Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 31, 2020

In fact, they may fear team leadership as a burden, or a potential dilution of their ownership. Good entrepreneurs are often diluted in their potential by trying to attack too many new market opportunities or customer requests concurrently. Certainly interfacing to the outside world may not be an inventor forte.

Founder 312

Founder Intellectual Property Dilution Startup 312

Austin Startup

JULY 6, 2018

Re: cash, the more “unbundled” types of accelerators (less formalized, less equity) tend to not provide any cash upfront, but also typically “cost” less in equity, often just 1–2% of your fully diluted capitalization. Anti-Dilution. See: Startup Accelerator Anti-Dilution Provisions; The Fine Print. Market Focus.

Dilution 48

Dilution Startup Technical Review Equity 48

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2021

A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. Extend your networking into peer interest groups outside your school. I agree with Robert E.

Entrepreneur 373

Entrepreneur Chad Incubator Dilution 373

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Angels will likely agree to simpler term sheets, better valuations, and less restrictive terms on potential dilution, voting rights, exit options, and executive roles. For angel investors, you only need to do some local networking to get interest. How big is your startup opportunity? How much help do you expect and need?

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor IRR Venture Capital Valuation 246

YoungUpstarts

MAY 6, 2019

Networking. You won’t make it big unless you have a network. A network of investors to back you, a bench of mentors to give you a kick, and a network of support group i.e. friends, family, that stays with you while you launch the product in the market. Should I focus on online marketing or offline marketing as well?

Startup 113

Startup Technical Cofounder Merger Early Stage 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2022

The downside is loss of control and financial dilution. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? In my view, two heads are always better than one. The co-founder relationship dilemma.

Founder 325

Founder Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event 325

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2021

Start networking for funding before the crisis. Similarly, a custom contract for a big customer can get you over a growth gap, without diluting your brand in the market. There is a reason that ninety percent of startups are still self-funded, and most of the rest have major contributions from friends and family.

Dilution 404

Dilution Incubator Bootstrapping Government 404

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2020

Every startup needs to start their funding search looking for grants, with no equity dilution, as well as contests and foundations. They have connections to industry associations and entrepreneur organizations that can kick-start your networking efforts, both locally and globally. Get help with grant funding and incubator resources.

Arizona 310

Arizona Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Dividend 310

Genuine VC

JULY 19, 2010

But leveraged distribution via platforms (organic/paid search, social networks, mobile devices) and self-service monetization (ad networks, app stores, payments) is what has truly empowered startups to become real scalable businesses on very small amounts of initial capital.

Seed Stage 175

Seed Stage Technical Review Dilution Offshore 175

Mike Michalowicz

MAY 1, 2024

Conventional wisdom dictates that retaining every client and tirelessly pursuing new ones is the only approach to success, but this approach will only lead to diluting your resources, the identity of your business, and the muddling of your service. This also leads to long term partnerships.

Dilution 78

Dilution Channel Demand Revenue 78

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

If you’re raising $2 million and can close on $3 million – don’t optimize to minimize short-term dilution, optimize for contingencies in case the market gets worse. It is also a result of pent-up demand. In the following post I argue that this increased pace may be temporary. million – take it.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Angels will likely agree to simpler term sheets, better valuations, and less restrictive terms on potential dilution, voting rights, exit options, and executive roles. For angel investors, you only need to do some local networking to get interest. How big is your startup opportunity? How much help do you expect and need?

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Entrepreneur IRR Valuation 314

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 30, 2020

Smart investors learn how to leverage their relationships and network to find their way to unique deals, lead more beneficial negotiations, and stay one step ahead of the mass trends. The ground rule is to always dilute risk by diversifying your portfolio. Find the right allies.

Portfolio 278

Portfolio Colombia San Francisco Dilution 278

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 27, 2010

To the contrary – if you know how to sell your own work, can negotiate good rates, network well, keep consistent work and have a great reputation – it can be very rewarding. Their is huge value of personal networks in determining your long-term career trajectory.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Hiring Software Review Stock Options 285

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 13, 2019

Either way, if you know you’re going to fail, it’s much better to do so with your own money on the line than money that also costs you in dilution, perpetuity or more. Seeking out even just one West or East Coast firm can give you an “out of Austin” presence that extends your network in a way that can prove incredibly fruitful.

Strategic Investors 49

Strategic Investors Austin Angel Investor Bootstrapping 49

David Teten

AUGUST 19, 2019

Benefits: Non-dilutive, flexible credit offerings that fit SMB or enterprise SaaS. Additionally, portfolio companies are able to access competitive and often non-dilutive financing by monetizing an unavoidable expense that is being paid to its current processors, thus yielding a mutual benefit for both parties. over next 12 months.

Revenue 60

Revenue Technical Review Software Review Equity 60

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 23, 2019

Create a specific plan to network to get the help you need. Dilution of focus kills too many small businesses, as they try to attract more customers and counter more competitors. Suddenly you will find that writing a ten-to-twenty page business plan with details is easy rather than daunting.

Intellectual Property 248

Intellectual Property Dilution Cofounder Social Media 248

The Next Web

JANUARY 24, 2014

We are the most active Twitter country in the world (measured by tweets per account) and the third most socially networked. We need deeper networks of talent and experience coming together on the basis of trusting each other’s competence and skills, without resenting the inevitable force of reciprocity. Serious talent. How to fix this?

