Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

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 261

Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator Bootstrapping 261

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect. Don’t attempt to scale it until you have a proven repeatable business model that predictably generates revenue. In my view, savvy “super angel” investors such as Mike Maples, Jr. ,

Angel Investor 359

Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator Business Model 359

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

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. MySpace wasn’t ready for this, and it soon faded.

Revenue 297

Revenue Widget Angel Investor Early Stage 297

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

AUGUST 19, 2020

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. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month.

Burn Rate 310

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Salary Angel Investor 310

Gust

JULY 23, 2014

, answer all the standard questions (carefully, completely, thoughtfully and in good written English), provide all the financial figures (past investment, current burn, projected revenues, cash needed, etc.), Invested Interests Power Pitches angel investor business David Rose entrepreneur meeting pitch startup'

Angel Investor 153

Angel Investor Elevator Pitch Pre-Money Valuation Technical Review 153

The Startup Magazine

JUNE 13, 2024

Create a detailed business plan where you must outline your financial goals, expenses, and revenue projections. You can take loans, seek funds from angel investors, or raise money through crowdfunding—collecting donations from friends, family, or strangers. Next, evaluate your funding options. It can contribute to your success.

United States 99

United States Bootstrapping Social Media Angel Investor 99

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2014

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited Angel investors. Angel investors wish for the same return, but may accept a 5X deal. How good are your connections in the investor community?

Angel Investor 266

Angel Investor Entrepreneur Venture Capital IRR 266

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 24, 2022

As a business consultant and angel investor, I often ask for your own assessment of marketing ROI , or customer acquisition cost (CAC). In addition, research shows that companies that fail to align their marketing and sales departments have less ROI, and lose 10% or more of their revenues per year.

Acquisition 250

Acquisition Cost Customer Sales Cycle 250

Hunter Walker

OCTOBER 14, 2024

I’m also a Sanzo angel investor. As for Sanzo, we’ve been fortunate to have the support early on of incredible angel investors (like Hunter Walk!) I’m a Sanzo drinker. Over the last few years he’s been a diligent company-builder, brand steward, and community leader.

New York City 89

New York City Hockey Stick Distribution Angel Investor 89

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. We all know how to get friends and peers to pump up our story online, but investors want to see feedback from paying customers.

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. Commit to a major customer.

Intellectual Property 219

Intellectual Property Technical Review Startup Incubator 219

YoungUpstarts

JANUARY 11, 2021

In my 15+ years as a startup founder, investor, and advisor — and now in my role as CEO of a bookkeeping and accounting startup — I’ve come across countless businesses whose accounts aren’t accurate or GAAP-compliant because they’re making the same four mistakes: Relying on spreadsheets to track their revenue and expenses.

Small Business 208

Small Business Startup Cofounder Vertical 208

The Startup Magazine

MARCH 30, 2022

Investing in startups doesn’t have to be as much of a gamble as you might think; it’s all about ignoring the hype and instead letting the underpinnings of the organization, and any performance figures and projections for future revenues, do the talking. Timing is crucial. Rigorous research is your responsibility.

Technical Review 135

Technical Review Due Diligence Angel Investor Startup 135

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

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. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month.

Burn Rate 223

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Startup Salary 223

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. Contrary to popular opinion, all investor money is not the same.

Angel Investor 313

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 313

Berkonomics

OCTOBER 5, 2023

How about young or pre-revenue companies? Although young companies rarely measure profitability this repeatedly, more mature companies usually can bring from five to ten percent of revenues to the bottom line in the form of net profit. Lots of good jobs were lost and many investors including me were left with the question.

Silicon Valley 118

Silicon Valley Burn Rate Angel Investor Down Round 118

Steve Blank

JANUARY 17, 2023

The culmination of this bootcamp is a “demo day” where all startups in the cohort have a few minutes to pitch their companies to venture capitalists and angel investors. (In The most successful venture studios are founded by entrepreneurs that have previously built companies with $10+M in revenue and had 100+ employees.

Technical Cofounder 368

Technical Cofounder Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 368

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 15, 2019

For example, when you think about distribution channels, revenue streams, or the relationship with the customer, ask customers what they expect. Don’t attempt to scale it until you have a proven repeatable business model that predictably generates revenue. In my view, savvy “super angel” investors such as Mike Maples, Jr. ,

Startup 245

Startup Angel Investor Technical Review Incubator 245

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2023

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. Angel investors wish for the same return, but may accept a 5X deal. How good are your connections in the investor community?

Angel Investor 246

Angel Investor IRR Venture Capital Valuation 246

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. We all know how to get friends and peers to pump up our story online, but investors want to see feedback from paying customers.

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. Commit to a major customer.

Entrepreneur 283

Entrepreneur Intellectual Property Technical Review Incubator 283

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

The Startup Magazine

AUGUST 3, 2021

After working with clients to uncover the best business model, he urges them to let go of their hesitation about seeking funding from venture capitalists and angel investors. 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 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

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

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. For example, a software development startup raising $250,000 from angel investors better be able to operate on $25,000 per month.

Burn Rate 262

Burn Rate Hockey Stick Entrepreneur Salary 262

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. Contrary to popular opinion, all investor money is not the same.

Angel Investor 370

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Investment Bankers Private Equity 370

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

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. Every investor likes to see opportunities that are large, with double-digit growth. angel investors entrepreneur funding startups'

Angel Investor 120

Angel Investor Accredited Investor Venture Capital Startup 120

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 13, 2020

Too many entrepreneurs tell me they are looking for an investor, and can’t differentiate between venture capital (VC) investors versus accredited angel investors. Angel investors wish for the same return, but may accept a 5X deal. How good are your connections in the investor community?

Angel Investor 314

Angel Investor Entrepreneur IRR Valuation 314

View from Seed

JANUARY 24, 2018

Fareed Mosavat is the product lead for Upgrades and Expansion at Slack, focused on revenue growth for Slack’s small business customers. Jessica is VP, Marketing at Notarize and Founder of Girl Capital, a network for aspiring female angel investors. She holds a degree in Psychology from Harvard University. Back to Top).

Operations 176

Operations Cofounder Technical Review Angel Investor 176

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. Build an investor presentation and summary. Like the business plan, a financial model is required as much for your own use as to impress Angel investors.

Angel Investor 179

Angel Investor Intellectual Property Elevator Pitch Angel Groups 179

Steve Blank

JANUARY 22, 2014

Angels & Crowdfunding : Coincident with the capital efficient movement came the current wave of angel investors, this time armed with the ability to collectively fund startups to the point of meaningful value creation on modest amounts of capital. This is true whether the company is concept stage or ramping revenue.

Early Stage 295

Early Stage Silicon Valley Oregon Technical Review 295