Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

You might sell one of two of your widgets for $1 million each, entering profitability immediately, but then die because you can’t grow sales at that price. MySpace, for example, boomed after launch for five years without a revenue model. When their deep pockets went empty, Facebook stepped in, but demanded revenue from ads.

Revenue 297

Revenue Widget Angel Investor Early Stage 297

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2020

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage angel investors. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold.

Advisory Board 312

Advisory Board Startup Dividend Angel Investor 312

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. It’s always impressive to have stand-alone supporting documents for product specifications, sales plan details, and backup financial reports.

Business Plan 273

Business Plan Technical Review Angel Investor Social Media 273

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues. How about young or pre-revenue companies? Not long after, the company was sold in a “fire sale” amounting to slightly less than the debt on the books. The art of good management.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 118

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 29, 2018

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an angel investor. It’s always impressive to have stand-alone supporting documents for product specifications, sales plan details, and backup financial reports.

Technical Review 310

Technical Review Angel Investor Business Plan Social Media 310

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 1, 2017

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

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. Marty Zwilling.

Angel Investor 252

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Silicon Valley Venture Capital 252

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 21, 2023

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 273

Business Model Customer Angel Investor Bootstrapping 273

YoungUpstarts

AUGUST 17, 2020

Many companies seek angel investors, venture capital and even family and friends’ money when they’re planning to start a company. Michael Majeed: When projecting profits and losses, an entrepreneur needs to start with expenses, not revenues. Financial intelligence is important to anyone starting a company.

Finance 217

Finance Forecast Balance Sheet Angel Investor 217

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2014

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

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

NOVEMBER 1, 2014

In addition to being the startup entrepreneur, there are other key roles where Boomers can be a force in driving successful startups, in concert with leaders from Gen-X and Gen-Y: Early-stage Angel investors. Often the Boomer is more willing to work for equity, and easily convinced to step aside when revenues reach that next threshold.

Entrepreneur 266

Entrepreneur Advisory Board Dividend Angel Investor 266

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 2, 2013

That means there are far more entrepreneurs looking for money than there are investors, and entrepreneur entitlement is not a realistic expectation. Angel investors look for prior domain and startup experience. This requires a visible focus on the company’s revenue model, the costs to get there, and cash on hand.

Cram Down 269

Cram Down Angel Investor Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

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

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 22, 2021

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 414

Business Model Angel Investor Bootstrapping Revenue 414

Up and Running

MARCH 14, 2018

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 startups. Sometimes you only get 10 minutes to pitch your business opportunity to the investors (or less in some cases). Your revenue or business model.

Hockey Stick 164

Hockey Stick Exit Strategy Technical Review Angel Investor 164

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Deferred payments start with stretching the payables period but, more importantly, include giving employee equity in lieu of a higher salaries and negotiating vendor deferred payments out of future revenues. Waiting until you have something to sell before bringing on a sales and operations staff. Social media is not rocket science.

Burn Rate 120

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 120

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 11, 2022

As a former angel investor, I look for this level of alignment and understanding in every funding presentation I hear. Every business needs revenue to provide investor returns and offset costs. Free” is not an attractive revenue model to investors. It shows you how everyone works in synergy. Key activities.

Business Model 334

Business Model Intellectual Property Angel Investor Channel 334

Steve Blank

FEBRUARY 26, 2020

There are two reasons to raise money: You have a killer idea that is only partially validated, that you think can get to $50M+ of revenue in 5 years with 80%+ gross margins (if margins are lower, you need a lot more revenue)and you need money to get to product-market fit, or. At the high-end pre-seed angel funds might invest.

Cofounder 429

Cofounder Seed Stage Valuation Metrics 429

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. It always reduces risk to plan your business first. Joint venture with distributor or beneficiary.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 27, 2013

In his tenure as CEO of DataSift we have never missed a monthly revenue figure. He has grown our US operations from 1 employee (him) to a global organization of 75 employees that will finish the year with 8-digit revenues (90+% recurring) and more than 350% year-over-year growth. In his spare time he raised nearly $30 million.

Advisory Board 365

Advisory Board CTO Hire Fractional CTO Los Angeles 365

Growthink Blog

DECEMBER 27, 2017

And the desire to raise capital (whether from an individual “angel” investor or a venture capital firm) is often the key motivator in the business planning process. But how exactly will your business plan persuade investors to sign a check? Detail all revenue streams. Be sure to include all revenue streams.

Venture Capital 129

Venture Capital Business Plan Technical Review Private Placement 129

Gust

DECEMBER 6, 2011

A medical device company, on the other hand, may need cash resources to pay for FDA testing, designing the prototype, manufacturing the product, establishing an inventory of the devices and establishing marketing and sales channels for the products. Angel Investors. $20 Super Angels. US Government. Pre-seed, startup.

Angel Investor 179

Angel Investor Venture Capital Valuation Software Engineering 179

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 26, 2021

As a long-time advisor to entrepreneurs and occasional angel investor, I often see and hear innovative product pitches that sound exciting, but are missing one or more of the key business elements that investors deem critical for funding consideration. Provide initial and long-term sources of revenue.

Intellectual Property 332

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Business Model Channel 332

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2016

There is an old saying in the startup investor community, “Smart investors invest in the team, not the idea.” As an angel investor, I’ve learned to believe in this approach, since I have seen great ideas go astray, due to poor execution and I have seen apparently marginal ideas make millions, managed by a savvy entrepreneur.

Technical Review 134

Technical Review Intellectual Property Due Diligence Angel Investor 134

Gust

APRIL 27, 2014

This will include the first version of many critical processes that can be split out later, including market opportunity, requirements, product definition, business model, sales process, and organization. Billing and revenue collection. Write down the key elements of your business plan very early, and keep it current as things evolve.

Startup 187

Startup Institutional Investors Angel Investor Bootstrapping 187

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2015

As an angel investor, I certainly see continuing evidence that this phenomenon hasn’t changed much in the past couple of decades. Technologists forget that investors are buying a chunk of the business, not the product. Investors want proof of a business model and real customer revenue, as well as a product.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Startup Angel Investor Social Media 120

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

If you are not in that rare category of known and proven entrepreneurs, you should avoid the following list of my top ten turnoffs that I have personally experienced as an Angel investor. It’s always impressive to have stand-alone supporting documents for product specifications, sales plan details, and backup financial reports.

Technical Review 299

Technical Review Entrepreneur Business Plan Angel Investor 299

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

pexels A war chest is virtually always a competitive edge in all aspects that count, including employing key staff, public relations, marketing, and sales. This suggests the firm should have a list of paying customers, consistent sales cycles, a clear value proposition, and a developing revenue pipeline in the ideal situation.

Seed Stage 124

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 124

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 29, 2024

Revenue streams are another critical component of your business model. Will you opt for direct sales, subscriptions, or a freemium 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

Up and Running

DECEMBER 18, 2013

Instead of looking at your credit score or asking you for your business’s detailed financial statements, Kabbage asks you for your UPS, PayPal, Amazon, Square, eBay, and/or Quickbooks accounts, and then uses the data it gathers from those accounts to determine your sales revenue and cash flow itself.

Kenya 119

Kenya Angel Investor Technical Review Software Review 119