Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 9, 2019

With the advent and popularity of crowdfunding platforms, including Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as a winning alternative for funding your new venture, I find that many aspiring entrepreneurs are confused about the need to ever seek a professional angel investor. Consider the need for multiple rounds of funding.

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Funding Startup Platform Examples 119

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 12, 2014

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Startup 113

Startup Entrepreneur Funding Equity 113

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2018

the most counter-intuitive fund-raising advice you’ll ever get I’m about to offer you some fund-raising advice that flies directly in the face of what most conventional wisdom will tell you. Let me start out with my premise: “Data rooms are where fund-raising processes go to die.” Some people find this elitist?—?I It doesn’t.

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Funding Venture Capital Startup Email 336

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 20, 2018

Every entrepreneur wants to hear “yes” during the fund-raising process but I would argue that being too risk averse and not pushing hard enough and be willing to hear a “no” is what holds back many people from “yes.” Possibly offend and entrepreneur leading to reputation risk amongst other entrepreneurs.

Funding 189

Funding Software Review Entrepreneur Venture Capital 189

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2023

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. contributes more than $25 billion to fund 70,000 startups every year. Look to grants and strategic partners for seed funding. Marty Zwilling

Venture Capital 106

Venture Capital Angel Seed Funding Invest 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 10, 2018

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Funding 96

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. Entrepreneurs are inherently risk takers.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 21, 2023

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Startup 106

Startup Capital Equity Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 2, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. A target market is the group of customers that the startup plans to attract through marketing and sales their product or service. Target market. Sales/Marketing.

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Sales Customer Custom Outsource 102

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 25, 2016

One of the most frequent questions I get as a mentor to entrepreneurs is “How do I find the money to start my business?” If you have the urge to be an entrepreneur, I encourage you to think seriously about each of these, before you zero-in on one or two, and get totally discouraged if those don’t work for you.

Funding 107

Funding Startup Equity Examples 107

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

Gross Burn vs. Net Burn. Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Net burn is the amount of money you are losing per month. I often see companies burning $100,000 per month (net) looking to raise $6-8 million.

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Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 8, 2022

In reality, a simple Excel spreadsheet model customized around your assumptions can save you hours and avoid a wasted expense in validating alternative vendor and marketing decisions. Vendor costs are subject to change, customers are fickle, competitors come out of the woodwork and the economy can take a downturn. Marty Zwilling.

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Startup Pricing Sample Customer 147

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 12, 2020

Jeff Bezos is one of the world’s most admired entrepreneurs, primarily because of his humble style and his growth from a regular person background to a current net worth in the neighborhood of $200 billion dollars. It allows investors to come into alignment with customers. Focus relentlessly and passionately on the customer.

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Slides Customer Custom Satisfaction 137

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 18, 2014

As a mentor to startups and new entrepreneurs, I continue to hear the refrain that business plans are no longer required for a new startup, since investors never read them anyway. For aspiring entrepreneurs, or if your last startup failed, it’s all about standing out above the crowd of others like you. Executive summary glossy.

Entrepreneur 108

Entrepreneur Startup Writing Slides 108

Berkonomics

JUNE 8, 2017

[Email readers, continue here…] Bootstrapping: This term describes your ability to start a business with little investment and grow it using internally-generated funds. And even with the significant cost of credit card debt, many entrepreneurs aggressively use existing cards to finance a startup.

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Venture Capital Class Invest Equity 266

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 21, 2017

Being called a lifestyle entrepreneur should be a point of pride, not an insult. Of course, even lifestyle entrepreneurs want to be happy, and want their business to be “successful.” If you are living your passion, you want to interact with customers, and “touch and feel” the product every day. According to William R.

Entrepreneur 69

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Course 69

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2014

Most modern investors still look for a business model that embodies a gross margin over 50 percent and a net margin in the 20 percent range. A healthy business, ready to scale, has been doing this for a year or more, with an existing customer set generating a non-trivial and growing revenue stream.

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Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

Bockerstette, Main Street Venture Fund As I outlined last week, trophy angel investors are always looking for trophy entrepreneurs. In many areas, not enough entrepreneurs meet the criteria, so it’s still a buyer’s market. It consists of eight major criteria, which we call the “Eight P’s for Successful Funding”.

Funding 106

Funding Startup Entrepreneur Activity 106

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2012

Being called a lifestyle entrepreneur should be a point of pride, not an insult. Of course, even lifestyle entrepreneurs want to be happy, and want their business to be “successful.” If you are living your passion, you want to interact with customers, and “touch and feel” the product every day. Cobb and M.

Entrepreneur 96

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Course 96

TechCrunch LA

MAY 19, 2020

These are companies like the recent Y Combinator graduates Homestead and Rent the Backyard and United Dwelling, which has just raised $10 million in funding from investors including Lightspeed Venture Partners and Alpha Edison. “Garage conversions were a new concept for us,” Martin McCauley told Curbed Los Angeles.

