Review Distribution 167

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

The next reason is to establish a competitive advantage over your competition and quickly acquire a substantial market share. Let’s take an example – In the case of an internet or app business, the user traction and market penetration is a must. Equity investors. The third source of funding is from equity investors.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 20, 2016

Thus the top priority of every entrepreneur who wants funding should be to build and highlight their “dream team” of co-founders, executives and advisers, to attract the biggest and best investors. Solo entrepreneurs rarely find an investor. Team members have investor relationships.

Sweat Equity 152

Sweat Equity Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Startup 152

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” That’s why this item is so important, and is probably the biggest stumbling block I see in getting through the initial angel screening. Build an investor presentation and summary.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

Every year I teach classrooms full of students who leave class understanding the basics of how to search for product/market fit—and thinking their next goal is to “get funded.”. You (think) you have product-market fit with real customers and real revenue and need money to grow and expand. That’s a mistake.

Cofounder 431

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 431

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” That’s why this item is so important, and is probably the biggest stumbling block I see in getting through the initial angel screening. Build an investor presentation and summary.

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 2012

ABC Shark Tank Angels via Elite Daily. Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Remember the old adage that “investors fund people, not ideas.” Build an investor presentation and summary. Prepare an investment-grade business plan.

Angel Investor 179

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 179

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and occasional angel investor, I often see and hear innovative product pitches that sound exciting, but are missing one or more of the key business elements that investors deem critical for funding consideration. Free” is not an exciting business model for investor interest.

Intellectual Property 332

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Channel 332

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

AUGUST 8, 2011

When should a company should focus on growth only, ignoring the business model and revenue? How to “size a market&# when there’s no good data, and some common pitfalls when you try.

Cofounder 226

Cofounder Angel Investor Hosting Software Review 226

Steve Blank

OCTOBER 11, 2016

And not keep investors informed about changes to your business model can have serious consequences. How to recognize when it’s time to pull the plug on your startup idea, and why founders can’t operate afford to operate in a vacuum were the focus on today’s Entrepreneurs are Everywhere radio show. Dan Miller.

Columbus 248

Columbus Entrepreneur Ohio Cofounder 248

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

One of the highlights of my trip was a startup dinner which included Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, the founders of 37signals. Just because a product has a patent, deep complexity and an obvious competitive advantage does not mean that it can fly by itself into the market. It sounds like Angel Boot Camp rocked.

Cofounder 175

Cofounder Technical Cofounder Term Sheet Startup 175

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Marketing is everything these days.

Business Model 120

Business Model Angel Investor Startup Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

There is an old saying in the startup investor community, “Smart investors invest in the team, not the idea.” As an angel investor, I’ve learned to believe in this approach, since I have seen great ideas go astray, due to poor execution and I have seen apparently marginal ideas make millions, managed by a savvy entrepreneur.

Technical Review 134

Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence Angel Investor 134

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

Practical Strategies For Starting A Business written by John Jantsch read more at Duct Tape Marketing. Marketing Podcast with Steve Hoffman. In this episode of the Duct Tape Marketing Podcast , I interview Steve Hoffman, also known as Captain Hoff. 18:05] How does the Founder Space operate? [20:21] Like this show?

San Francisco 95

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 95

Up and Running

JULY 2, 2014

Picking the right attorney in your startup is as important as picking the right business partner. You can’t underestimate the importance of selecting an attorney who “gets” your business model, your market opportunity, and most importantly, your fundraising and exit strategy. We were on a roll.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. Crowdfunding is not the best platform here.

Non-disclosure Agreement 299

Non-disclosure Agreement Angel Investor Bootstrapping SEC 299

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2022

After many years of working with angel investors seriously trying to find new ventures worthy of their hard-earned money, I find their frustration often exceeds that of entrepreneurs sincerely looking for financial help. Undefined business model or very low gross margins. Naïve expectations on funding terms and process.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 7, 2023

You may think this question is just an artifact of good television, but let me assure you that in my experience as an angel investor, it’s a standard “make or break” inquiry posed to every entrepreneur. They are willing to cover marketing, inventory and scaling, but not product development. Make your focus and priorities clear.

Elevator Pitch 228

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 228

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022

If you will need to supplement your own funds and assets for your business, don’t wait for a crisis to enlist family, friends, angel investors, or start a crowdfunding campaign. In my experience, a good business plan should not be a book, or a one-pager. Assess potential for funding or bootstrapping.

Silicon Valley 286

Silicon Valley Angel Investor LLC Incubator 286