YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 20, 2019

Among these opportunities, the chance to pitch an investor and secure funding is perhaps the greatest of all — at least in the early stages of your startup career — as it can ultimately determine the long-term fate of your company. All entrepreneurs must face adversity, no matter their background.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Due Diligence Early Stage Differentiation 140

The Startup Magazine

APRIL 14, 2022

The life of an entrepreneur can be exciting and filled with ups and downs. While certain aspects of setting up a startup can be exhilarating, especially in the early stages of the business, there are also plenty of bumps along the road, big and small. It is what separates successful entrepreneurs from the rest.

Startup 144

Startup Early Stage Naming Public Relations 144

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2018

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology, or money. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth?

Equity 238

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 238

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 19, 2024

With a rapidly changing landscape, it’s never been a more exciting time to be an entrepreneur. Ash Ali & Hassan Kubba – Uncovering the Hidden Power of Your Unfair Advantage Both successful tech entrepreneurs with humble roots, Ash and Hassan have a message of hope to share. Which one was your favorite?

Fractional CTO 77

Fractional CTO CTO Hire Technical Review Marketing 77

The Startup Magazine

SEPTEMBER 12, 2019

While the rewards may be a boon to their company in the short term, the consequences of accepting outside funding too early can be debilitating. There’s a reason why I refer to early-stage VC funding as vulture capital, and to be honest it’s pretty accurate. The expectations are fundamentally misaligned.

Early Stage 85

Early Stage Venture Capital Bootstrapping Pre-Money Valuation 85

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2014

If none of these five items is a clear differentiator in your case, a logical approach would be to assign each an equal weight of 20 percent of the total, and partition the total equity based on each co-founder’s correlation to each variable. business entrepreneurs startups' But don’t get greedy.

Cofounder 261

Cofounder Stock Founder Technical Cofounder 261

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

And here’s an important point that I think modern entrepreneurs often forget: Investors are “co-owners” of your business. The functions of an early-stage board are pretty obvious and well understood: Providing introductions to customers, biz dev partners, recruits, the press, other investors, etc.

Technical Review 325

Technical Review Early Stage Software Review Los Angeles 325

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 8, 2010

Very few of them are started, in my experience, by sales people and very few early stage companies really understand sales. a) they don’t tend to make great heads of sales departments and b) they aren’t the people you want early in your company. And in my experience Journeyman are not good in two scenarios.

Early Stage 350

Early Stage Startup Sales Campaign 350

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. New “up-and-comer” VCs focus on early-stage companies. VCs are finding that they don’t need the “large” funds of $100M to $500M to support a portfolio, if they focus on early-stage startups. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 24, 2014

It turns out it actually takes time to build a high-growth business with differentiated intellectual property and roll out large, enterprise-class marketing solutions. Working with early-stage teams : coaching, mentoring, setting strategy, rolling up sleeves: 9/10. 5 years ago. Sourcing high-quality leads : 9/10.

Los Angeles 387

Los Angeles Intellectual Property LP Venture Capital 387

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2015

For early-stage startups, the goodwill component can easily exceed the size of all the financial elements together, or can just as easily mark a company with good financials as not investable. For startups, the entrepreneur and founder is almost always the face of the company. Performance accountability processes.

Leadership 120

Leadership Technical Review Due Diligence Valuation 120

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 8, 2021

Every startup entrepreneur wants to see their company grow. So what are the biggest barriers startup entrepreneurs experience in their route to achieve long-term growth? A catchy name goes a long way to cement your brand in people’s minds, but you’ll also need the help of brand differentiation to distinguish your company from others.

Startup 127

Startup Retention Acquisition Agile 127

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2016

I always tell entrepreneurs that two heads are better than one, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. You need to find the skills or experience you don’t have in business, technology, or money. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or equity is that person worth?

