Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. Not that they’re “such a bad idea&# but more that there are inherent problems for entrepreneurs in the process of raising angel money that need to be addressed.

Finance 286

Finance Term Sheet Technical Review Warrant 286

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

Austin Startup

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

In September 2017, I spent 2 weeks in Austin, Texas to understand what makes this vibrant startup ecosystem tick. It follows up on my posts discussing why early stage startups should — or should not — move to Silicon Valley. Should Early Stage Startups Move to Austin because of Capital?

Early Stage 48

Early Stage Austin Silicon Valley Texas 48

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding. Get a loan or line-of-credit.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 16, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Don’t be embarrassed, since even professional investors are often confused these days by the new terms, as well as old terms used with new meanings.

Early Stage 253

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 253

View from Seed

AUGUST 13, 2014

We at NextView Ventures invest exclusively in a startup’s seed-stage round , meaning that many if not most of our deals are made alongside individual angel investors. These angels, however, come in many different shapes and sizes. The Super Angel. The Domain Angel. The Friends & Family Angel.

Angel Investor 334

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 334

Up and Running

NOVEMBER 26, 2018

Most healthy businesses need business financing at some point. Startups have to deal with starting costs and ongoing businesses have to finance growth and working capital. Financing options depend on what kind of business you have. Don’t waste your time looking for the wrong kind of financing. You should.

SBA 161

SBA Venture Capital Angel Investor Technical Review 161

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding. Get a loan or line-of-credit.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding. Get a loan or line-of-credit.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 1, 2011

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Don’t be embarrassed, since even professional investors are often confused these days by the new terms, as well as old terms used with new meanings.

Early Stage 231

Early Stage Seed Stage Angel Investor Silicon Valley 231

Gust

JULY 8, 2012

If you are new to the entrepreneurial world of startups, you are likely confused by the terminology of seed-stage, lean startups, micro-VCs, and Super Angels. Don’t be embarrassed, since even professional investors are often confused these days by the new terms, as well as old terms used with new meanings.

Early Stage 177

Early Stage Finance Seed Stage Entrepreneur 177

Up and Running

AUGUST 18, 2014

In comparison to traditional business ventures, startups are expected to grow rapidly, at a rate of between 5% and 7% per week in their initial stage – Paul Graham, co-founder of Y Combinator. The term startup is also associated with a business that is typically technology oriented and has high growth potential.

Small Business 154

Small Business Exit Strategy Cofounder Angel Investor 154

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 12, 2017

Securing adequate financing for any new venture nowadays is an exceptionally difficult proposition, which is why angel investors are considered so valuable to the startup ecosystem. This due to equity ownership interest often requiring an exchange for the early stage funding provided by the investor.

Angel Investor 100

Angel Investor South America Early Stage Africa 100

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

We at NextView Ventures often invest in a startup’s first round alongside other funds; either seed stage focused ones like ourselves or larger traditional firms. Just as often, however, we’re investing alongside individual angel investors who are participating in the round as well. The Domain Angel.

Angel Investor 257

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 257

View from Seed

MAY 11, 2016

The reasons are fairly obvious: It’s easy to reference them and understand their track record; they’ve made a ton of mistakes already that they have hopefully learned from and are unlikely to make again; they are probably more adept at raising and managing capital, which reduces financing risk down the road, etc.

Founder 159

Founder Cofounder CTO Hire Early Stage 159

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

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. Join a startup incubator. Use crowd funding to build reserves.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. I have seen bad behavior from later-stage VCs, believe me. But I have seen equally bad behavior from super early stage investors. Here’s what you need to know.

Technical Review 336

Technical Review Later Stage Early Stage LP 336

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 22, 2020

In their passion to succeed, too many entrepreneurs treat friends and family investments as “low-hanging” fruit, only to find out later, after a stumble, that the pain of lost relationships is greater than the loss of their beloved startup. Treat the transaction as you would expect to be treated by an angel investor or VC.

Management 308

Management Cram Down Angel Investor Equity 308

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

There was a lot of consumer internet activity again…resurgence of things, but it was still mysterious, venture capital was still kind of closed, 1st time entrepreneurs had a lot of questions that were unanswered, and there was still some sort of hand waiving around all the financing stuff and so we took it on….”.

Technical Review 288

Technical Review Venture Capital Silicon Valley Software Review 288

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

David Teten

MAY 9, 2012

We are in the midst of two great disruptions to American business: the internet’s ongoing disruption of most traditional industries: finance, healthcare, retail, finance, fashion, etc. Women-owned businesses, according to the Forte Foundation represent about 775,000 new startups per year. competitiveness. According to the U.S.

