Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue. Now there are some firms that have strict rules about not funding pre-revenue companies – that’s different. Fund raising is an ongoing process and not an event on a workplan.

Technical Review 309

Technical Review Term Sheet Venture Capital Revenue 309

YoungUpstarts

MAY 25, 2018

Brabble also can be used as a standalone technology to drive revenue for large ecommerce retailers via their patented technology called Star Tags. Isn’t the entrepreneur who doesn’t have a business plan hampered in terms of accessing necessary funding to grow the business? More than that, you must have no fear, and a strong team.

Developer 159

Developer Investment Bankers eCommerce Social Media 159

Up and Running

MAY 16, 2017

Your funding has been approved with the bank or granted via investors—congratulations! You may have a sudden, overwhelming desire to spend to your heart’s content, but it is important to act responsibly and follow the spending plan laid out in your business plan if your business is to survive its critical early years.

Technical Review 82

Technical Review SBA Small Business Administration Software Review 82

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 21, 2010

These are key to transforming your vision into a solid written plan, soliciting the initial funding, and adapting to required changes during implementation. Now the vision has become understandable to potential funding partners. Find friends, Angels, or VCs to fund your plan. They don't have any idea which way to turn.

Technical Review 229

Technical Review Channel Partner Leadership 229

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

billion under management.&# I don’t really understand why VCs do this since it’s mostly a meaningless number. I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds. What is a VC fund?

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Balance Sheet Early Stage Software Review 269

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 8, 2011

Using Trover is easy – simply snap a picture, put in a description and the app automatically tags your location. Other features are pretty much what you would expect from a discovery app – a mileage indicator shows you places within a certain range, and you can follow interesting people with common interests on your feed.

Mobile 176

Mobile Networking Seattle Washington 176

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 12, 2010

People like Fred Wilson who say let all the small companies fund and bloom, create more jobs, etc. This could happen if every VC fund continues to launch a seed fund. In the VC & Private Equity world there’s a small number, too, with one of the most respected being PEHub. What is going on? Minutes 8 – 10.

Seed Stage 232

Seed Stage Valuation Private Equity Venture Capital 232

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

JULY 12, 2010

The following are not competitive advantages: We have feature X. And even you could work 70 on-task hours per week, that's still blown away by 10 developers at a funded company or even 10 passionate open source developers working part-time. P.S. Next week I'll talk about what are real competitive advantages. We have the most features.

Intellectual Property 319

Intellectual Property Bootstrapping Software Review Open Source 319

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund As I outlined last week, trophy angel investors are always looking for trophy entrepreneurs. The result is that the Main Street Venture Fund consistently has more money available than good opportunities for investment. Tags: entrepreneur investor angel successful funding business.

Intellectual Property 265

Intellectual Property Balance Sheet Phoenix Arizona 265

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 3, 2010

Yesterday I received a discouraging note from an entrepreneur with a patent and a medical software application who couldn’t find a dime of investment, and was grousing that seed funding just wasn’t available anymore. Fundraising is indeed brutally tough at all stages, and the seed funding is the hardest to find.

Software Review 239

Software Review Due Diligence Elevator Pitch Startup 239

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

LP 311

LP Technical Review Early Stage Silicon Valley 311

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the following post I argue that this increased pace may be temporary. Consumer spending is 70% of the economy and will continue to be stretched – We can look all we want at tech innovation, VC funding cycles and hot M&A deals, but ultimately growth and therefore investment must be underpinned by revenue. So why the ’09 bounce?

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 16, 2010

The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development. I know some people think the whole market has been disrupted and startups and funding work differently these days.

Cap Table 283

Cap Table Angel Investor Liquidation Preference Deal Flow 283

ConversionXL

MARCH 5, 2019

You can apply filters for all sorts of useful criteria, such as multiple business categories, location, funding status, number of employees, and plenty more: Another method—a personal favorite for larger customers—is to monitor industry news outlets. Cold emails are persistent. An email waits on the recipient. Cold emails are scalable.

