Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Incubator 429

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 429

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 12, 2013

If your startup is looking for an Angel investor, does it makes sense to present your plan to flocks of Angels, and assume that at least one will swoop down and scoop you up? In reality, hitting large numbers of Angels in multiple locations with a generic pitch is one of the least productive approaches.

Angel Investor 252

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital 252

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Innovative products and business models are the foundations of a promising startup. Funding is crucial for improving technology, hiring the right people, and launching a comprehensive marketing strategy to get a foothold in the market. Investors in particular want to fund only scalable or ready to scale businesses.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2023

But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which In the U.S. contributes more than $25 billion to fund 70,000 startups every year. Here are eight key insights that will help you find a productive match: Angels want equity ownership, not causes. Most share expertise as well as money.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Accredited Investor Syndicate Syndication 265

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 24, 2012

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Most of these investors are members of Angel groups that have a rigorous filtering and screening process, to select the top 3% and most fundable proposals. Build a prototype product.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 260

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2020

They know from forums such as Shark Tank on TV that asking for either too much or too little will derail credibility in the eyes of the investor, and leave the entrepreneur with no money and a struggling startup. This is all about setting a credible current value on your startup -- not future value.

Startup 337

Startup Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity 337

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the angel perspective (as a member of an angel group selection committee). Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Over the past 10 years, I have had the opportunity to see how the process works, several times from the startup side, and more recently from the angel perspective (as a member of an angel group selection committee).

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2012

If your startup is looking for an angel investor, does it makes sense to present your plan to flocks of angels, and assume that at least one will swoop down and scoop you up? In reality, hitting large numbers of angels in multiple locations with a generic pitch is one of the least productive approaches.

Angel Investor 245

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Exit Strategy Boston 245

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 7, 2022

They know from forums such as Shark Tank on TV that asking for either too much or too little will derail credibility in the eyes of the investor, and leave the entrepreneur with no money and a struggling startup. This is all about setting a credible current value on your startup -- not future value.

Preferred Stock 304

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 304

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which actually funds more startups then all other venture sources combined (over $25 billion annually). Here are eight key insights that will help you find a productive match: Angels want equity ownership, not causes.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Venture Capital Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2021

But many have no insight or connections to the ethereal angel investment community, which In the U.S. contributes more than $25 billion to fund 70,000 startups every year. Here are eight key insights that will help you find a productive match: Angels want equity ownership, not causes. Most share expertise as well as money.

Search 317

Search Accredited Investor Angel Investor Venture Capital 317

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2011

If your startup is looking for an angel investor, does it makes sense to present your plan to flocks of angels, and assume that at least one will swoop down and scoop you up? In reality, hitting large numbers of angels in multiple locations with a generic pitch is one of the least productive approaches.

Angel Investor 244

Angel Investor Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Exit Strategy 244

Gust

DECEMBER 16, 2012

ABC Shark Tank Angels via Elite Daily. Every new startup I know dreams of being funded early by one of the 318,000 active Angel investors in the USA alone. Don’t expect the pomp and celebrity of the Angels on Shark Tank , but they do ask a lot of the right questions. Build an investor presentation and summary.

Angel Investor 179

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 179

Up and Running

JANUARY 2, 2013

I know what it’s like to pitch to investors – both angels and venture capitalists. I’ve raised close to $1 million from angel investors for my previous technology start-ups. Sometimes you only get 10 minutes to pitch your business opportunity to the investors (or less in some cases).

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Due Diligence 164

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 28, 2018

Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Incubator 236

Incubator Exit Strategy Institutional Investors Angel Investor 236

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 28, 2013

Most entrepreneurs struggle with financial projections, not wanting to commit to numbers they can’t deliver, and having no clue what investors might consider reasonable. However, making no projections, or non-credible projections will get your startup marked as unfundable. Aggressive revenue projections and growth rate.

Liquidity Event 243

Liquidity Event Startup Equity Venture Capital 243

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 27, 2016

Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined some time ago from a funding perspective. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Incubator 120

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 120

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 16, 2012

Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Incubator 237

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 237

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 17, 2014

Most entrepreneurs struggle with financial projections, not wanting to commit to numbers they can’t deliver, and having no clue what investors might consider reasonable. However, making no projections, or non-credible projections will get your startup marked as unfundable. Aggressive revenue projections and growth rate.

Liquidity Event 249

Liquidity Event Equity Venture Capital Merger 249

Business Plan Blog

DECEMBER 19, 2013

How to Pitch to Angel Investors. You have finally set up that meeting with an angel investor and have everything prepared for your pitch. Be sure to address these four items that investors will always be asking: 1) Is the business idea simple enough for me to understand and buy into. Have an exit strategy.

