Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2021

Angel investors and venture capitalists are looking for startups with real products and a proven business model, ready to scale. Yet I still get too many business plans that clearly are looking for money to do research and development (R&D) on a new and unproven technology.

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Early Stage Angel Investor Incubator Government 412

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. During the pre-seed fundraising stage, investors need a viable business plan to base their investments on.

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Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 137

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. Consider licensing your product or intellectual property, and “white labeling.”

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

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. The deal we made with him was he’d get 33.3%

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Angel Investor Due Diligence Dilution 118

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.

Elevator Pitch 228

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 228

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 3, 2016

Every entrepreneur I know has their favorite excuse for a previous failure – an investor backed out, the economy took a downturn, or a supplier delivered bad quality. I certainly agree that starting a business is fraught with risk, and none of us get it all right the first time. Assume passion level defines business opportunity.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2015

Every entrepreneur I know has their favorite excuse for a previous failure – an investor backed out, the economy took a downturn, or a supplier delivered bad quality. I certainly agree that starting a business is fraught with risk, and none of us get it all right the first time. Assume passion level defines business opportunity.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 120

Steve Blank

MARCH 16, 2016

But startups require money upfront for product development and later to scale. 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.). But there’s only one reason your company got funded.

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Liquidity Event Founder Liquidation Preference Private Equity 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 12, 2020

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.

Elevator Pitch 336

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 336

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

How do you put together an investor deck? You know, could you look at my business plan? See if the business model works, all these questions. We called them founder space, round tables, and we'd meet, I'd introduce 'em to angel investors and marketing experts and lawyers, and really try to help them get off the ground.

San Francisco 95

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 95

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2014

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Startup 268

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 268

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 31, 2014

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.

Elevator Pitch 285

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 285

Startup Lessons Learned

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

The application of agile development methodologies which dramatically reduce waste and unlock creativity in product development. See Customer Development Engineering for my first stab at articulating the theory involved) Ferocious customer-centric rapid iteration, as exemplified by the Customer Development process. (See

Lean 168

Lean San Francisco Startup Continuous Deployment 168

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2018

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.

Elevator Pitch 139

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 139

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2013

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. Super-angels. Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Startup accelerator. Startup accelerator. Osmosis marketing.

Entrepreneur 274

Entrepreneur Accredited Investor Silicon Valley Angel Investor 274

The Startup Magazine

JULY 16, 2018

Earlier this year at the FUND Conference in Austin, Texas, over 100 startups presented their early-stage companies in front of hundreds of investors and industry leaders. FUND is a national connector of entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors, and industry experts with a focus on deal flow and making connections. If so, how?

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Startup Texas Angel Investor Mobile 83

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2013

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Institutional Investors 230

Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping Database 230

VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? What’s the difference between an angel round and pre-seed round and why do I believe we’ll see more pre-seed rounds taking place in 2024? Seed is about showing initial product market fit. A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”?

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2011

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Startup 255

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 255

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 30, 2016

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.

Elevator Pitch 120

Elevator Pitch Salary Angel Investor Viral 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Product development process. If you are contracting or outsourcing, this is even more important.

Startup 239

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 239

www.informationarbitrage.com

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

Selecting value-added angel investors and advisors can also help with the camaraderie issue, as they can provide advice and counsel during the solitary period of hard-core coding and product development. A full-time business partner is definitely not required at this point in the company's life.

CTO Hire 40

CTO Hire Founder Cap Table Vesting 40

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

I continue to collect great content that is the intersection of startups, products, online and technology. So let’s be very specific: let’s assume your dream job is product manager at Google, working on the Analytics product. love to find great products and services made by entrepreneurs who are trying to change the world.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Technology Product CTO Hire 175

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. Technologists forget that investors are buying a chunk of the business, not the product.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Startup Angel Investor Social Media 120

Growthink Blog

MAY 10, 2012

Your first year or two in business is where your dreams merge with reality and take a new form to guide your future efforts. Many entrepreneurs end up taking their company in a different direction after some time spent testing your initial business model. Series B is the round that follows series A in early stage financing.

Equity 88

Equity Mezzanine Later Stage Venture Capital 88

Steve Blank

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

Chasing funding versus chasing customers and a repeatable and scalable business model, is one reason startups fail. Is there a profitable business model? The Traditional VC Pitch Entrepreneurs who pursue the traditional product development model don’t have customer data to answer these questions.

Customer Development 267

Customer Development Developer Customer Silicon Valley 267

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

Noah has been a key figure in the making of LivePlan, our own SaaS product. Instead of sitting down to write a 40-page business plan, start with a one-page pitch. The one-page pitch format is also more suitable for SaaS businesses that are constantly testing new ideas. The business model.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Tim Keane

SEPTEMBER 18, 2006

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. By Tim Keane, Angel Investor, Golden Angels Investors, LLC. After the idea/product/service is built, and the market mapped, the company begins to grow. Can they take our product to a new group of customers? « I Wish Id Sold More | Main. |

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Harvest LBO Investment Bankers Wisconsin 60

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

The way you get to a V3 statement is to start running the business and charging customers. Almost all of the companies we invested in in 2017 had customers even if they didn’t have much of a product. Although this post is about what I look for, every investor (incl pre-seed investors) looks for this.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Hippoland

FEBRUARY 12, 2018

The way you get to a V3 statement is to start running the business and charging customers. Almost all of the companies we invested in in 2017 had customers even if they didn’t have much of a product. Although this post is about what I look for, every investor (incl pre-seed investors) looks for this.

Seed Stage 48

Seed Stage Business Model B2B Email 48

Tim Keane

JUNE 13, 2006

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. By Tim Keane, Angel Investor, Golden Angels Investors, LLC. « How do you present your venture to an investor? When you get to the point in the discussion where projections are relevant, there is a drill-down method here used by virtually every investor.

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Wisconsin Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor 60

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 19, 2010

What if someone copies your awesome business idea? About twenty people on Answers OnStartups have asked this question in one form or another: When I meet an angel investor, he may ask: "What if a big company copies your idea and develops the same website as yours after your website goes public?". Our advantage was speed.

Software Review 325

Software Review Technical Review Development Team Review Bolivia 325

Tim Keane

APRIL 24, 2006

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. By Tim Keane, Angel Investor, Golden Angels Investors, LLC. Last night, Bob Zieserl, Venture Capitalist, and general partner at Stratus Ventures, was the keynote speaker at the Marquette University Business Plan Competition.

Wisconsin 60

Wisconsin Angel Investor Bootstrapping Venture Capital 60

Women Entrepreneurs Can

MARCH 18, 2023

They Provide Financial Support If you want to start a business, you have several different funding options. You can use money from your savings, angel investors or crowdfunding platforms. They may help with product development, market research, or even setting up a management team.

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Artificial Inteligence Startup Early Stage Syndicate 52

maplebutter.com

JANUARY 8, 2013

Building Product 2. Raising Angel Investment ? Product/Metrics (70%/30% time) * Get your product activation (sign-up + meaningful action) to 60% * then, Get your product retention to 20% weekly. Or should I launch products and a startup for each of them, focusing on only 1 product at a time?

Technical Review 44

Technical Review Startup Cofounder Software Review 44

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

So for this first post, here’s the best advice I can give you: join an awesome founding team and get your product out the door ASAP. But six months in, you’re gonna cry when you see someone else put out that same product you’re pitching me right now. Like I said, forget everything else and just get your product out the door.

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84