Gust

JUNE 7, 2014

Also, as Ben Black mentioned in his answer, in some cases the investors may choose to provide an incentive to the management team, in order to ensure that the sale goes through, and quickly. Management carve-out (if any). Management carve-out (if any). Management carve-out (if any). 2) Secured creditors.

Warrant 157

Warrant Preferred Stock Early Stage Common Stock 157

Gust

AUGUST 22, 2012

” There is no law, other than the word of the manager on duty — who decrees that we could get in with the camera if we paid some ludicrous amount of money to procure a permit on the spot. The risk-reward tradeoff in finance should hold true in developing and unstable regions as well.

Technical Review 172

Technical Review Egypt Morocco Russia 172

Gust

AUGUST 9, 2014

CluelessCo is an internet startup company seeking $2 million of equity financing to fund our company for at least one year. Web-based Database Management System. Take your choice (these are both real, honest-to-God pitches, and I’ve got the originals in my possession): Contestant A. Web-based Productivity Applications.

Startup 131

Startup Database Open Source Equity 131

Gust

DECEMBER 7, 2014

Managing investors is a distraction from your core business. When you put your own financing on the line, your partners, your team, and eventually your customers will know that you are committed to solving their problem. Sometimes creative efforts need more time before launch, or your efforts to run the company need tuning.

Bootstrapping 191

Bootstrapping Entrepreneur Startup Burn Rate 191

Gust

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

The founders now need a $1M Angel investment to do the marketing for a national NewCo rollout, build a team to manage the rollout, and maybe even pay themselves a salary. Assign probabilities to active customer sales efforts, just as sales managers do in quantifying a salesman’s forecast. This one doesn’t help NewCo just yet.

Valuation 187

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation NPV Intellectual Property 187

Gust

APRIL 23, 2014

When you realize that the platform operates in half a dozen languages and has investors or entrepreneurs in over 200 countries engaging in both local and cross-border investments, you can begin to see the outlines of the future of finance.

Angel Groups 127

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Private Equity Deal Flow 127

Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

And if you’re a startup CFO, finance lead, bean counter, or presentation slide deck preparer, then you should read this book. Managing Partner , Tangent Capital. If you’re doing investment pitches, you should read this book. If you’re doing a pitch I’m going to see, I want you to have read this book. CEO , Gust.

Startup 180

Startup Forecast Angel Investor Software 180

Gust

NOVEMBER 2, 2014

The key success factors of the business model (how a business survives and grows), management expertise, and financial projections will likely get overlooked. Multiple micro-investments are not manageable. In my opinion, that’s why micro-finance has rarely worked, even for loans. Amount of funding provided is usually not enough.

Non-disclosure Agreement 160

Non-disclosure Agreement Intellectual Property Accredited Investor Equity 160

Gust

JANUARY 4, 2012

Entrepreneurs: if you’re looking seriously at angel investment, and you have the kind of product-market fit and management experience investors will like, you need to take a good look at convertible notes. I’d suggest you start with Fred Wilson’s Financing Options: Convertible Debt , one of his MBA Mondays series on his AVC blog.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Valuation Angel Groups Equity 114

Gust

JULY 18, 2012

Yet I’ve rarely seen entrepreneurs more fired up than when recounting war stories of startups whose founders had control of the company wrested from them, were forced to take financing or compensation deals on outrageously onerous terms , or worst of all, fired from their own companies.

Stock Options 188

Stock Options SEC Stock Government 188

Gust

JANUARY 13, 2013

More important are standard business, finance, and economics courses. Too many startups fail simply by missing the practical elements of money management, time management, and setting priorities. An MBA is helpful, but not required. Supplement course work with practical experience.

Entrepreneur 180

Entrepreneur Seed Money Social Network Business Plan 180

Gust

DECEMBER 29, 2013

Later, when your venture is trying to close on financing, or even going public, that forgotten partner surfaces, demanding their original share. Let your accountants manage the expenses. That means managing a bottoms-up budget process, and living within the budget. Cash is more important than profit. Do not delegate this task.

Startup 183

Startup Intellectual Property LLC Burn Rate 183

Gust

JULY 12, 2012

If you are going to be a true co-founder (and 20% equity sounds like it), sharing over-all decision making about company direction, strategy, financing, staffing, etc. So the question you need to ask yourself is “why do I want to be on the board”?

Cofounder 107

Cofounder Founder Warrant Equity 107

Gust

DECEMBER 28, 2011

In the “good old days,” angels invested in seed-stage startups and teed up promising companies for subsequent venture capital financing. Without explaining why the average venture capital firm is managing larger funds today than a decade ago, let me describe how this change has impacted the startup funding landscape.

IPO 153

IPO Venture Capital Entrepreneur Angel Investor 153

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

Gust is the infrastructure that underlies much of the professional world of early stage finance.

Angel Investor 150

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 150

Gust

NOVEMBER 29, 2011

I always look for marketing expenses as a percent of sales, and headcount and personnel costs, and compensation for management. I also look for how the projections deal with working capital to finance receivables and inventory, if those are relevant. Reasonable estimates on these points add to credibility.

Hockey Stick 70

Hockey Stick Forecast Early Stage Finance 70

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

Gust is the infrastructure that underlies much of the professional world of early stage finance.

Angel Investor 89

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 89

Gust

DECEMBER 8, 2011

Take any steps needed to qualify Newco to conduct the business it plans to conduct wherever it’s located (for example, a filing made in California qualifying a Delaware corporation to do business there if the management team is located in San Francisco). Much of this work poses the formidable risk that “you don’t know what you don’t know.”

Intellectual Property 139

Intellectual Property Non-disclosure Agreement Delaware Stock 139

Gust

OCTOBER 11, 2011

She, the CEO of a fledgling pharmaceutical company with a lot of intellectual property, research, management experience, was confident, rolling through slides, and building momentum. It struck me at the time as an annoying interruption, ill timed, and off point. It was just a few minutes into the pitch. Which of these two answers do you like?

Intellectual Property 70

Intellectual Property Differentiation .Net Sales 70

Gust

SEPTEMBER 21, 2014

Often I find that experienced investors scan ahead to the management page of a business plan, even before they read the product description. A few years ago it was all the rage to have MBAs in the top finance role. So, choose a CFO who is very comfortable with legal documents, as well as finance.

NDA 147

NDA CPA SEC Startup 147

Gust

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

Today’s unveiling of Gust , the global infrastructure for early stage entrepreneurial financing, is a milestone that has been seven years in the making. Welcome to Gust!

Angel Investor 79

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Finance 79