Netherlands 143

Netherlands Technical Review Stock Silicon Valley 143

Austin Startup

JUNE 30, 2017

For some, it’s about preparing for a successful career, including building a network that you can leverage for your career. Pragmatically, accelerators offer entrepreneurs a curated bundle of resources (a network of entrepreneurs and advisors, faster access to investors, education, some initial money, etc.) Those are the pragmatists.

Curation 48

Curation Startup Cofounder Equity 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

The downside is loss of control and financial dilution. Offer low cash early, with bonuses or stock options for milestones, to people in your personal network. Should you start a company solo or find co-founders to help you? In my view, two heads are always better than one. The co-founder relationship dilemma.

Hockey Stick 243

Hockey Stick Cofounder Liquidity Event Startup 243

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

A finalist in the Social and Culture category , which will pitch at 11 am Saturday, March 9, EnrichHER Funding , based in Atlanta, is fueling the growth of women-led businesses by enabling women founders to secure capital in an affordable and non-dilutive way.

Startup 50

Startup Cofounder Technical Review Equity 50

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 28, 2018

A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. Extend your networking into peer interest groups outside your school. I agree with Robert E.

Chad 242

Chad Incubator Startup Dilution 242

thebarefootvc

MAY 8, 2012

No matter how capable and experienced, an entrepreneur needs as many trusted, networked and experienced eyes and ears to help her navigate through this dynamic market. In early days, the network effect of employees, advisors, investors is key to gaining market traction and scale:

Venture Capital 78

Venture Capital Syndicate Syndication Bandwidth 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2019

Of course, that doesn’t dilute the owner’s equity, but it may well limit you to organic growth, versus international rollouts and acquisition options. These can become part of balancing your lifestyle, rather than part of the stress of business-driven networking. Startup funding comes from personal savings and family.

Startup 194

Startup Equity Dilution LLC 194

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

Accelerators and incubators support the startups with a small amount of funding, mentorship, networking opportunities, resources, and workspaces. ? Raising higher capital at an early stage means more equity to be diluted to the investors. These usually play a role in the very early stage of your business, primarily pre-revenue.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

Company 2 might represent an “ad mediation company” where the company gets paid by ad networks for running ads on publisher websites and the company in turn must pay the publisher 85% of the revenue it collects. Stock option grants dilute your ownership in the company. The answer may not be known for many years.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 17, 2018

But to use hashtags effectively, you must do more than just plug them into your tweets on Twitter or posts on Instagram, Facebook or another social network. When a person adds a hashtag to their post, that hashtag is indexed by social networks and the content becomes more easily searchable and discoverable by others.

Small Business 191

Small Business Marketing Social Media Social Network 191

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. You just said, “nobody would take 1-2% dilution.” Hang on, Mark. I believe Instagram was.

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 19, 2019

As I’ve said before, everyone talks about innovation, but the majority of new business plans I see still reflect linear thinking – one more social network with more features, another smartphone app for marketing, or one more platform for faster e-commerce. Real innovation in the business world is still rare.

Dilution 137

Dilution Social Network Government Restful 137

View from Seed

APRIL 24, 2019

Considered an “old” technology & channel in the context of the rise of social networking, 2009 was seminal for the email marketing space. Like with email, there is risk that the channel becomes diluted and somewhat tarnished as more companies focus on it. Where we are with SMS I akin to where we were with email a ten years ago.

SMS 207

SMS San Francisco Channel Dilution 207

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

Entrepreneurs want less cash because they want to control dilution and preserve exit options at lower prices. One of the hotter companies lately in the mobile social networking is FourSquare, which raised $1.35 I know the jury is still out since they’re so new but I know many entrepreneurs eager to work with them.

Software Review 283

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Southern California 283

Hearpreneur

JANUARY 30, 2022

The traditional push marketing approach has given way to a new approach that entails engaging customers through social networking, blogs and video. Many businesses are discovering that the key to successful marketing is interacting two-way with customers, not simply shouting marketing messages at increasingly dilute audiences. .

Entrepreneur 123

Entrepreneur Green Technical Review Social Media 123

The Next Web

AUGUST 19, 2013

It’s always better to be earn money, not just raise it, as money you earn doesn’t dilute your ownership and reassures your investors. You can be the sales guy or gal with all the tools you need at your fingertips ­ email, phone, social networks, etc. In the startup community, it’s all about the network you’ve built.

Belarus 137

Belarus Viral Channel Startup 137

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. Extend your networking into peer interest groups outside your school. I agree with Robert E.

Chad 279

Chad Incubator Dilution LLC 279

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 23, 2013

A business plan I saw a while back to combine all the good features of several popular social networks on one site does not do it. Success requires market leadership in your product area, and it’s easy to see that pushing more products and services dilutes your focus and attention. Innovate to market leadership.

Bandwidth 256

Bandwidth Startup Dilution Leadership 256

Agile VC

JULY 11, 2012

On the IT side of VC investing, we’ve seen countless waves crest and fall… mainframes to minicomputer/workstation, workstation to PC, copper to optical networking, client/server software to cloud, the fabless semiconductor model, magnetic tape to hard drive, etc.

Silicon Valley 240

Silicon Valley Carried Interest Cofounder Boston 240

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 19, 2014

To the investors, it means less dilution and lower overall risk. Extend your networking. Research related tax credits and incentives. Let’s face it, the business world and the political world are getting tightly intertwined.

Seed Money 242

Seed Money SBIR Dilution Government 242