Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 8, 2021

Especially if you are a first-time business owner, the payback for this initiative is well worth the effort and cost. Unfortunately, I see too many new entrepreneurs who let their passion for a new idea or invention blind them to the stark realities of customer need, opportunity size, or pricing and cost implications.

Advisory Board 356

Advisory Board Bandwidth Cofounder Technical Review 356

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Apply for contests and business grants.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

Steve Blank

DECEMBER 11, 2023

Parker became President, and got 50% of the company’s equity for a $20,000 investment (equal to $315K today) and guaranteed a $200,000 line of credit (equal to $3M today). Applicants were told that ERA was doing electronics work for government and industry. Costing $250,000 ($3.2 Each ATLAS I cost the NSA $1.3

Minnesota 281

Minnesota Engineer Minneapolis Silicon Valley 281

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 13, 2013

A grant is not an equity investment, so the entrepreneur doesn’t have to give up a stake in the company either. But before you conclude that your funding problems are solved with grants, you should consider the direct and indirect costs of grant funding: Grant applications are bureaucratic. Professional help costs money.

Government 230

Government Equity Cost SBIR 230

Board Effect

JUNE 20, 2023

Increasing healthcare costs. Patient access and equity. Get Back to Governance Basics Examine the quality of your board orientation training. This is a good place to start getting back to the basics of good governance. Practice Shared Governance Practicing good governance is everyone’s responsibility.

Software Review 98

Software Review Technical Review Government Community 98

David Teten

FEBRUARY 2, 2012

I’ve recently met with several universities, nonprofits, and government employees who’ve all asked the same question: how can we promote entrepreneurship? The first and primary role of a government is to provide basic public goods competently. To the extent that the government fails to do that, it will retard job creation.

Government 146

Government Technical Review New York Offshore 146

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 7, 2018

This process costs money, which professional investors are not willing to contribute, since their interest is in scaling a proven product and business model into a growth business. Acquiring seed-stage funding is admittedly tough, but a source that I find often overlooked is government grant funding, accessible in the U.S.

Early Stage 225

Early Stage SBIR Technical Review Seed Stage 225

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 14, 2014

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Apply for contests and business grants.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs, like online web sites and smart phone apps. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Apply for contests and business grants.

Intellectual Property 309

Intellectual Property Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 309

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 12, 2018

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain, such as online web sites and smart phone apps, that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Join a startup incubator.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Board Effect

NOVEMBER 24, 2020

BoardEffect Supports Good Governance Practices. As businesses came under scrutiny for poor governance practices, nonprofit organizations also came under the limelight, placing great pressure on nonprofit boards and executive directors. The need to demonstrate good governance remains a high priority today.

Government 98

Government Technical Review Software Review Web Development 98

The Next Web

OCTOBER 24, 2013

Everyone, including opponents of giving legal status to millions of “illegal” or undocumented residents, seems to agree that our immigration system is broken: We have a system that has millions of people living in America in the shadows, defying the law, yet doing work that makes it possible for the rest of us to enjoy great luxuries at low cost.

Government 134

Government United States America Green 134

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2023

Most of the experience so far has been cash versus the equity feature defined by the JOBS Act – Equity Crowdfunding (Title III) , introduced back in 2016 with 685 pages of rules. I would summarize the qualms and feedback from professional investors as the following: Crowdfunding platform costs trickle down to angel groups.

Angel Groups 201

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Due Diligence Equity 201

ReadWriteStart

JUNE 1, 2020

It is going to cost a lot of money just to get the initial batch of products to test the market and would definitely require external funding. Forms of funding. ? Equity investment. Equity investment is the most popular and most talked-about avenue for startup funding. Government programs. Equity investors.

Startup 150

Startup Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Seed Stage 150

David Teten

JANUARY 19, 2021

From traditional equity VC, Flexible VC borrows the option to pursue and reap the rewards of an outsized exit. Flexible VC 101: Equity Meets Revenue Share. Equity Ownership. Yes, typically preferred equity. On average, founders own just 43% of equity by Series B , declining thereafter. Flexible VC 102: Variations.

Cofounder 78

Cofounder Technical Review Equity Dividend 78

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2018

Crowdfunding may look easy, via popular sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, but their cost in time, effort, and money by entrepreneurs is daunting. In fact, there are many types of crowdfunding, including donations, reward, pre-orders, loans, and equity. Startup investors have no insight to management or governance.

Equity 180

Equity Due Diligence Angel Groups Liquidity Event 180

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. Trade equity or services for startup help. Another common example is exchanging equity for legal and accounting support.

Equity 266

Equity Startup Small Business Administration SBA 266

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

This post is about the how the Chinese government engineered technology clusters. Of all the Chinese government programs, the Torch Program is the one program that kick-started Chinese high-tech innovation and startups. government’s SBIR and STTR programs. – The Torch Program. Venture Guiding Fund.

Programming 278

Programming Technical Review SBIR China 278

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 28, 2022

With the rise of startups and growing businesses , it has become more critical for investors to have a thorough understanding of equity to be aware of all of the advantages they are receiving from the companies they have invested in. What is Company Equity? Types of equity. Other aspects of organizational governance.

Valuation 108

Valuation Equity Warrant Common Stock 108

Steve Blank

MAY 17, 2022

You succeed in convincing one company and a government to adopt computers and learn to code much faster than their competitors /adversaries. These technologies will transform businesses and government agencies. GPT-3 uses 175 billion parameters and was trained on a cluster with 1,024 Nvidia A100 GPUs that cost ~$25 million!

