Gust

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Obviously, a key factor is always the state of the economy and the mood of the venture capital community. According to the Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index® for the First Quarter 2014, the Q1 increase marks seven consecutive quarters of positive sentiment among Silicon Valley venture capitalists.

Silicon Valley 182

Silicon Valley Venture Capital Massachusetts California 182

Gust

FEBRUARY 22, 2014

As such, creating a functional clone of Gust (including all the features under the hood, and ones that have not yet been released), using world-class engineers and state-of-the-art, 2012 project management in Ruby on Rails, would take roughly 20 person-years from soup to nuts (figure about 1/3 of that in product/UX/UI and 2/3 in actual coding.)

Belarus 107

Belarus Kazakhstan Portugal Accredited Investor 107

Gust

NOVEMBER 2, 2011

Quality Management Team. Best practice for angels investing in pre-revenue ventures is to use multiple methods for establishing the pre-money valuation for seed/startup companies. It has been used by angels since, however Dave updated the model for 2009 ACA Leaders Workshop in Richardson, TX. Here is his latest version. Characteristic.

Valuation 79

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Southern California 79

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. If the company was successful, this quickly led to an IPO – a very happy ending for the entrepreneur, the angels, and the venture capitalists. Raising venture capital may lead to a huge exit.

IPO 153

IPO Venture Capital Entrepreneur Angel Investor 153

Gust

MARCH 26, 2014

As Ryan Lackey noted, having a lot of money is essentially irrelevant in this context, because that is not the way venture capital works. A venture capitalist (colloquially known as a VC) is a professional money manager who gets paid to manage *other* people’s money, not his or her own.

Angel Investor 138

Angel Investor Early Stage Venture Capital Partner 138

Gust

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

The question is based on a misunderstanding of how venture capital investment works. Now, with that as background, it will typically take one to three months to negotiate and diligence a venture investment, if the company manages to get one at all. First of all, VC funds do not invest in ideas. Only companies get funded.

Limited Partner 116

Limited Partner Venture Capital Operations Partner 116

Gust

AUGUST 10, 2014

Here are some basic rules of thumb that every Angel or venture capital equity investor uses, to help you anticipate their reactions. Of course, the quality of your management team, or demonstrated performance in prior similar ventures, can override any or all of these rules of thumb.

Liquidity Event 176

Liquidity Event Equity Venture Capital Exit Strategy 176

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

Make your public profile as sexy, comprehensive and enticing as possible, adding a short, well done, elevator pitch video (think “the kind of video you see on great Kickstarter campaigns”) and listing your full management team. And don’t forget the ability to customize your profile’s background.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Gust

MARCH 11, 2014

Despite the noisy data, it’s reasonable to conclude the financing market has become more competitive, driven by an increase in the total number of startups raising seed capital and a relatively constant inflow of capital into venture capital. Originally posted by Tomasz Tunguz on his blog, www.tomtunguz.com.

Seed Stage 169

Seed Stage Seed Capital Startup Green 169

Gust

APRIL 23, 2014

While Gust is generally flying under the radar, and currently accounts for an infinitesimally tiny fraction of the marketplace, the actual numbers may be a bit surprising.

Angel Groups 127

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Private Equity Deal Flow 127

Gust

FEBRUARY 26, 2014

Sessions are all about how to improve angel investing and manage angel groups, as well as connecting with other industry players and getting technical presentations. Venture Capitalists. The big one for VCs is the annual meeting of the National Venture Capital Association. NVCA Annual Meeting.

Angel Investor 125

Angel Investor Global Angel Groups Europe 125

Gust

NOVEMBER 15, 2011

The Ohio TechAngels describe the method, as follow: ”Reflecting the premise that the higher the number of risk factors, then the higher the overall risk, this method forces investors to think about the various types of risks which a particular venture must manage in order to achieve a lucrative exit. Stage of the business.

Valuation 102

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Ohio Early Stage 102

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

It is used by hundreds of thousands of companies in 195 countries to organize all of their investor relations material; it is used by over a thousand angel investor networks, venture capital funds and startup accelerators to manage their deal flow and collaboration; and it is used by over 50,000 individual accredited angel investors in 75 countries (..)

Angel Investor 150

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 150

Gust

DECEMBER 29, 2013

Some entrepreneurs can’t decide if they want to be a Limited Liability Corporation (LLC) or a C-corporation, or they don’t have the money, so they put off doing anything until the first venture capital round, or until the first lawsuit occurs. Let your accountants manage the expenses. Cash is more important than profit.

Startup 183

Startup Intellectual Property LLC Burn Rate 183

Gust

OCTOBER 31, 2011

If your business offers a service, like marketing or management consulting, you are the product. Another reality is that angel investors and venture capital groups almost never invest in a services-only company. If you or any of your partners really don’t have the credentials, the commitment or the interest, you won’t succeed.

Angel Investor 143

Angel Investor Venture Capital Partner Networking 143

Gust

JANUARY 22, 2014

It is used by hundreds of thousands of companies in 195 countries to organize all of their investor relations material; it is used by over a thousand angel investor networks, venture capital funds and startup accelerators to manage their deal flow and collaboration; and it is used by over 50,000 individual accredited angel investors in 75 countries (..)

