The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

Start by defining your key resources, activities, and partners. Revenue streams are another critical component of your business model. Whether it’s through bootstrapping, seeking angel investors, or applying for grants, explore all options available to you.

Intellectual Property 130

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Bootstrapping 130

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2011

For example, with any outside investment, you give up some ownership and control, and with bootstrapping your growth curve will likely be longer and more organic. Following is my prioritized larger list of sources, with some “rules of thumb” which may save you a lot of time and energy: Bootstrapping. Angel investors.

Technical Review 233

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 233

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2023

Based on my own experience as a mentor and angel investor, I find that as many as ninety percent of startups fail in the first five years, despite their best efforts. By far, the majority of new businesses I know are self-funding (bootstrapped) from your own savings and prior assets.

Intellectual Property 245

Intellectual Property Social Media Angel Investor Metrics 245

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. If you have a good idea, but haven’t started yet, only friends, family and fools will likely be interested.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Feld Thoughts

JANUARY 2, 2014

When people ask me how they can become a VC, I point them to my partner Seth Levine’s excellent blog posts How to become a venture capitalist and How to get a job in venture capital (revisited). Along the way, a number of the companies I had invested in as an angel investor raised money from VCs.

San Francisco 159

San Francisco Boston Venture Capital Angel Investor 159

Gust

JUNE 17, 2012

For example, with any outside investment, you give up some ownership and control, and with bootstrapping your growth curve will likely be longer and more organic. Following is my prioritized larger list of sources, with some “rules of thumb” which may save you a lot of time and energy: Bootstrapping. Angel investors.

Technical Review 164

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 164

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. If you have a good idea, but haven’t started yet, only friends, family and fools will likely be interested.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 1, 2010

For example, with any outside investment, you give up some ownership and control, and with bootstrapping you growth curve will likely be longer and more organic. Following is my prioritized larger list of sources, with some “rules of thumb” which may save you a lot of time and energy: Bootstrapping. Angel investors.

Technical Review 149

Technical Review Bootstrapping Startup Venture Capital 149

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2018

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Contrary to popular opinion, all investor money is not the same.

Angel Investor 184

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 184

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 4, 2014

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Contrary to popular opinion, all investor money is not the same.

Angel Investor 232

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 232

Gust

JUNE 19, 2012

For example, with any outside investment, you give up some ownership and control, and with bootstrapping your growth curve will likely be longer and more organic. I’ll try to offer some guidelines to address these issues, but I generally recommend you keep the day job until your new company is producing real revenue. June 17th, 2012.

Startup 180

Startup Forecast Angel Investor Software 180

Berkonomics

AUGUST 3, 2023

It might be useful to list some of the ways in which you can raise money for growth with and without outside investors. Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally generated funds. It is most often a win-win for both you and the strategic partner.

Private Equity 118

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 118

Austin Startup

DECEMBER 17, 2017

Hurricane Irma had a major negative revenue impact on one whose fall book of business was mostly in Florida. Two of them made some major product directional changes based on the founder’s judgment and the feedback he was getting from partners and customers. Might your company be the bell-ringer that makes one of them a big winner?

Silicon Valley 48

Silicon Valley Atlanta Software Review Early Stage 48

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2016

For example, if you have a proven product, real revenue, a big potential market, and are ready to scale up the business, every investor will be interested. Different types of investors tend to specialize in capitalizing on businesses at different stages. Contrary to popular opinion, all investor money is not the same.

Matching 120

Matching Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2018

The challenge is to convince investors that your business will attract real customers, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses. Even if you are funding the project yourself (bootstrapping), you should be asking yourself the same question before you have burned all your resources.

Angel Investor 147

Angel Investor Distribution Bootstrapping Viral 147

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 20, 2015

How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Plan for a real revenue model.

Business Model 120

Business Model Angel Investor Startup Bootstrapping 120

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Angel investors typically provide early-stage funding, while venture capital firms typically come in at later stages. Yet most investors will tend to categorize your progress into one of the following five stages: Idea stage. Lesser amounts remain in the angel realm. Funding sources specialize in certain growth stages.

Investment Bankers 241

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 241

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 19, 2018

Earlier this year at the FUND Conference in Austin, Texas, over 100 startups presented their early-stage companies in front of hundreds of investors and industry leaders. FUND is a national connector of entrepreneurs, VCs, angel investors, and industry experts with a focus on deal flow and making connections. If so, how?

Texas 73

Texas Advisory Board Startup Angel Investor 73

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 2, 2016

Unfortunately, as a startup advisor and angel investor, I’ve seen too many ventures with great potential get destroyed or set back by legal and other shortcuts that should never have been allowed to happen. A common myth these days is that every startup needs an investor, and large investments are better than small ones.

Intellectual Property 120

Intellectual Property Due Diligence Non-Compete Startup 120

Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2011

Angel investors typically provide early-stage funding, while venture capital firms typically come in at later stages. Yet most investors will tend to categorize your progress into one of the following five stages: • Idea stage. Lesser amounts remain in the angel realm. Funding sources specialize in certain growth stages.

Venture Capital 171

Venture Capital Investment Bankers Angel Investor Initial Public Offering 171

Up and Running

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

BootStrapping. If you only need a small amount of money, particularly if you are a minority-owned business operating in a developing nation, working with one of Kiva’s field partners could be a good route. Gust matches investors up with small businesses seeking funding. In this list, I’ll cover: Loans. CrowdFunding.

