Feld Thoughts

OCTOBER 15, 2013

When David Cohen and I came up with the idea for the Global Accelerator Network (GAN) in 2010, we counted roughly 100 accelerator programs around the US that were founded following the Techstars model. From that initial outreach, 16 high quality accelerator programs joined us to launch the network. Others are not.

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Global Networking United States Seed Money 179

View from Seed

AUGUST 16, 2016

When thinking about how much seed capital to raise, we need a more sophisticated lens than just the old rule of thumb of “18 months of runway.” But before you get that far, there is one additional factor to consider to determine the right amount of seed capital to raise: an honest reflection of your fundraising ability.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Burn Rate Seed Stage Networking 120

Gust

SEPTEMBER 27, 2014

There’s no use banging your head against a VC’s door with a social network venture if they only invest in biotech companies. While VCs are the toughest nut to crack, there are many other (often better) sources of seed capital that may be available to you. Gust takes advantage of the cloud, and you should, too.

Angel Groups 159

Angel Groups Elevator Pitch Software Review Deal Flow 159

Hunter Walker

NOVEMBER 16, 2020

So I recently re-shared a 2019 blog post where I’d basically advised founders who’ve raised seed capital to worry less about “how will I raise the next round” and more about “how will I execute my plan?” These microwave plate covers , SF’s Dandelion Chocolate , and Miley Cyrus’ Midnight Sky live performance.

Founder 134

Founder Cofounder Metrics Technical Review 134

View from Seed

MARCH 24, 2021

Magic Graph: How Much Seed Capital Should You Raise? “At some point, an entrepreneur begins to exhaust her network, and her network’s network, and the incremental hours devoted to fundraising will begin to yield less capital raised than the previous.” ” (Lee Hower).

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Seed Stage Hiring IPO Analytics 177

View from Seed

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

However, two people I’ve met over the last couple of days are adamant that my network is strong enough to go a little earlier. They also said it’s best to raise a seed (if you can) just before the launch so that you aren’t as dependent on the immediate results/traction and you can sell the vision a bit more.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Dilution Networking 120

View from Seed

MAY 5, 2015

Members will have different expertise, relationship networks, and personalities. At the seed round or Series A stage, you may have a very small, informal board of a couple co-founders and one investor or perhaps four or five total individuals at most. Startup boards are no different.

Seed Capital 120

Seed Capital Seed Stage Cofounder Founder 120

mashable.com

NOVEMBER 3, 2010

Ted Serbinski: Angel investor Ted Serbinski sold his startup MothersClick to Lifetime in 2008 and joined the cable network as CTO of the ParentsClick Network. The group also hosts its annual QPrize competition, awarding winners with $750,000 in seed funding.

Angel Investor 80

Angel Investor Startup San Francisco Social Media 80

Startup Lessons Learned

AUGUST 26, 2009

And they expose the startups to a vast network of mentors, none of whom get paid for their involvement. Provide early seed capital, and be the ones to make those introductions. They dont invest a lot of money; just enough to keep them going through the summer. Some of the mentors are based in Boulder, but many are not.

San Francisco 113

San Francisco Silicon Valley Startup Lean 113

Up and Running

AUGUST 12, 2014

” Not only is this true due to more widespread access to resources like the internet, MBA and business programs, mentors, and various networks; its also easier to find investors for a variety of projects, and easier to source talent from around the globe.

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Venture Capital Founder Angel Investor North America 90

David Teten

MAY 7, 2019

Do you wish there was a product to help companies “Get things done” by leveraging your own employees, your employees’ networks, and more broadly other influencers around you? . Once we’ve executed all the steps above, we go to VCs and raise seed capital of $1-2m. If the answer is yes to any of these, keep reading. Sounds great!

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

David Teten

JULY 10, 2019

Looking 4 entrepreneurial product mgr/biz-dev killer 4 a network-based service. Do you have a great team at your seed startup, but your product just isn’t working? We want to use our proprietary technology and network to tap the relevant players to take the relevant steps forward; and identify, document, and disseminate best practices.

America 60

America Technical Review Advisory Board Due Diligence 60

Austin Startup

FEBRUARY 19, 2019

CargoX has developed a decentralized platform based on the Ethereum network, and their Blockchain Document Transaction System (BDTS) technology, and it has a pipeline of future products for the supply chain industry?—?among and we are already building a strong network of partners and customers. How and when did your team come together?