Angel Investor 89

Angel Investor Angel Groups Accredited Investor Early Stage 89

Gust

DECEMBER 22, 2011

” Apart from all the other benefits of good corporate hygiene and risk management, handling these IP issues carefully from inception can go a long way to allay the concerns investors or their counsel may have in doing due diligence. All opinions expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of Gust.

Intellectual Property 149

Intellectual Property Technical Review Software Review IP 149

Gust

NOVEMBER 11, 2011

Or the in-kind winning includes legal work or management consulting, but the startup that wins has its own providers. But it also has the disadvantage of mixing apples and oranges and playing up prizes that don’t work out to real dollar value. For example, the winner is based somewhere else and doesn’t want to move.

Software Review 79

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Angel Investor 79

Gust

DECEMBER 21, 2011

Valuations are generally higher in Silicon Valley; term sheets are different; capital sources are different; building a management team and Board of Directors requires a different strategy; and I’ve just begun to scratch the surface.

Silicon Valley 107

Silicon Valley Southern California Tucson Seattle 107

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. 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. Many times it’s less.

Monaco 122

Monaco Cofounder Chicago Mexico 122

Gust

OCTOBER 20, 2011

The next step in determining the pre-money valuation of pre-revenue companies using the Scorecard Method is to compare the target company to your perception of similar deals done in your region, considering the following factors: Strength of the Management Team 0-30%. Experience as a product manager. -.

Valuation 146

Valuation Pre-Money Valuation Intellectual Property Technical Review 146

Gust

MAY 24, 2012

By contrast, venture capital and angel investments normally take the form of Preferred Stock with rights and preferences set forth in the company’s Certificate of Incorporation and other governance documents. Options and warrants, when issued, are also typically exercisable for shares of Common Stock.

IPO 159

IPO Equity Common Stock Stock 159

Gust

DECEMBER 12, 2011

Manage priorities. You must relentlessly communicate to all constituents the current priorities, and keep the total to a manageable number. Define and use well-thought-out systems, manual or automated, to ensure repeatable success of every key process.

Cost 114

Cost Business Plan Entrepreneur Startup 114

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. Do yourself and the investors you want to talk to a favor: take a few minutes and do some homework on this issue.

Angel Investor 114

Angel Investor Valuation Angel Groups Equity 114

Gust

DECEMBER 6, 2011

Optimism ought to be a combination of potential market, product-market fit, scalability, defensibility, and management experience. But it’s about your business, and you fit in as the manager who will drive it. Ideally, a business pitch is exciting because the business potential is exciting. Tell your story well.

Angel Investor 70

Angel Investor Early Stage Business Plan Sales 70

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 2011

Their miniscule floats are tightly managed to artificially inflate the offering price and maintain it briefly; then, a slow (or sometimes fast) descent to earth begins. The division manager at Google who’s tasked with driving more mobile ads can drop $17 million on your social network that makes it happen.

IPO 87

IPO .Net Social Network Mobile 87

Gust

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

Often I find that experienced investors flip to the management page of a business plan, even before they read the product description. Every investor is looking for the “dream team” of executives to put his money on. That’s how important the people are. What are investors looking for in the CEO and the rest of the top executives?

Startup 147

Startup Bootstrapping Social Network Networking 147

Gust

DECEMBER 23, 2011

Randall Munroe has managed to slowly create a real enterprise out of a free webcomic. But that is certainly not always the case, because: sometimes you have other insulating factors that will fend off competition, and allow you to only go as fast as you can afford with internal resources.

Intellectual Property 127

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Dilution Bootstrapping 127

Gust

OCTOBER 31, 2011

But then, of course a huge number of things – like the popping of that mini-bubble, intense new competition, exposure of management weaknesses, and world economic conditions—have subsequently brought that number down by at least half.

IPO 70

IPO Valuation Stock Partner 70

Gust

OCTOBER 14, 2011

Obviously, a frantic reaction to someone else’s move will damage the way your biz dev, sales, product managers, engineers, PR people, and strategy teams interrelate. Your customers should feel the same way. It reinforces processes. And that’s hard enough to get right already!

Product 70

Product PR Matching Engineer 70

Gust

NOVEMBER 23, 2011

The law would have the effect of allowing companies to stay private longer, deferring the significant expense, management distraction and public disclosure of financial and operating data involved in the IPO process. targets the Exchange Act requirement that is reportedly forcing Facebook to go public in early 2012.

IPO 110

IPO SEC Prospectus Intellectual Property 110

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.

Intellectual Property 70

Intellectual Property .Net Differentiation Sales 70

Gust

JANUARY 5, 2012

But, this SEC limit has created some problems for these high-tech phenoms, both in raising additional capital and in private sales through secondary markets in which early investors resell shares to a large number of smaller US buyers.

SEC 131

SEC Angel Groups Technical Review Private Equity 131

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. Welcome to Gust!

Angel Investor 79

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital Finance 79