Email 130

Email Campaign Reputation San Diego 130

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2010

Every early-stage startup should explore this new funding alternative. I conclude that the genesis of this trend seems to come from several forces, including the following: Less investment capital available due to the recession. Tags: entrepreneur startup investor super angels founder. Marty Zwilling.

Technical Review 215

Technical Review Early Stage Venture Capital Startup 215

David Teten

APRIL 1, 2021

I’ve recently advised a number of emerging private equity and VC funds who are wrestling with the question: What are the highest impact steps they can take to support their portfolio companies? . Once you have assembled the right core team, I recommend prioritizing as follows: First, meet with your portfolio company management.

Private Equity 78

Private Equity Venture Capital Portfolio Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 22, 2012

The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes. Tag team shows don’t work in short venues. Close by asking for questions and promising follow-up. You should answer questions with data if you have it, but avoid defensive responses in favor of a promise to follow-up after the meeting.

Technical Review 243

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 243

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2016

The average length of a funding pitch to Angel investors is ten minutes. Tag team shows don’t work in short venues. Close by asking for questions and promising follow-up. You should answer questions with data if you have it, but avoid defensive responses in favor of a promise to follow-up after the meeting.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Startup Angel Investor 120

Up and Running

MARCH 25, 2021

Besides revealing misspent funds, the audit might show how you could save money and prevent the company from getting into an unstable and unsustainable financial situation. Taking a closer look may show evidence of misspent funds. Ensure your expenses and incoming funds are categorized correctly.

Software Review 117

Software Review Forecast CPA United States 117

Duct Tape Marketing

NOVEMBER 3, 2022

Hello Alice is a free, data-driven, and multichannel platform helping small business owners on their entrepreneurial journey by providing access to relevant funding networks and technical assistance tools while increasing owner success rates. Follow HelloAlice on Twitter. Follow Carolyn on Twitter. Duct Tape Transcript.

Entrepreneur 80

Entrepreneur Technical Review Networking Community 80

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you don’t follow the image reference above or the tag line, “ You don’t need double talk; you need Bob Loblaw “ (try saying it out loud) , and if you care! So eventually you have your company funded but only 2 of the 5 people who started the company are still around. the link is here.

Southern California 318

Southern California Silicon Valley IP Stock Options 318

Up and Running

DECEMBER 25, 2021

While getting funded is one of the most exciting things for a startup, it still does take away some focus. It can take weeks, even months, to get funding, fill out the paperwork, and make sure everything is in place. You need to find a way to keep your workflow going while you are trying to get funded.

Hiring 84

Hiring Developer Social Media Mobile 84

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 29, 2011

The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes. Tag team shows don’t work in short venues. Close by asking for questions and promising follow-up. You should answer questions with data if you have it, but avoid defensive responses in favor of a promise to follow-up after the meeting.

Technical Review 237

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 237

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 9, 2010

This is the origin of the “ solution looking for a problem ” and “ if we build it, they will come ” syndromes, which result in surprise and frustration waiting for funding, and waiting for customers that don’t materialize. Tags: strategy entrepreneur startups business. It is to earn more bottom-line profit-ability than a random walk.

Intellectual Property 231

Intellectual Property Startup IP Finance 231

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 19, 2015

The average length of a funding pitch to Angel investors is ten minutes. Tag team shows don’t work in short venues. Close by asking for questions and promising follow-up. You should answer questions with data if you have it, but avoid defensive responses in favor of a promise to follow-up after the meeting.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Elevator Pitch Angel Investor Matching 120

YoungUpstarts

NOVEMBER 15, 2020

Selling your home isn’t always easy, but if you’ve spotted the next prime property that you would like to purchase in order to live in permanently or renovate and sell on for a profit, you might need to free up funds from your existing home first. With that in mind, here are five ways to flip your home fast. Sell in spring if possible.