Slovenia 62

Slovenia Technical Review Startup Seed Capital 62

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

In reality the “private capital market” now really consists of three distinct markets: Seed capital (the start), Venture capital (scale or bust) and Growth Capital (private IPOs). That is why you’ve seen so many VC firms that only 20 years ago have $150 million funds raise $ billion growth vehicle.

Venture Capital 292

Venture Capital IPO Mezzanine Early Stage 292

YoungUpstarts

SEPTEMBER 13, 2011

So the partners put together S$200,000 as seed capital and finally started Cake Over Heels in May this year. “ Food Network actually approached me when I was in Canada,&# Ang grins shyly. The things, he admits, he’s really bad at. The biggest challenge right now in growing the business is in marketing, Ang reveals.

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Singapore Canada Seed Capital Advertising 234

YoungUpstarts

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Business support network. A new entrepreneurial venture requires a great deal of assistance in terms of headhunting, business coaching, venture capital etc. As an entrepreneur, you need to identify and build this support network of allied businesses, consultants, coaches etc. and put them to good use.

Vietnam 171

Vietnam Venture Capital Seed Capital Exit Strategy 171

View from Seed

DECEMBER 6, 2018

With the atomization of seed and an increasing number of rounds prior to Series A (pre-seed, seed, super-seed, etc.), Typically, one that is orthogonal to the Founders’ network that wouldn’t have surfaced otherwise. there often isn’t one seminal round to announce. Always be fundraising.

Seed Stage 201

Seed Stage Stealth Seed Capital Later Stage 201

SoCal CTO

NOVEMBER 5, 2009

It was a great conversation and I thought it would be a good idea to do some visible networking with Aaron to get to know him better. A few years ago “venture capital” was a revenue model. What do you think of the concepts of visible networking ? and online business networking ? Tell me a bit about your background.

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Southern California Startup SEO 150

The Startup Magazine

MAY 7, 2024

Lastly, note that using free crowdfunding sites provides an excellent cost-effective solution compared to seed capital or personal loans with high-interest rates. It encourages users to form social networks around shared values and offers tools for petitions, pledges, surveys to foster digital activism.

Campaign 148

Campaign Seed Capital Social Network Global 148

Feld Thoughts

JULY 29, 2011

Finance Friday’s gets off the ground with today’s post by introducing you to an imaginary startup, the entrepreneurs that we’ll being following throughout the series, and their first challenges: splitting up the founders’ equity and addressing the case where one of the founders provides the initial seed capital for the business.

Equity 137

Equity Finance Denver Pre-Money Valuation 137

The Startup Magazine

NOVEMBER 28, 2018

Entrepreneurs have to start with seed capital. Lack Of Networking. Networking opportunities are simply not available. This only happens in time and when you are actively networking. Money is necessary to rent premises, hire staff, lease equipment or more. Younger entrepreneurs do not have the funds that they need.

Entrepreneur 97

Entrepreneur Seed Capital Finance Networking 97

Up and Running

MAY 2, 2014

I learned this lesson when I raised the first round of seed capital for my startup PopInShop , an online platform that connects brands and boutiques to facilitate short-term, cross-promotional shopping events. Not coincidentally, this is also why networking is so important to success in business.) Get friendly.

Angel Investor 146

Angel Investor Seed Capital Venture Capital Early Stage 146

Feld Thoughts

AUGUST 12, 2011

This is where developing a network of trusted and qualified mentors comes in handy. While they’ve been hard at work on their product, they’ve also incorporated the company, now named SayAhh (thanks Mac!) as a C-Corp in Delaware. How do you know what matters most when?

Balance Sheet 136

Balance Sheet Forecast Cap Table Early Stage 136

Haystack

AUGUST 18, 2019

They’ve all accepted that this is a new world of capital abundance and that the pistons driving the global economy are technology and network effects. Back in 2017, Fred Wilson noted the strategic importance of the seed stage , writing: Seed is really hard. You lose way more than you win.

Seed Stage 108

Seed Stage Cap Table Early Stage Malaysia 108

View from Seed

OCTOBER 22, 2015

One of the things we frequently discuss with founders is how to interpret and manage their dialogue with VCs when raising capital. We’ve written before on how to research partners , how to pitch the right investor at a given firm, and how to raise seed capital , generally speaking.

