Gust

APRIL 2, 2014

So faced with all these amazing ideas, investors invariably choose the ones that have been reduced to practice, developed traction of some kind and proved that they are amazing businesses , not just ideas. Actually, there are many, many, brilliant, wonderful, amazing ideas out there. original post can be found on Quora @ [link] *.

Web 137

Web Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur 137

Gust

DECEMBER 13, 2011

Here are the trends in venture capital financings from 2006 through 2010 – the number of seed stage deals funded and total investment by region in millions of dollars. . For VCs, I chose to look at all seed stage VC deals (from MoneyTree©) as well as those in five of the most active regions in the country. All Seed-VC. Silicon Valley.

Seed Stage 162

Seed Stage Southern California San Diego Silicon Valley 162

Gust

FEBRUARY 26, 2014

The first day is full of optional educational seminars from The Power of Angel Investing series, developed by the Angel Resource Institute. Venture Capitalists. The big one for VCs is the annual meeting of the National Venture Capital Association. EBAN Annual Congress. NVCA Annual Meeting.

Angel Investor 125

Angel Investor Global Angel Groups Europe 125

Gust

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

Crowd investors could invest in companies at any stage of development, not just startups. Experienced angel and venture capital investors spend lot of time independently evaluating the investment opportunities (a process called “due diligence”). Crowd sourcing, in many cases, can be very fast.

Securities and Exchange Commission 154

Securities and Exchange Commission Accredited Investor Angel Investor Due Diligence 154

Gust

OCTOBER 31, 2011

Another reality is that angel investors and venture capital groups almost never invest in a services-only company. Their perspective is that these entrepreneurs need only to sell themselves, but shouldn’t need capital up front for product development or manufacturing.

Angel Investor 143

Angel Investor Venture Capital Partner Networking 143

Gust

DECEMBER 21, 2011

To economic developers : Don’t think or say “we are going to create the next Silicon Valley here!” (This is not to say that there is no competition for deals in Seattle, Boston, New York and elsewhere.) While deal flow may not be as high where you are now located, attempting to break into the Valley will be daunting.

Silicon Valley 107

Silicon Valley Southern California Tucson Seattle 107

Gust

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Because I left each investor meeting with a plan for my company’s growth, investors were able to measure my actual metrics developed over time against my initial projections. But I was clear with them about what I intended to accomplish, and most of them agreed to receive updates from me on my progress. Have Patience. And we did.

Venture Capital 163

Venture Capital Finance Early Stage .Net 163

Gust

OCTOBER 2, 2014

Think about it – most entrepreneurs who manage to raise seed money or venture capital usually raise enough money for 12-18 months maximum. Develop a thick skin for it. He shut down his company gracefully and even thought it must have felt like a crap sandwich doing so I’ll bet his reputation is still solid with his backers.

Monaco 122

Monaco Cofounder Chicago Mexico 122

Gust

DECEMBER 5, 2011

Too many entrepreneurs develop a new product without regard for market demand , then build an entire strategy based on creating a need, rather than acting on an existing market need. Investors characterize this approach as a “solution looking for a problem.” These don’t get funded.

Technology 167

Technology Angel Investor Early Stage Viral 167

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

This method compares the target company to typical angel-funded startup ventures and adjusts the average valuation of recently funded companies in the region to establish a pre-money valuation of the target. Such comparisons can only be made for companies at the same stage of development, in this case, for pre-revenue startup ventures.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

Gust

OCTOBER 21, 2011

It might be a rapidly growing audience; a bevy of third party developers who have adopted your platform; ever increasing average engagement; whatever. This is a core concept in the “ultra-light” school of startups, but is important for nearly all early stage development philosophies.

Early Stage 79

Early Stage Metrics Audience Revenue 79

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Then, through sheer grit and scrappiness (as well as stock instead of cash to developers ), they scrapped together an ecommerce component that immediately drew more traffic, some cool brands in the field, and rave reviews from users. They got a basic site up, and… traffic was fantastic. Now, even old white guys get it.

eCommerce 107

eCommerce Valuation Stock Community 107

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

During the summer of 2010, I developed a workshop, A New ACEF Valuation Workshop for Angels and Entrepreneurs. To provide some reference points, I surveyed thirteen angels groups in North American to determine their recent experience in negotiating the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies.

Angel Groups 125

Angel Groups Valuation Pre-Money Valuation St. Louis 125

Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2011

To angels , prepayment defeats the entire purpose of making a convertible note investment in an early stage startup: A 6% or 10% return within a year or two isn’t worth the risk associated with making an unsecured, non-recourse loan to an unproven, development-stage company with little or no revenue.

Finance 107

Finance Term Sheet Pre-Money Valuation Early Stage 107

Gust

DECEMBER 12, 2011

After the idea, it’s all about execution. I often hear from investors that a great idea is necessary, but not sufficient. The most important thing is a proven team , meaning one who has built a startup before, and has experience with the execution process in this domain.

Cost 114

Cost Business Plan Entrepreneur Startup 114

Gust

OCTOBER 14, 2011

Of course, Steve Jobs left us a lot of incredible lessons. Unfortunately, some of the really key ones, like “Be a genius”, can be tough to execute (I’ve been trying for years). But one crucial one that you can implement might be called the “Rhythm Method”: imparting a well-known beat to your product and service upgrades.

Product 70

Product PR Matching Engineer 70

Gust

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Instead it came down to the simple question of “how can you get angel investors and venture capital funds to join and use the platform?” Therefore, in conceiving Gust, we recognized that the overwhelming priority had nothing to do with technology or features or buzzwords.

Angel Investor 79

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Finance 79

Gust

JULY 1, 2012

Generally, the same criteria applies to venture capital investors, although they invest other people’s money, at a later stage, in larger amounts. Such a business shouldn’t need a large investment to get started (no product to develop), and it probably won’t scale quickly (limited supply of experts). Restaurants and retail.

Angel Groups 143

Angel Groups Angel Investor Early Stage Startup 143

Gust

DECEMBER 12, 2011

Without a doubt, Birchbox is one of the hottest startups on the planet right now. They are mentioned in any print, website, or television content concerning beauty, startups, New York, great entrepreneurs, women leaders , or the next generation of IPOs. So, its almost impossible to avoid them.

IPO 70

IPO Social Network Revenue Aggregator 70