Valuation 246

Valuation Sales Product Marketing 246

Steve Blank

JUNE 11, 2009

And my advice to students who believe they want to do a startup but are unsure if they want to start one, is to join one that’s already raised their first round of funding. You still need to be comfortable with chaos and uncertainty, but by this time the major risk of where the first round of funding is coming from is gone.

Cofounder 219

Cofounder Founder Silicon Valley Technical Cofounder 219

This is going to be BIG.

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

The features in Flickr seeded the consumer web gene pool for the following 7 or 8 years--tagging, favoriting, commenting, permalinks direct to content, newsfeeds, social consumption of media, sharing and embedding. Go to Collabfinder , of course--where instead of following people, you do things with them. Find me on."

Web 127

Web Curation Open Source Demand 127

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

Following is my prioritized larger list of sources, with some “rules of thumb” which may save you a lot of time and energy: Bootstrapping. Self-funding from your savings is the preferred source of cash for your startup – if you have it. Money to build the business is the number one challenge for most startups. Small business grants.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 149

David Teten

JANUARY 11, 2020

In the future, everyone will be famous for 15 followers. Traditional celebrities or influencers with millions of followers have a large service industry and tech stack to serve their needs. Other coinvestors: Limited partners, other VCs who are coinvestors, private equity funds which are potential growth-stage investors, etc.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Media Private Equity 60

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

How to find venture funding? Have an extremely good tag line and instant summary. Have an extremely good quick video or a one-page summary and send that as the follow-on email when you talk with a VC or get an introduction. The expected follow up to that quick three sentences is a summary, in email. Check this out.

Software Review 124

Software Review Due Diligence Venture Capital Elevator Pitch 124

ConversionXL

DECEMBER 2, 2020

For well-funded companies, it’s a quick way to build a content machine that publishes three or four long-form articles a week. Why ask Aleyda Solis to write a playbook on hreflang tags when a freelancer could get it two-thirds of the way there? Then finish it with some butter until it has the right balance of flavors.

Analytics 161

Analytics Acquisition Channel B2C 161

ReadWriteStart

OCTOBER 28, 2010

What happens if the company raises follow-on funding? Will the company be self-funded and bootstrapped? Raise angel funding? Raise venture capital funding? Tags: Analysis. One of the main reasons for co-founder conflict is that many aspects of the relationships were either ill-defined or misunderstood.

Cofounder 128

Cofounder Founder Equity Dilution 128

mashable.com

OCTOBER 16, 2010

All of this is according to Paul Graham, co-founder of the early-stage investment fund Ycombinator. During a presentation at Startup School at Stanford University earlier today, the prolific investor discussed the state of startup funding with a packed auditorium of students and entrepreneurs. In the middle of that was a gaping hole.

Angel Investor 84

Angel Investor Venture Capital Social Media Technical Review 84

ReadWriteStart

DECEMBER 31, 2013

While there are certainly still products and services fetching big price tags with little to no revenue, the majority of companies in our year-end roundup are building products that will have an impact on how we think about technology. The company picked up $23 million in additional funding and now boasts over 11 million active users.

Startup 60

Startup Cofounder San Francisco Software Review 60

Duct Tape Marketing

JANUARY 4, 2024

Our deep dive into the world of email newsletters unveils tactical strategies for transforming subscribers into revenue-generating assets. Russell shares invaluable insights on the resurgence of email newsletters. 21:34] Has AI impacted your thoughts on producing content? [25:26] 25:26] Where do you want to invite people to connect with you?

Revenue 78

Revenue Advertising Email ChatGPT 78

Growthink Blog

OCTOBER 25, 2010

Ameritrade advertisements touting their “great selection of ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds).” It was the great golden age of mutual funds, of variable annuities, of the brokerage firm. He mostly followed the “buy and hold” principles of Warren Buffet, John Templeton, and Peter Lynch and his portfolio just went up and up.

Portfolio 69

Portfolio Technical Review Stock Incubator 69