Small Business 164

Small Business SBA United Kingdom United States 164

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 13, 2010

Angel investors typically provide early-stage funding, while venture capital firms typically come in at later stages. Yet most investors will tend to categorize your progress into one of the following five stages: Idea stage. Lesser amounts remain in the angel realm. Funding sources specialize in certain growth stages.

Investment Bankers 231

Investment Bankers Venture Capital Startup Initial Public Offering 231

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2015

Angel investors will perk up if you have a prototype or a few real customers, while venture capitalists will likely choose to wait until you have achieved several million in revenue or customer count. If you have a good idea, but haven’t started yet, only friends, family and fools will likely be interested.

Preferred Stock 120

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 120

Scalable Startup

AUGUST 9, 2018

If you’ve already soft launched, have a product available, are telling the world about your awesome company but don’t have revenue/user growth, you’re probably in the red zone. If you’re bootstrapping, you don’t need to worry about either of these options. This is not a good time to ask for outside funding.

Technical Cofounder 20

Technical Cofounder Silicon Valley Early Stage Cofounder 20

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

An entrepreneur starts a company in classic " bootstrap " fashion - with a combination of sweat equity and their own financial resources. With this capital, the company propels itself to $50 million+ in revenues, and to either a sale to a strategic acquirer or to an initial public offering.

Angel Investor 112

Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

FEBRUARY 21, 2011

It’s among the most-asked questions on startup forums, and an issue we’re dealing with right now at WPEngine as we bring on new employees: How do you decide how much equity (shares) to give a new employee or partner? Hard to know, but an important question for a bootstrap startup to answer! What about $Y/mo?&#

Equity 276

Equity Salary Hiring Institutional Investors 276

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

It might be useful to list some of the ways in which you can raise money for growth with and without outside investors. Email readers, continue here…] Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds.

Private Equity 106

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 106

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 7, 2011

Andrew Wong, CEO of MAD, has been working with us for almost a year, and we have made a mutual choice to deepen the partnership by making MAD a premiere value-added reseller partner of the 1M/1M program. Also, the business is primarily on CD-ROMs right now, but the good news is that the CD-ROM product is selling and generating revenue.

Malaysia 114

Malaysia Incubator Silicon Valley Entrepreneur 114

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 3, 2011

Then Greg Snead, also from Tacoma, discussed Orbiter , an RFID venture that is moving along quite nicely, having clocked more than $700,000 in revenue last year. At this point, Greg is in the process of bringing in two additional investors, and the primary topics of our discussion were valuation and ROI issues around the new investors.

San Jose 115

San Jose Entrepreneur United States Washington 115

ReadWriteStart

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I'd like to hear from venture capitalists, angel investors, incubators, and accelerators on this topic. They should be built organically, bootstrapped, and get to sustainability. They should be built organically, bootstrapped, and get to sustainability. A sustainable business = (customer + revenue + profits).

Incubator 116

Incubator Silicon Valley Idaho Entrepreneur 116

K9 Ventures

SEPTEMBER 24, 2009

I was bootstrapping the company and started with $5,000 that I had saved up from a prior summer internship. This meant that I had to either show enough revenue, or find investors who would be willing to put money into the company. My immigration attorney ( Robert S.

United States 114

United States Founder India Venture Capital 114

Gust

NOVEMBER 28, 2011

Investors don’t like “equal partner” situations, or worse yet, family pairs in top positions. The CEO is expected to make the presentations to investors, and answer questions decisively. Another alternative is to rely on that famous first tier of investors, called friends, family, and fools.

Startup 147

Startup Bootstrapping Social Network Internet 147

Babbling VC

JULY 25, 2012

This is an awesome WIN in my eyes (for him and his angel investors maybe) but is by far not a venture capital WIN. What starts out small and bootstrapped (see Github ), not needing VC, can down the road need the VC support. the market, to specific customers, to partners, to VC's and so forth.

Venture Capital 70

Venture Capital Angel Investor Bootstrapping Cofounder 70

Up and Running

MAY 23, 2016

In fact, SaaS industry revenue is projected to grow from $49 billion in 2015 to $67 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of approximately eight percent. List key partners and resources you will need, and then list your core team as well as their roles. If you want a slice of the pie, there isn’t a better time to get involved.

Software Review 74

Software Review Software Delaware Forecast 74

Berkonomics

JANUARY 20, 2010

Before we explore the next insight, it might be useful to list some of the ways in which you can raise money for growth with and without outside investors. Email readers continue here.]. Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds.

Private Equity 69

Private Equity Valuation Cap Table Accredited Investor 69

Hippoland

JULY 24, 2018

It’s been about a year since I started working on Hustle Fund with my business partner Eric Bahn. You need to be willing to bootstrap for about 5-10 years. 3c) You also will make General Partner contributions to your fund. If you have 2 managing partners, that’s $4m per person – but 10 years later.

Salary 48

Salary Capital Call Bootstrapping Cofounder 48

Hippoland

JULY 24, 2018

It’s been about a year since I started working on Hustle Fund with my business partner Eric Bahn. You need to be willing to bootstrap for about 5-10 years. 3c) You also will make General Partner contributions to your fund. If you have 2 managing partners, that’s $4m per person – but 10 years later.

Salary 48

Salary Capital Call Bootstrapping Cofounder 48