Term Sheet 120

Term Sheet Due Diligence Seed Stage Seed Capital 120

Growthink Blog

MAY 23, 2011

Through connections, or through a chance meeting at a networking or social event, an angel investor hears the entrepreneur's story, likes them and their technology, and on the spot, writes a check to provide the company with its first outside financing.

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Angel Investor Venture Capital Sweat Equity Cram Down 112

VC Cafe

APRIL 23, 2012

Many of these companies started strong with venture capital backing, but failed to secure enough clients to make their products profitable. Now, with the Internet and wireless networking more available than ever, it has become much cheaper to build integrated technologies and easier to attract students or schools.

Venture Capital 96

Venture Capital Michigan Seed Capital Programming 96

The Startup Lawyer

OCTOBER 28, 2010

If someone wants you to help your startup get seed capital only if they get a cut, you need to run far away. You may think raising capital will take up an obscene amount of time at your startup (it does) and/or you don’t know any investors (you probably don’t), but your startup can not outsource or delegate this task.

Finder 72

Finder Private Placement SEC Seed Capital 72

thebarefootvc

MARCH 8, 2012

While the seed capital gap has closed, there are still only a handful of venture capital firms here in NYC investing in the crucial Series A/B rounds. In contrast, many Silicon Valley funds are large with much capital to put to work (which is why we are seeing them lead NYC deals at these stages).

Silicon Valley 69

Silicon Valley Ghana Venture Capital India 69

Steve Blank

JULY 20, 2015

Today he is the founder of M34 Capital , a seed capital fund that focuses on early-stage projects being spun out of academic and corporate research labs. Listen to my entire interview with Errol: If you can’t hear the clip, click here. We brought on more schools. ….

Government 120

Government Channel Southern California Lean 120

Business Plan Blog

JANUARY 2, 2014

Meanwhile, Angel groups can benefit from gathering additional partners and co-investors, recruiting and engaging new local angers, seeing new deal flow, and giving first look to a broader network of accredited investors to help close out portfolio deals. Download our free Raising Capital from Angel Investors eBook. Want To Learn More?

Angel Groups 51

Angel Groups Accredited Investor Angel Investor Due Diligence 51

David Cohen

JUNE 16, 2015

It’s all fueled by an incredible global network of people on a mission to inspire, educate, and empower individuals and communities through entrepreneurship. Techstars was helping the ones that were building businesses by growing their networks, providing intense mentorship, attracting seed capital, and scaling up through additional funding.

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Mongolia Chile New Zealand Startup 48

Haystack

NOVEMBER 24, 2018

1/ A Pre-Seed Reminder: According to Crunchbase, PlanGrid was founded and went through Y Combinator in 2012. The company only raised a bit over $1M as seed capital. Notable seed funds like SV Angel and Initialized backed the company early, and of course Sequoia led a large Series A in PlanGrid a few years after YC.

Acquisition 62

Acquisition Artificial Inteligence Balance Sheet Cofounder 62

Austin Startup

OCTOBER 12, 2018

This full day of insightful panels, interactive workshops, and networking is presented by Capital Factory and The Center of Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Texas. Inclusive Innovation Summit Latinx Tech Summit?—?Saturday,

Cofounder 48

Cofounder Texas Dallas Seed Capital 48

Reid Hoffman

DECEMBER 6, 2019

As part of connecting with local Argentinian entrepreneurs and part of the amazing Endeavor networks here and South America, Wences and I recorded a podcast to share what I and Silicon Valley can learn from the robust entrepreneurial ecosystem down here. My quintessential teacher here is Wences.

Argentina 36

Argentina Global Silicon Valley South America 36

Campus Entrepreneurship

NOVEMBER 19, 2010

Lack of seed capital (home equity lines of credit, friends/family) is a major problem. (Is Newly opened companies created a seasonally adjusted total of 2.6 The article highlights some bootstrapping entrepreneurs who are, by necessity, taking longer to grow their new ventures.

Bootstrapping 31

Bootstrapping Seed Capital Lean Global 31

Scott Edward Walker

SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

If you’re an entrepreneur looking for seed capital, but don’t know any sophisticated angel investors, you need to hustle and build relationships in order to get “warm” introductions. When will I get my first dividend check?”, Tip #2: If You Don’t Know Any Sophisticated Angels, Hustle and Build Relationships.

Preferred Stock 45

Preferred Stock Angel Investor Entrepreneur Common Stock 45