Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2013

The most successful entrepreneurs are those with multiple real-life experiences, who have personal exposure to markets where opportunities are being left on the table. Too many startups fail simply by missing the practical elements of money management, time management, and setting priorities. Pick an idea, any idea.

Entrepreneur 264

Entrepreneur Seed Money Social Network Business Plan 264

Board Effect

JUNE 28, 2022

Start-up Grants or Seed Money Grants — Start-up grants are hard to come by, but they exist. Endowment Grants — Some foundations manage endowments for nonprofits that earn interest. While government grants are a good start, you might have better luck looking elsewhere for a grant. 10 Types of Nonprofit Grants.

Government 96

Government Seed Money Matching Programming 96

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2011

The most successful entrepreneurs are those with multiple real-life experiences, who have personal exposure to markets where opportunities are being left on the table. Too many startups fail simply by missing the practical elements of money management, time management, and setting priorities. Pick an idea, any idea.

Entrepreneur 264

Entrepreneur Seed Money Social Network Business Plan 264

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

They both raised angel / seed money of $1.5 They hired a marketing team to promote their products more broadly. If there was strong market demand for their product then this investment might pay off handsomely. million to fund operations in their first year of operations. The answer may not be known for many years.

Stock Options 227

Stock Options Startup Dilution Venture Capital 227

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

With the influx of seed money, much has been written about the fact that start-ups that are taking far more funding than they need. However, as an investor watching my portfolio companies and other start-ups in the market, I can see how large rounds negatively impact the culture of budding business.

Guerilla 158

Guerilla Seed Money Vertical Early Stage 158

YoungUpstarts

JULY 22, 2017

Success as an entrepreneur takes a lot more than an idea, a dab of seed money and, as they say, a wing and a prayer. Today, his firm employs some 200 team members, and the firm itself is well known for its smart, innovative and quality work in construction and construction management in both Canada and the United States.

Founder 100

Founder United States Canada Seed Money 100

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2010

The most successful entrepreneurs are those with multiple real-life experiences, who have personal exposure to markets where opportunities are being left on the table. Too many startups fail simply by missing the practical elements of money management, time management, and setting priorities. Pick an idea, any idea.

Seed Money 225

Seed Money Social Network Networking Business Plan 225

Gust

JANUARY 13, 2013

The most successful entrepreneurs are those with multiple real-life experiences, who have personal exposure to markets where opportunities are being left on the table. Too many startups fail simply by missing the practical elements of money management, time management, and setting priorities. Pick an idea, any idea.

Entrepreneur 180

Entrepreneur Seed Money Social Network Business Plan 180

The Next Web

JULY 27, 2013

Here are some reasons traditional investors are still the the best bet for startup funding: Rushing to market. He quit his job to fulfill his orders and imagined starting a great new business from the seed money. Sure you can raise your seed money on Kickstarter or another crowdfunding platform… then what?

Seed Money 130

Seed Money Massachusetts Equity Campaign 130

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

I think the issue was mostly framed initially by Chris Dixon in his article The Problem with Taking Seed Money from Big VC s. The fact that I invest less just means the company is earlier stage and needed/wanted less or without a product/market fit we weren’t yet prepared to invest more heavily.

Post-Money Valuation 298

Post-Money Valuation Term Sheet Warrant Partner 298

Version One Ventures

SEPTEMBER 8, 2014

With the influx of seed money, much has been written about the fact that start-ups that are taking far more funding than they need. However, as an investor watching my portfolio companies and other start-ups in the market, I can see how large rounds negatively impact the culture of budding business.

Guerilla 90

Guerilla Seed Money Vertical Early Stage 90

Up and Running

MAY 12, 2015

They ended up with a nice pitch, and approximately $300K in seed money.”. He warns that although quality and prize money vary from competition to competition, they can be a great way to practice pitching in a setting designed for getting feedback. See Also How to Do Market Research.

Angel Investor 60

Angel Investor Software Review Technical Cofounder Due Diligence 60

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

According to the SEC we’re not allowed to market the fact that we’re fund raising, so I won’t. Think about it – most entrepreneurs who manage to raise seed money or venture capital usually raise enough money for 12-18 months maximum. I promise you that won’t be a bit market for us.

Monaco 420

Monaco Cofounder Chicago Mexico 420

cdixon.org

SEPTEMBER 17, 2011

Very, very few markets have room for only one player. Quite early on, you will be able to differentiate yourself – and having competitors help you grow the market can actually be a good thing. But it’s probably wise to be more secretive in some vertical markets: [link]. [link] Kristian Dupont. I agree completely.

Stealth 68

Stealth Startup NDA Cofounder 68

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2009

.&# And I think this line of thinking has started to become conventional wisdom as outlined in Chris Dixon’s excellent blog post saying that you need to be careful raising seed money from a large VC fund. I do think you need to be careful with funds that have done 20-30 seeds deals in fairly rapid succession.