Equity 120

Equity Cofounder Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property 120

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 11, 2016

Entrepreneurs are supposed to have insights that others don’t have and we’re supposed to be good judges about which entrepreneurs and executives have both the most clever ideas and the right skill sets to do transformational things against all odds. It’s the executives who trust you to join the early-stage startups you’ve funded.

Venture Capital 150

Venture Capital Fractional CTO Cofounder Early Stage 150

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2023

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Friends and family are quick to differentiate between a passionate hobby and a sincere effort to change the world.

Sweat Equity 274

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Startup Equity 274

Austin Startup

MAY 11, 2017

645 Ventures 645 Ventures makes deeply-researched investments in institutional Seed to Series A rounds for exceptional companies who demonstrate stellar early results in the areas of market validation, product differentiation, team strength, and brand narrative.

Private Equity 48

Private Equity Venture Capital Technical Review Seed Stage 48

Version One Ventures

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

At Version One, we are strong believers that early-stage investing is best done by small teams that are aligned around a differentiated investment thesis and are investing with high conviction. We like to back mission-driven founders that are early in new areas. The partnership is currently Angela and myself.

Partner 60

Partner Early Stage Angel Investor Differentiation 60

ReadWriteStart

NOVEMBER 17, 2011

I have written about this before on my Forbes column, but want to raise the question again: Are Business Schools Setting Up Entrepreneurs To Fail? Nonetheless, in the last couple of years, the flow of first-time entrepreneurs who come out with the misconception that Entrepreneurship = Financing has not abated.

Early Stage 116

Early Stage India Entrepreneur Silicon Valley 116

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

Relationships with Venture Partners, Entrepreneurs in Residence , and other non-salaried personnel who can help your companies. Real Ventures , an early-stage, Canadian-based fund, runs a two-day Founder Camp every six months. A true industry luminary will help in deal flow & differentiation . AskAnything.VC

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

The Equity Kicker

MARCH 17, 2015

That’s still true in less developed parts of the world, but in San Francisco and increasingly in London there are multiple sources of venture capital working very hard to find good investments and entrepreneurs sitting on quality opportunities have lots of options. If you need less money there are more people you can get it from.

Early Stage 60

Early Stage Venture Capital San Francisco Silicon Valley 60

Up and Running

DECEMBER 16, 2014

To grow a business, most entrepreneurs know that they should be implementing PR strategies. But where do you start, and what are the best approaches to public relations for an entrepreneur? ” We recently featured an excerpt from her book, which offers even more great tips on networking for entrepreneurs.

Public Relations 117

Public Relations Small Business PR Entrepreneur 117

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2021

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. Friends and family are quick to differentiate between a passionate hobby and a sincere effort to change the world.

Sweat Equity 346

Sweat Equity Elevator Pitch Equity Venture Capital 346

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

So most early-stage VCs have started to evaluate investment opportunities with an imaginary benchmark in mind: can this company become a $100 million opportunity? A great product is always the foundation but a clear distribution strategy becomes essential to cut through the noise.

Churn Rate 168

Churn Rate Viral Acquisition Cofounder 168

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

In most cases if you can’t get a prototype done you’re probably not an entrepreneur. Differentiate. Professional angels / former entrepreneurs / seed funds – In Silicon Valley there are people like Ron Conway, Jeff Clavier, Mike Maples and many more. But for most businesses it is. That’s OK.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

Steve Blank

MAY 28, 2009

The implications for entrepreneurs is that each of these (market risk versus invention risk,) require radically different financing models, a different type of venture investor, different timing for hiring sales and marketing, etc. are much more differentiating than technology. In contrast, customer acquisition, brand, reputation, etc.

Vertical 144

Vertical Silicon Valley Marketing Customer 144

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

” The pioneering fund of funds realize that their source of differentiation is much more about the latter than the former. Because this is all VCs do and if we intend to work with all of our fellow VCs and entrepreneurs when the rain ends and the sun shines again our reputations matter greatly.