Angel Investor 55

Angel Investor Exit Strategy Valuation Differentiation 55

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2018

As an occasional angel investor, I always ask for a business pitch to get me in the mood. I’m a technologist, so I always love to learn about the product, but every investor needs to make sure you have a business, as well as a product. First to market” is not sustainable with normal startup resources.

Product 145

Product Intellectual Property Liquidity Event Exit Strategy 145

Gust

JULY 31, 2012

Amidst all the talk of failures and exits, we forget there are actually three possible outcomes for angel-backed startups. 1) Many flop (companies that do not return capital to investors) 2) some companies provide angels with an upside on their investment and 3) some companies go sideways.

Exit Strategy 135

Exit Strategy Angel Investor Capital Gains Startup 135

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2011

Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Incubator 230

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 230

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 15, 2013

Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined before from a funding perspective. Don’t waste your resources on the wrong ones.

Incubator 256

Incubator Entrepreneur Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 256

www.paulgraham.com

APRIL 28, 2010

Want to start a startup? A typical startup goes throughseveral rounds of funding, and at each round you want to take justenough money to reach the speed where you can shift into the nextgear. Few startups get it quite right. I dont mean to suggest that our investors were nothing but a dragon us. Many are underfunded.

Technical Review 76

Technical Review Startup Software Review Angel Investor 76

YoungUpstarts

DECEMBER 15, 2011

If you can’t find a sure thing, the next best bet is to learn from the best practices of successful investors. Here are tips from active angel investors who have enjoyed success with some of today’s leading technology companies: Investors Rely on Networks. In fact, the leadership is the only known quantity in a startup.

Exit Strategy 167

Exit Strategy Balance Sheet Salary Startup 167

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 13, 2012

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 283

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 283

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2012

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors.

Elevator Pitch 247

Elevator Pitch Exit Strategy Burn Rate Merger 247

Gust

AUGUST 10, 2014

Most entrepreneurs struggle with financial projections, not wanting to commit to numbers they cant deliver, and having no clue what investors might consider reasonable. However, making no projections, or non-credible projections will get your startup marked as unfundable. Aggressive revenue projections and growth rate.

Liquidity Event 176

Liquidity Event Equity Venture Capital Merger 176

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2011

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it assumes at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 290

Business Plan Sweat Equity Exit Strategy Intellectual Property 290

Up and Running

MARCH 11, 2015

I’ve pitched in taxi cabs, I’ve pitched on street corners, in board rooms, on stage in front of 400 angel investors. The opportunity when I got to pitch on stage in front of 400 angel investors was for the largest angel investor conference in the Pacific northwest called Angel Oregon, and we competed with 60 other companies.

Technical Review 60

Technical Review Software Review Due Diligence Exit Strategy 60

discuss.joelonsoftware.com

NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Im confident that this business will be able to compensate these two additional principles along the way, after initial risk of investing their time, and will later reward their vesting with an exit strategy. Angel investors also are motivated to help the company with whatever influences they have in the marketplace.

Sweat Equity 40

Sweat Equity Equity Angel Investor Affiliate 40

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2015

They know from forums such as Shark Tank on TV that asking for either too much or too little will derail credibility in the eyes of the investor, and leave the entrepreneur with no money and a struggling startup. This is all about setting a credible current value on your startup -- not future value.

Preferred Stock 120

Preferred Stock Exit Strategy Equity Angel Investor 120

ReadWriteStart

APRIL 13, 2012

What entrepreneur hasn't dreamed that our startup will experience the same magical beginnings as Google ? In 1998, before they even incorporated, Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were trying to present their concept to early-stage, or "angel" investors, with limited success. So what do angels want?

Angel Investor 128

Angel Investor Syndicate Syndication Exit Strategy 128

David Teten

DECEMBER 3, 2019

See Bessemer Venture Partners’ A comprehensive guide to security for startups. Data companies focused on early-stage startups include Aingel , fundsUP , Preseries , PredictLeads , and Sploda. – angel investor networks ( AngelList , FundersClub , OurCrowd , Republic *, SeedInvest ). . 2) Market .

Technical Review 78

Technical Review Software Review Analytics Private Equity 78

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 22, 2010

Clearly define the customer, channel, and revenue model associated with this solution. In this section, you need to be passionate about revenue, profit, and volume growth. Many people seem to use the social network advertising model for revenue, but forget it requires at least 100M users and $50M investment. Exit strategy.

Business Plan 186

Business Plan Exit Strategy Sweat Equity Intellectual Property 186