Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

In my experience as an angel investor for new startups, I’m always surprised by how many entrepreneurs are looking for funding without outside advisors. Especially if you are a first-time business owner, the payback for this initiative is well worth the effort and cost.

Advisory Board 356

Advisory Board Bandwidth Cofounder Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2020

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs, and a former angel myself, I still find startups confused about the definition of an angel investor, and how and when to attract one. You need to know why and how they invest, and then focus on the ones who are the best match for your startup.

Angel Investor 322

Angel Investor Valuation Syndicate Syndication 322

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 14, 2023

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Investors check your burn rate to assess your efficiency, and project your remaining runway before you run out of money and into a brick wall. Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent or looking for the next refueling from investors.

Burn Rate 258

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Management Salary 258

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 29, 2020

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Most entrepreneurs never forget for a moment that having investors means owing money, even if they can legally argue that equity is not debt.

Bootstrapping 310

Bootstrapping Advisory Board Venture Capital Startup 310

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2019

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S.

Las Vegas 243

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Arizona Montana 243

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2022

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S.

Las Vegas 309

Las Vegas Silicon Valley Arizona Montana 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 15, 2019

As a long-time business advisor and angel investor, I’m a believer that “two heads are better than one” in building a new business. The challenge is to recognize and recruit that ideal partner match early with minimal cost and risk. In fact, I would broaden the definition of partner from co-founder to “business partner.”

Cofounder 221

Cofounder Software Review CTO Hire Founder 221

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 17, 2020

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. It’s important to learn from your own mistakes, but it’s even smarter to learn from someone else’s mistakes, without paying their high price in time lost, cost, and pain.

Intellectual Property 436

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Viral Distribution 436

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Up and Running

MARCH 31, 2021

Seed rounds have grown substantially, and angels are actually investing twice as much in Seed rounds since the pandemic hit. The standard Seed round was once around $75,000 to $150,000 startup. This is because Angels make their money by investing in startups. It is now up to $300,000. Why not start now? Get started.

Small Business 116

Small Business Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 116

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. At the same time, more entrepreneurs are jumping into the fray, and less money is available from investors.

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Investors check your burn rate to assess your efficiency, and project your remaining runway before you run out of money and into a brick wall. Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. At the same time, more entrepreneurs are jumping into the fray, and less money is available from investors.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 11, 2021

If your accounting processes aren’t in order, you may not have a complete picture of your startup’s financial health and could be leaving money on the table. To avoid these common pitfalls — and set up your finances to support your business as it grows — follow these four accounting tips for startups and small businesses.

Small Business 180

Small Business Startup Cofounder Software Review 180

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 15, 2022

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Already set and achieved initial milestones.

Intellectual Property 278

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 278

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2020

Cash flow is a basic survival metric for every startup. Investors check your burn rate to assess your efficiency, and project your remaining runway before you run out of money and into a brick wall. Don’t wait until you are almost out of cash before managing every dollar spent, or looking for the next refueling from investors.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Social Media 310

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 26, 2021

Launching a startup is ridiculously exciting. That’s because more than half of all startups fail within the first five years of operation. Understanding the reasons why startups fail can help you avoid such a fate. So what are the driving factors that lead to startup failure? Lack of Market Need. Poor Customer Experience.

Startup 180

Startup Angel Investor Business Model Demand 180

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2019

In the old days, every entrepreneur dreamed of easily taking their startup public, and making it big. Today the rate of startups going public (IPO – Initial Public Offering) is up from the dead zone, but is still half the rate back before 2000. In addition, most ordinary investors are convinced that IPO rewards only go to insiders.

IPO 210

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 210

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

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. Nevertheless, it’s an option that doesn’t cost you equity. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

I have often been asked about Startup Funding by entrepreneurs. Many myths surround the subject of startup funding. Here is Startup Funding, a Comprehensive Guide for Entrepreneurs. You must have seen a lot of startups giving out promotions, discounts, and incentives at the early phase of their business.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

They also look for entrepreneurs they know from past experience and warm introductions, or for evidence that you have previously built a successful startup, and sold your last one for maybe $800 million. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service.

Business Plan 273

Business Plan Technical Review Angel Investor Social Media 273

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

It won’t work, it costs time and money, and hurts your credibility when you need them later. It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. Their real value is your access to senior advisors with experience, and other startups in the same stage.

Incubator 305

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 305

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 21, 2021

Launching a new startup is always exciting. When you have the right idea at the right time, a startup that begins life as two people in a garage can eventually become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise. Early in your startup’s development, you’ll likely be low on capital. Accordingly, you’ll need to be frugal. Minimize the Team.

Startup 106

Startup Software Review Open Source Technical Review 106

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

If you haven’t raised any money or if you raised a small round from angels or friends & family I would suggest you avoid setting up a formal board unless the people who would join your board are deeply experienced at sitting on startup boards. Who Should be on Your Startup Board? Of course it happens all the time?—?especially

Venture Capital 236

Venture Capital Startup Angel Investor Silicon Valley 236

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2017

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S.

Silicon Valley 149

Silicon Valley Las Vegas Arizona Montana 149

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2020

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that venture capital and angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Already set and achieved initial milestones.

Intellectual Property 316

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital 316

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 7, 2013

Even in this age of globalization and virtualization, the geographic area where you choose to live and work can still make or break your startup business. I still have to tell some entrepreneurs that even with the best idea, they have to move to Silicon Valley to find the investors they need, or they need to move to the U.S.

Silicon Valley 256

Silicon Valley Las Vegas Phoenix Montana 256

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 13, 2022

In this context, connecting with other complementary brands will help you share costs, as well as audiences across your industry. You need to evaluate the tradeoffs of getting investment capital from angel investors and crowdsourcing. Be prepared to give away to participants something memorable that they actually want.

Technical Review 355

Technical Review Social Media Channel Flash 355

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

I found their five phases of the process to be compelling, based on my own years of experience mentoring startups: Nail the pain. Don’t forget a viable financial model of costs, margins, customer acquisition, and break-even. At the same time, more entrepreneurs are jumping into the fray, and less money is available from investors.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor Technical Review 283

SoCal CTO

MARCH 1, 2010

Here are some recent great posts that I’ve come across that generally fall in the intersection of startups and CTOs. Of course, one of the best ideas around this is to have Negative Customer Acquisition Costs. Of course, one of the best ideas around this is to have Negative Customer Acquisition Costs. Great stuff.

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Cofounder Technical Cofounder Cost 150

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2014

As a startup mentor, I’m always amazed that some entrepreneurs seem to be an immediate hit with investors, while others struggle to get any attention at all. Finally I realized that Venture Capital and Angel investors are actually humans, despite some views to the contrary. Already set and achieved initial milestones.

Angel Investor 268

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Early Stage 268

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 4, 2016

In fact, investors recognize that founders usually learn more from mistakes than from success, so a well-explained startup failure can improve their odds of funding the next time around. However, investors do expect you know the common pitfalls -- and not repeat them. Assume you already know what your customers need and want.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Startup Forecast Angel Investor 120

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 8, 2021

Every startup entrepreneur wants to see their company grow. But none of that can happen if you have an impediment to growth – an invisible (or perhaps visible) force keeping your startup from creating the momentum it needs to keep growing. . Too often, investors are held back by a lack of intent or intent that’s too vague.

Retention 127

Retention Startup Acquisition Agile 127