VC Cafe

FEBRUARY 27, 2024

especially if the startup already has a product and revenue? What’s the difference between an angel round and pre-seed round and why do I believe we’ll see more pre-seed rounds taking place in 2024? A founder asked me what makes a $2M round “pre-seed”?

Valuation 186

Valuation Software Review Generative AI Technical Review 186

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. Commit to a major customer.

Finance 320

Finance Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 320

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

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. Don’t count on finding investors willing to support growth alone on your new startup. Build a business plan for profitability in your lifetime.

Revenue 297

Revenue Widget Angel Investor Early Stage 297

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. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Excuse the typos and cleanup -- I’ve been too busy to finalize.”

Business Plan 273

Business Plan Technical Review Angel Investor Social Media 273

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect. It’s time for a new startup model. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

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. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

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. Investors are buying part of the business, not the product or service. Excuse the typos and cleanup -- I’ve been too busy to finalize.”

Technical Review 310

Technical Review Angel Investor Business Plan Social Media 310

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2023

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. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Few entrepreneurs find this scalable and repeatable business model because it’s not easy. However, four critical advances over the past decade (cloud, accelerators, Lean, and Angels) not only changed the math for tech investing but made regional tech clusters possible. The cloud , open-source development tools and web 2.0

Early Stage 295

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 295

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

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 3, 2021

Lazarus has developed a reputation in the Melbourne and Sydney business communities as a consultant who is brutally honest yet caring and highly effective at the same time. He places a strong emphasis on branding and how it positions his clients to start earning revenue shortly after opening their business.

United States 167

United States Entrepreneur Angel Investor Social Media 167

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. Commit to a major customer.

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. Commit to a major customer.

Product Development 177

Product Development Cost Developer Product 177

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 18, 2014

Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect. It’s time for a new startup model. Marty Zwilling.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Startup Angel Investor Technical Review 283

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 12, 2017

Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect. It’s time for a new startup model. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 161

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 161

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 an investor presentation and summary.

Angel Investor 260

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 260

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. Commit to a major customer.

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. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 134

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 134

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 20, 2012

Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect. It’s time for a new startup model. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 296

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 296

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.

Angel Investor 269

Angel Investor Cram Down Intellectual Property Venture Capital 269

Up and Running

MAY 15, 2018

Innovative products and business models are the foundations of a promising startup. Creating a scalable business model. Whether you are hoping to expand a small business with a loan or going for a round of venture capital, you will need a scalable business model. Determining how much money to ask for.

SBA 84

SBA Angel Investor Technical Review Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2019

Thus most startups I know don’t even mention the IPO exit option, when applying for angel funding, and most angel investors will react negatively if you do mention it. More importantly, make sure first that you really want to give up the entrepreneur lifestyle for the challenges of a public company executive.

IPO 210

IPO SEC Prospectus Startup 210

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 22, 2020

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. Congratulations!

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 9, 2017

New entrepreneurs are always looking for a shortcut in getting their venture story and plan across to investors, and closing on the funding they need. An effective tool I see used more and more, as a prelude to a more detailed business plan, is the Business Model Canvas , first introduced by Alexander Osterwalder back in 2008.

Business Model 143

Business Model Intellectual Property Startup Angel Investor 143

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2014

Investors hear this as trying to do too many things with limited resources, meaning the startup will not shine at anything, and will not survive the competition. Other elements of startup focus are a bit fuzzier, so let me zoom-in on some key ones here: Type of business model. Segment the opportunity.

Entrepreneur 257

Entrepreneur Technical Review Angel Investor China 257

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

For this reason, we’ve partnered with Guild members who have experience across different kinds of customers, business models, and distribution channels. Fareed Mosavat is the product lead for Upgrades and Expansion at Slack, focused on revenue growth for Slack’s small business customers. Back to Top). Back to Top).

Operations 176

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 176

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2013

Traction means that you have achieved one or more significant milestones, which will give you credibility with investors. Don’t expect them to believe your $100M revenue projection, if you are still waiting for the first revenue dollar. A great business often starts with one person, but it doesn’t end there.

Intellectual Property 281

Intellectual Property Entrepreneur Sweat Equity CTO Hire 281

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 19, 2011

Nail the business model. Leverage your customer conversations to predict and validate your business model. For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect. It’s time for a new startup model. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 286

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 286

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2015

Image via Flickr by Side Wages Some entrepreneurs forget that they need an innovative business model along with an innovative solution to have a successful startup. Inventors alone, or business gurus alone, generally fail. Technologists forget that investors are buying a chunk of the business, not the product.

Technical Review 120

Technical Review Startup Angel Investor Social Media 120

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 11, 2023

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. During the pre-seed fundraising stage, investors need a viable business plan to base their investments on.

Seed Stage 125

Seed Stage Technical Review Early Stage Due Diligence 125

ReadWriteStart

JANUARY 26, 2021

If you run out of capital prematurely, the business can’t sustain itself—no matter how good the business model is. This is usually a problem with businesses that are self-funded or those that are utilizing a minimalistic approach. No Real Business Model. The Wrong Team. Sometimes, it’s a team issue.

Startup 180

Startup Angel Investor Business Model Demand 180

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

In fact, there are a few key sites to help you find angels, including AngelList and Gust , but these don’t tell you very much about how Angels work, and how to find the right ones for your startup. Make sure these cover your business model and exit strategy, so the angels see how both of you will make a reasonable return.

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Venture Capital Startup 120

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

AUGUST 4, 2013

Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). Proving the business model requires a different approach than proving the technical concept. So how do you go about proving the business model? Prove the technical concept.

Business Model 235

Business Model Product Advisory Board Angel Investor 235

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Finalize your financial model.

Angel Investor 224

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Technical Review Elevator Pitch 224

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 27, 2013

Investors hear this as trying to do too many things with limited resources, meaning the startup will not shine at anything, and will not survive the competition. Other elements of startup focus are a bit fuzzier, so let me zoom-in on some key ones here: Type of business model. Segment the opportunity.

Startup 257

Startup Technical Review Angel Investor China 257

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 4, 2011

Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. A conundrum for many frustrated entrepreneurs is that they need money from investors to design and build a prototype product, yet most angel investors expect to see at least a prototype before they invest. Finalize your financial model.

Intellectual Property 249

Intellectual Property Angel Investor Technical Review Elevator Pitch 249