Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according to a classic Crunchbase article. The cost of entry for tech startups continues to go down.

Angel Investor 342

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Portfolio 342

View from Seed

OCTOBER 21, 2014

As the seed-stage startup fundraise process has received more transparency in recent years, ranging from published advice on how to raise seed capital to increased availability through AngelList, Funders Club, and various accelerator programs, I’ve noticed another trend emerging. Lower-Than-Market Value.

Valuation 336

Valuation Founder Seed Stage Angel Investor 336

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

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 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2018

The cost of rolling out a business has never been lower – it only takes a few hundred dollars to incorporate a Limited Liability Corp (LLC) online, create your own website, use social media to get attention, and you are in business. In the early Internet days, it would cost a million dollars to get this far.

Technical Cofounder 184

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Silicon Valley LLC 184

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2020

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over twice as many companies, according the Crunchbase. Individual angel investors and crowdfunding have been adding to the momentum, some say exceeding VCs in total amount invested.

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Venture Capital Silicon Valley Startup 314

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. Investors are very wary of unknown owners and valuation.

Non-disclosure Agreement 299

Non-disclosure Agreement Angel Investor Bootstrapping SEC 299

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Cashflow 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 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

One of the biggest myths I have found in the entrepreneur community is that every startup needs one or more outside investors for credibility and success, and perhaps is even entitled to at least one. By using a service such as Onevest , you can also place your startup in the right shop window and let investors come to you.

Stealth 434

Stealth Startup Angel Investor Bootstrapping 434

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2012

Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress.

Intellectual Property 260

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 260

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2023

Now there are dozens of online equity portals, including WeFunder and Microventures , already geared up to help regular people buy equity in a startup, without qualifying as an accredited investor. Have you ever wondered what professional startup investors think about all this? Risk is increased.

Angel Groups 201

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Due Diligence Equity 201

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

I see now emerging a new wave of investors, popularly known as “super angels,” micro-VCs, or “super-seed” investors. Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. Due to the economy as well, traditional individual angel investors haven’t been able to fill the gap. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 25, 2020

Now there are dozens of online equity portals, including WeFunder and Microventures , already geared up to help regular people buy equity in a startup, without qualifying as an accredited investor. Have you ever wondered what professional startup investors think about all this? Risk is increased.

Equity 411

Equity Angel Groups Accredited Investor Due Diligence 411

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2023

One of the biggest myths I have found in the entrepreneur community is that every startup needs one or more outside investors for credibility and success, and perhaps is even entitled to at least one. By using a service such as Onevest , you can also place your startup in the right shop window and let investors come to you.

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor Stealth Bootstrapping Early Stage 246

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund As I outlined last week, trophy angel investors are always looking for trophy entrepreneurs. After considering about 200 investment opportunities over the past two years, we have established a decision making process to identify trophy entrepreneurs and startups. By Joseph A. Proposition.

Intellectual Property 265

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Phoenix Arizona 265

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 a prototype product.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 260

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. Don’t believe the urban myth that you can sketch your idea on a napkin, and professional investors will throw money at you. In reality, only 3 out of 100 companies who apply are successful with Angels, and the success rate with VCs is even lower.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 233

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 28, 2023

You know the adage that 90% of startups fail in their first 3 years of existence? According to a startup genome report from 2019 , that figure is actually a bit higher, 11 out of 12 startups fail (which is 91.6%). In raw numbers, 87 startups that had raised at least $10 million ended up closing down.

Valuation 103

Valuation Startup Angel Investor Dilution 103

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

They know from forums such as Shark Tank on TV that asking for either too much or too little will derail credibility in the eyes of the investor, and leave the entrepreneur with no money and a struggling startup. Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 17, 2011

Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress.

Intellectual Property 253

Intellectual Property Sweat Equity CTO Hire Fractional CTO 253

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 14, 2020

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. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Ask only for the money you can justify.

Due Diligence 308

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Preferred Stock Seed Stage 308

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the angel perspective (as a member of an angel group selection committee). Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

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. Non-credible funding request or unreasonable valuation. Ask only for the money you can justify.