Technical Review 398

Technical Review Venture Capital Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 398

View from Seed

JANUARY 11, 2021

As high-conviction, seed stage investors, we are inherently relationship-driven, and we value meeting exceptional founders face-to-face. With the onset of COVID-19, we, along with the broader ecosystem of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, have been pushed to rapidly adapt, forge connections, and do our jobs remotely.

Venture Capital 350

Venture Capital Cofounder Early Stage Seed Stage 350

Hunter Walker

MARCH 25, 2015

At the time, no one was investing in early stage consumer companies — it wasn’t a “thing” yet. Ambitious entrepreneurs are setting out to disrupt formidable incumbents across every product, service and experience. So when Kirsten described her vision for Forerunner, I was hooked. EK: It is such an exciting time to be a consumer.

Naming 48

Naming Technical Review Early Stage Green 48

VC Cafe

APRIL 27, 2011

10 things VCs can do to differentiate themselves and provide more value to potential investments – based on feedback from dozens of entrepreneurs. This is the second part of the Entrepreneur’s Wish List. Entrepreneurs use a variety of fundraising sources when looking for many.

Venture Capital 90

Venture Capital Differentiation Incubator Angel Investor 90

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

Almost seven years ago, I wrote a post about the difference between a “no” answer and a “no yet” when pitching early-stage VCs. Parsing Seed & Early-Stage VCs. It’s less widely discussed, but a similar phenomenon has been occurring at the Series A stage. When “Too Early” Isn’t a “No”.

Seed Stage 120

Seed Stage Early Stage Differentiation Lead Investor 120

Duct Tape Marketing

APRIL 6, 2022

Founders Space was ranked the #1 incubator for overseas startups by Forbes and Entrepreneur Magazines. Every entrepreneur must face this harsh reality and learn to master it if they hope to survive and wind up on top. But I, what I wanna do in the a book is tell entrepreneurs, you can't just dive into it. You have to prepare.

San Francisco 97

San Francisco Technical Review Incubator Silicon Valley 97

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 3, 2011

As we know, this space is a very competitive one; Fetch Plus differentiates itself from the rest by targeting companies with holdings, focusing on developing tools necessary for these companies’ holdings to efficiently and effectively build and scale their social media footprint through different networks for engaging fans.

Social Media 187

Social Media Media Management Application Development 187

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

In a deep ocean of early stage investors, it’s important to signal to the market that you have specific areas of interest, even if you look to invest in everything. In the early days, I focused on anything data science related, then healthcare, and now I proactively look at climate/energy. Be a generalist and a specialist.

Cofounder 182

Cofounder Portfolio Capital Gains Vertical 182

Hunter Walker

MAY 25, 2020

As an early stage investor I look at A LOT of pitch decks. Often with another logo or two, but with the startup in an advantaged differentiated position. Rather it hopefully leads to an interesting conversation about how the entrepreneur sees the market. If it was, I just kinda blew it by publishing this post.

Early Stage 174

Early Stage Differentiation Video Conversion 174

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2014

Seed investors are aplenty and of course they need downstream money to fuel their early-stage bets. Of course these are great places to network with other investors, meet great entrepreneurs and keep your connections strong with senior execs at larger companies like Yahoo!, And there’s conferences. Oh, the conferences.

Cofounder 374

Cofounder Syndicate Syndication Early Stage 374

VC Cafe

APRIL 8, 2011

VC Cafe asked entrepreneurs to tell us what type of help or support they wish they could get from the venture capital investors. What started originally as how can VCs differentiate themselves to stand out, quickly became an Entrepreneur’s wish list from its VCs. Several entrepreneurs asked: Not just the what but the why.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Due Diligence Hosting Harvest 101

thebarefootvc

MAY 8, 2012

As an entrepreneur at heart, I often innately grasp the potential of entrepreneurs and ideas that I meet with. It is the human capital involved, both internally with company teams and externally with advisors, boards and investors, that is going to differentiate which startups survive and become the disruptive businesses of tomorrow.

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Bandwidth 78