Software Review 283

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Southern California 283

crowdSPRING Blog

APRIL 23, 2018

When you find yourself faced with a problem that no one else has managed to solve, you’ve landed on a solid-gold idea for your next side gig. They can’t rely on existing markets or customer awareness to help generate interest. This means that products in this category need to launch with a robust marketing plan.

Entrepreneur 69

Entrepreneur Startup Seattle Social Media 69

Austin Startup

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

There are about 32 million left-handers in the US, you have a special product for them, and surely you can get just 5% of that market and have 1.6 You want your valuation to keep marching upward; if you took in some seed money with the promised 10X venture return, you’ll hopefully be able to prove that you are proceeding on that trajectory.

Valuation 48

Valuation Forecast Seed Money Business Model 48

Startup Lessons Learned

MAY 31, 2019

Scott Kupor is the managing partner at Andreessen Horowitz, where he’s responsible for all operational aspects of running the firm. He's been with the firm since its inception in 2009 and has overseen its rapid growth, from three employees to 150+ and from $300 million in assets under management to more than $10 billion.

Lean 108

Lean Venture Capital Conversion IPO 108

Berkonomics

MARCH 30, 2012

Crowd Funding: The Internet is at work here, especially for obtaining early stager seed money. An entrepreneur utilizes online communities to solicit pledges of small amounts of money from individuals who are typically not professional financiers.

Intellectual Property 76

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Small Business Administration SBA 76

Gust

OCTOBER 2, 2014

According to the SEC we’re not allowed to market the fact that we’re fund raising, so I won’t. Think about it – most entrepreneurs who manage to raise seed money or venture capital usually raise enough money for 12-18 months maximum. I promise you that won’t be a bit market for us. And so it goes again.

Monaco 122

Monaco Cofounder Chicago Mexico 122

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 2, 2009

The VCs basically have liquidity in management fees along the way, in the sense they get paid decently along the way. We could do more in 2010 with more VC investment; the doubling assumes only ratable increase in marketing spend to achieve profitability. We managed the business because we felt responsible since we raised money.

Founder 329

Founder Liquidation Preference Term Sheet Participating Preferred 329

Seeing Both Sides

MARCH 2, 2011

Hunch-driven : they had deep domain knowledge and didn't need outside studies or market research to guide their prioritization. million in its series A financing and kept the burn rate at less than $100k per month to make he money last. Raising money, scaling the team. Modest burn : the company only raised $1.35 Monetization.

API 44

API Valuation Lean Burn Rate 44

Mike Michalowicz

MARCH 24, 2013

Good businesses are birthed from good ideas – innovative ways to solve a problem in the market, whether that’s providing refreshing drinks for thirsty travelers along Route 56, cleaning yards for busy two-income families or Smart Phone Demystification Services for empty-nesters. 6 Social Marketing. No excuses. 5 Pet Sitting Services.

Entrepreneur 167

Entrepreneur Seed Money Social Media Sales 167

www.paulgraham.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

The market price is less than the inconvenience of signing an NDA. Microsofts originalplan was to make money selling programming languages, of all things.Their current business model didnt occur to them until IBM droppedit in their lap five years later. The best odds are in niche markets.

Startup 105

Startup Cofounder Software Stock 105

techcrunch.com

OCTOBER 23, 2010

Not everybody can, especially if they need to run with the idea to get to market. Pitching to investors before building is a waste of time especially if they do not understand the timing to enter the market. By now it is useless except bragging rights as traction and market disruption have been lost. have a great day!

Technical Review 84

Technical Review Cofounder Technical Cofounder Software Review 84

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

And if trouble withinvestors is one of the biggest threats to a startup, managing themis one of the most important skills founders need to learn. It wasnt because they werent accredited investors that I didntask my parents for seed money, though. Apparently our situation was not unusual.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 6, 2014

A founder will raise one party round worth of seed money and they''ll go teach a class on how to raise venture capital. But, managing your career? They grew with the company and flurished as they learned how to be managers. Our CEO is a better marketer. Growth hacking? Don''t get me started. You''re like 25.

Startup 161

Startup Venture Capital IPO Viral 161

www.businessinsider.com

SEPTEMBER 6, 2012

JOB OF THE WEEK: Operations Manager. Your Money. According to Graham, Google Ventures, a venture-capital firm backed by the tech giant, has systematically been offering to make seed investments in recent Y Combinator graduates, but only on substantially more favorable terms than other investors received. Clusterstock.

Silicon Valley 54

Silicon Valley Startup Valuation Venture Capital 54

pandodaily.com

NOVEMBER 29, 2012

Add to this regular angels becoming “super angels” — a much-mocked phrase for when someone goes from investing their own money to investing institutional funds. Essentially they became micro-VCs, still investing at the seed level but with much greater resources behind them. A name like 500 Startups says it all.

Technical Review 93

Technical Review Silicon Valley Incubator Syria 93