Due Diligence 271

Due Diligence Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Preferred Stock 271

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

Or the Cliff Note’s version: Open Source & Cloud Computing (led by Amazon) drove down tech startup costs by 90%. The result was a massive increase in startups & a whole group of new funding sources: both angels & “micro VCs&#. Continued high pace of startup innovation. The Coming Brick Wall.

Venture Capital 289

Venture Capital Early Stage Valuation Angel Investor 289

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the angel perspective (as a member of an angel group selection committee).

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Funding for pre-revenue startups used to be the domain of angel investors, but they have moved up-stage. Without revenue, your investors are largely limited to friends, family and fools. These are things that can cost very little money, but go a long ways in convincing someone that you are making progress.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2017

Capital investments are like gasoline on a startup business’s metaphorical fire. If you’re like most startup CEOs, your startup has been your personal fiefdom and baby. Background: Justin Klemm’s analytics and website uptime startup, Ghost Inspector , wants to revolutionize the way businesses manage their ecommerce funnels.

Private Equity 94

Private Equity Pre-Money Valuation Equity Startup 94

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

They know from forums such as Shark Tank on TV that asking for either too much or too little will derail credibility in the eyes of the investor, and leave the entrepreneur with no money and a struggling startup. Here is where projections of cost, pricing, volumes and cash flow are critical. Marty Zwilling.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. Don’t believe the urban myth that you can sketch your idea on a napkin, and professional investors will throw money at you. In reality, only 3 out of 100 companies who apply are successful with Angels, and the success rate with VCs is even lower.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Having re-read it, I believe his real premise instead is, “Fixed-size, multi-investor angel rounds are such a bad idea for startups that one wonders why things were ever done that way.&#. Investors who commit early deserve to have a lower price. Investors who commit early deserve to have a lower price.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 7, 2010

As a thumb rule, try to get enough validation so that you can get to at least a $2 million pre-money valuation before raising equity capital. That is debt financing that converts into equity at the Series A valuation once the price for that is set. (I As long as the deals cover his infrastructure costs, he should not be worried.

Valuation 119

Valuation Silicon Valley Pre-Money Valuation Bootstrapping 119

The Equity Kicker

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

Two developments have changed the face of startup investing in the UK in recent years. When startups can do more with less money the returns from investing small amounts of money go up, and that can be seen in rising Series A valuations and declines in the average amount of money raised before exit. Startup general interest'

Early Stage 119

Early Stage Development Team Review Technical Review Software Review 119

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. Don’t expect the pomp and celebrity of the Angels on Shark Tank , but they do ask a lot of the right questions. Build an investor presentation and summary.

Angel Investor 179

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 179

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. In reality, there are multiple more productive approaches you should explore in getting your startup moving forward. Yet, I find that startup founders often fixate on one or two sources, often to the detriment of their business. Startup incubators.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 149

Tim Keane

JANUARY 12, 2010

Startups and angels: Along the way to success. By Tim Keane, Angel Investor, Golden Angels Investors, LLC. « Power of Angel Investing in Milwaukee | Main. Term-sheets and Valuations: Thinking about Negotiations. The Valuation Question. Let’s start at the end.

Term Sheet 68

Term Sheet Valuation Dividend Liquidation Preference 68

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 27, 2014

Venture capitalists (VCs) have long been seen as the top of the pyramid for startup funding sources, but in fact angel investors now fund over 60 times as many companies, according the Center for Venture Research. Individual angel investors have been filling the gap, and now match VCs in total amount invested.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Startup Portfolio 260

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 29, 2010

We received so much positive feedback from our This Week in Venture Capital show walking through valuation calculations & term sheets that we decided to do a Q&A show this week to address topics that entrepreneurs want to learn about. The best thing to get is a “right sized&# valuation. A: It’s not best.

Venture Capital 282

Venture Capital Term Sheet Valuation Stock Options 282

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. So what are you waiting for?

Silicon Valley 293

Silicon Valley Technical Review Southern California Angel Investor 293