Venture Capital 154

Venture Capital Programming Accredited Investor New York 154

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

There are literally hundreds of platforms currently operating that connect investors and startups, and there have been at least a hundred others that have come and gone. Setting up a clean, effective web site that lists companies seeking funding and provides accounts for investors to interact with them is not rocket science.

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

Genuine VC

FEBRUARY 12, 2012

We at NextView Ventures often invest in a startup’s first round alongside other funds; either seed stage focused ones like ourselves or larger traditional firms. Just as often, however, we’re investing alongside individual angel investors who are participating in the round as well. The Domain Angel.

Angel Investor 128

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 128

Version One Ventures

JULY 22, 2014

At the same time, funding opportunities have expanded for early-stage start-ups. More money is flowing in from a new crop of angels, newly wealthy from a number of tech IPOs. AngelList makes it easier for founders to reach angels and there are hundreds of accelerators and incubators to choose from.

Finance 167

Finance Seed Money Bootstrapping Angel Investor 167

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

Not only that, but the growing battle between venture capital firms and “super angels&# presents an amazing opportunity for entrepreneurs trying to build the next big thing. All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. Angel rounds also tend to close quicker.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

Not only that, but the growing battle between venture capital firms and “super angels&# presents an amazing opportunity for entrepreneurs trying to build the next big thing. All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. Angel rounds also tend to close quicker.

Angel Investor 83

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 83

Austin Startup

MARCH 4, 2019

Meet the Locals Here are the most active early stage investors in town that you should meet while you’re here and do deals with. It’s a robust ecosystem so I’m only listing the ones we’ve done the most deals with here but Capital Factory is the most active early stage investor in Texas so this is a good sampling.

Silicon Valley 50

Silicon Valley Technical Review Texas Venture Capital 50

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 2, 2021

Nevertheless, many of them face numerous challenges at the beginning of their journey, including startup funding. Thankfully, there are several avenues entrepreneurs can that can help them find the much-needed startup funding. The following are alternative ways in which entrepreneurs can raise funds for their startups.

Due Diligence 124

Due Diligence Startup Finance Early Stage 124

YoungUpstarts

FEBRUARY 28, 2018

It’s helpful to think about a startup as a ball sitting on a piece of flat ground at the top of a hill. For startups, that nudge often comes in the form of cash. Venture Capitalists and Angel Investors. . An angel investor is more likely to invest in an early-stage startup and may or may not be hands on.

Due Diligence 145

Due Diligence Angel Investor Startup Early Stage 145

Berkonomics

APRIL 20, 2023

But… I read several years ago that the average startup restaurant lasts only about a year. Here I am a professional investor in early-stage companies, and I attempt to find those with the greatest chance of success and growth in value over time. Restaurant startups would not top my list. Data does not lie.

SBA 62

SBA Angel Investor Early Stage Liquidity Event 62

Feld Thoughts

NOVEMBER 18, 2013

Following is his advice to early stage entrepreneurs for creating structure in their company. Here’s the punchline: if you run your company as if you have closed a VC equity financing round even though you actually closed a convertible debt round, you’ll be in much better shape when it comes time to raise your Series A financing.

Burn Rate 152

Burn Rate Equity Software Review Early Stage 152

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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

Growth like this, this early in a company’s lifecycle rarely happens. In this period (less than 2 years) he has brought on incredibly talented senior execs is sales, marketing, product management, client services, finance, vp engineering and more. Startup Advice' In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

A pivotal startup milestone? The first one relates to the most important investor…you, the founder(s)! Bootstrap if you can, for as long as you can As a startup you’ll likely fail. Consider convertible debt Before diving into a seed round, you may want to consider convertible debt over equity financing. Not really.

Strategic Investors 49

Strategic Investors Austin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 49

Startup Company Lawyer

MARCH 14, 2010

After the recent announcement of the Series Seed Financing documents by Marc Andreesen, Brad Feld points out that there are now four sets of “open source&# equity seed financing documents: TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents (by Cooley). Y Combinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents (by WSGR). under $500K).

Finance 70

Finance Software Review Term Sheet Liquidation Preference 70

Startup Company Lawyer

AUGUST 31, 2012

Over the past few years, convertible debt has emerged as a quick and inexpensive method for startup companies to raise money from angel investors and early stage venture funds. One major concern about convertible debt is that it eventually needs to be repaid if another round of financing doesn’t occur.

Convertible Security 73

Convertible Security Equity Security Preferred Stock 73