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Los Angeles Startup Culver City .Net 191

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2020

In reality, a simple Excel spreadsheet model customized around your assumptions can save you hours and avoid a wasted expense in validating alternative vendor and marketing decisions. Vendor costs are subject to change, customers are fickle, competitors come out of the woodwork and the economy can take a downturn. Marty Zwilling.

Startup 123

Startup Pricing Sample Customer 123

InfoChachkie

JULY 18, 2011

Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham and Marcia Brown’s Stone Soup , the seemingly innocuous board game Monopoly has played a pivotal role in the edification of several generations of entrepreneurs. You must focus on constantly delivering value to your customers and ensure that you are paid for the value you deliver. Monopoly is no different.

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Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Paramount 216

InfoChachkie

APRIL 28, 2011

Many entrepreneurs encounter a similar dilemma. Thus, entrepreneurs must decide when to stop listening to the Sirens’ song of a quick buck and position their company to take advantage of long-term, sustainable business models. However, in the long run, entrepreneurs always benefit from delivering Maximum Utility for a fair price.

Entrepreneur 225

Entrepreneur SaaS Pricing Cloud Computing 225

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2019

For this morning's interview, with caught up with serial entrepreneur James Citron , the founder of Pledgeling (www.pledgeling.com), a startup which enables any business to help connect their business with social causes. As a serial entrepreneur, oftentimes I wasn't around. Did you get funding this time around for the new company?

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Software Review Mogreet Platform 113

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2016

I even prefer to fund entrepreneurs who have experience some level of set-backs in their careers or startups because I think it brings a humility to decision-making that I find healthy. Could leaders of society try to change the culture in ways that encourage acceptance of failure?

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Startup Press Blogging .Net 261

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Entrepreneurs who experience promising initial success also play a similar game. Nearly every successful entrepreneur is offered a relatively modest amount of money for their adVenture during its early days. Take Home Pay – All that matters is the amount of money you net, not the size of the initial offer.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Acquisition Pricing 124

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. You may have leverage when you DO need to fund raise. There is a healthy tension between profits & growth.

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Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

Entrepreneurs who experience promising initial success also play a similar game. Nearly every successful entrepreneur is offered a relatively modest amount of money for their adVenture during its early days. Take Home Pay – All that matters is the amount of money you net, not the size of the initial offer.

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Acquisition Pricing .Net 124

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2015

Most entrepreneurs have found by now one or more of the many popular crowdfunding sites , and have the name and contact information for at least one of the big venture capital firms. Each has met legal securities minimums for net worth and professionalism, to reduce the risk to entrepreneurs.

Angel 106

Angel Startup Venture Capital Seed Funding 106

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2019

Being called a lifestyle entrepreneur should be a point of pride, not an insult. Of course, even lifestyle entrepreneurs want to be happy, and want their business to be “successful.” If you are living your passion, you want to interact with customers, and “touch and feel” the product every day. According to William R.

Startup 77

Startup Equity Entrepreneur Course 77

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, saying “make me an offer,” or quoting an exorbitant number. Early customers and contracts in progress add value. Every customer contract and relationship needs to be monetized, even ones still in negotiation.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Patents Outsource Development 98

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 4, 2019

If you are looking for funding and customers for your new business, you need to identify your “unique selling proposition” (USP) right up front, in 30 seconds or less, to differentiate yourself in today’s information overload. Investor and customer attention spans are short, and both will write you off quickly.

.Net 73

.Net Examples Customer Custom 73

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

There were tons of young entrepreneurs showing their latest Web 2.0 I will quote a prominent, well-known entrepreneur whom I like and respect and who told me when he was raising money, “I don’t know how much I’m going to charge for my product so why should I create an artificial spreadsheet?&#. Here’s why.

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Web 2.0 Venture Capital Web Technical Review 334

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 14, 2015

Too many entrepreneurs tackle starting a business as a random walk into a business minefield, and they count on their street smarts, thick skin and pure determination to get them to their destinations alive. Funding is only one of the critical resources you need to start a business. Define success as it relates to this startup.

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Startup Metrics Resource Mentor 101

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2010

While entrepreneurs freely throw around the term “value proposition,” they rarely offer a thoughtful explanation for the “value” their business is providing and, more importantly, an understanding of who their real customer is and what valuable benefit their customer perceives they are receiving.

Startup 95

Startup .Net Customer Custom 95

socalTECH

MAY 30, 2012

One way is getting funding from your potential customers. That's the idea behind a new startup, Fundable , headed by serial entrepreneur Wil Schroter , which allows you to use rewards -- product, company schwag, an even equity -- as a tool to get your startup to the next stage. What's Fundable?

Startup 223

Startup Equity Venture Capital Ideas 223

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 25, 2011

A great recent example of this was a successful group of entrepreneurs who had created a company that will do $10-12 million in revenue at their system integration business (read: services business) in 2011 after having done $5 million or so in 2010 and $2-3 million in 2009. And stop effing around trying to create a product company.&#.

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Services Venture Capital IP Startup 332