Artificial Inteligence 417

Artificial Inteligence Software Review Algorithm Technical Review 417

VC Cafe

JANUARY 22, 2021

The accelerator provides equity-free financial support through AWS Promotional Credit, technical training and support, access to a global community of EdTech experts, and more. AWS Builder Space (Israel) – A non-equity program for early stage startups who are looking to accelerate their speed to market.

Technical Review 174

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital Incubator 174

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 5, 2023

It won’t work, it costs time and money, and hurts your credibility when you need them later. The most common support organization at this level is called a startup incubator or accelerator , and these exist in most countries, usually sponsored by a university, local government organization, or even local individuals.

Incubator 305

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 305

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2017

As a starting point the board is intended to have legal and financial responsibilities to a few key constituencies: shareholders, debt holders, creditors, employees, government and major parties with whom the business operates. ICOs certainly have a place in startup financing.

Cofounder 217

Cofounder Stock Options Equity Technical Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2015

My first advice for new entrepreneurs is to pick a domain, such as online web sites and smart phone apps, that doesn’t have the sky-high up-front development costs. That includes estimating the money required to get to the revenue stage, and saving money to cover costs before you jump off the cliff. Join a startup incubator.

Entrepreneur 120

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 12, 2015

Every investor in your startup, even friends and family, normally expects a share of your company (equity), which means your return for all your effort goes down quickly. The indirect costs of time and effort to find the right grant, complete the application and manage the process, even if you win, can be substantial. In the U.S.

SBIR 120

SBIR Equity Technical Review Early Stage 120

YoungUpstarts

JUNE 10, 2019

Home equity loans and HELOCs provide a faster financing opportunity for consumers. A spouse or child of an individual who needs assisted living services uses the equity built-up into the home to cover the costs. It is a better choice over filing for government programs that pay the expenses. Home Renovations and Repairs.

Equity 113

Equity Government Programming Finance 113

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 2, 2023

Beyond these believers, you need to match your credentials and interests with the multitude of public, academic and government organizations that proclaim to foster research and early development, to satisfy the long-term needs of the people or organizations they support. They believe in you above all else. Technology pilots.

Angel Investor 256

Angel Investor Early Stage Incubator Government 256

This is going to be BIG.

JANUARY 18, 2024

Still, there are a lot of downsides to taking venture money—the push to grow at all costs, our desire to be all up in your business, literally, and sometimes, we’re kind of obnoxious. On the other hand, they could be the opposite—much more focused on near-term cash distributions than long-term equity appreciation.

.Net 88

.Net Cap Table Startup Technical Review 88

ReadWriteStart

MARCH 31, 2020

According to Ben Narasin , “in 2020, investors will require firmer governance and oversight structures to safeguard against negative impact and ensure these protections are mandated in their term sheets.”. This may probably drive entrepreneurs to alternative funding options, such as equity crowdfunding. Stricter Business Conditions.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Startup Term Sheet 175

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2020

For example, professional investors put great priority on your previous experience in building a business, and they expect to own a portion of the business equity and control for the funds they do provide. Trade equity or services for startup help. Another common example is exchanging equity for legal and accounting support.

Equity 436

Equity Small Business Administration SBA Syndicate 436

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 25, 2012

This source often gets overlooked, but it should be a major focus these days due to government initiatives on alternative energy and technology. An investment from a venture capital firm is usually expensive, in equity and control. Bartering services for equity. Small business grants. Startup incubators.

Technical Review 257

Technical Review Bootstrapping Venture Capital Incubator 257

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2020

It won’t work, it costs time and money, and hurts your credibility when you need them later. The most common support organization at this level is called a startup incubator or accelerator , and these exist in most countries, usually sponsored by a university, local government organization, or even local individuals.

Incubator 429

Incubator Startup Exit Strategy Institutional Investors 429

Steve Blank

APRIL 11, 2013

This post is about the how the Chinese government engineered technology clusters. Of all the Chinese government programs, the Torch Program is the one program that kick-started Chinese high-tech innovation and startups. government’s SBIR and STTR programs. – The Torch Program. Venture Guiding Fund.

Programming 170

Programming Technical Review SBIR China 170

VC Cafe

SEPTEMBER 26, 2022

The press took notice, especially since just a few months later startups were laying off employees en-masse to cut costs. Sustainable growth: Prioritise sales efficiency over growth at all costs. 2021 gave us plenty of examples for bad governance in both startups and venture capital.

Founder 187

Founder Startup Valuation Pre-Money Valuation 187

Board Effect

FEBRUARY 10, 2021

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has brought even more changes in recent years, and the federal government is still refining healthcare laws and programs. Reserving funds for unexpected costs. Insurance companies have two goals-ensuring that treatments are cost effective and preventing even higher costs later on.

Technical Review 66

Technical Review Artificial Inteligence Software Review Government 66

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2021

This usually means not taking money from equity investors, since investors want fast growth, high profits, and an exit event, to allow investments to be recouped. Non-equity funding has to come from personal sources, or government grants, or bank loans. Corporate versus personal growth really becomes a lifestyle decision.

Entrepreneur 371

Entrepreneur Equity Dilution LLC 371

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 12, 2021

In my experience as a business advisor and occasional investor, many of you won’t make it that far, succumbing to the high costs of getting those first customers, funding an initial inventory, and building an operational support process. Actively seek out government and local incentives.

Dilution 404

Dilution Incubator Bootstrapping Government 404