Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 22, 2020

One of the biggest myths I have found in the entrepreneur community is that every startup needs one or more outside investors for credibility and success, and perhaps is even entitled to at least one. Draw up a list of the best prospects, and put together your best story for follow-up. But don’t wait for them to contact you.

Funding 173

Funding Tips Startup Statistics 173

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 6, 2023

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. According to more recent statistics , fewer than a third of all crowdfunding operations end up being successful, and the rest have to return anything they do collect.

Equity 80

Equity Platform Entrepreneur Statistics 80

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 25, 2023

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Equity investments are not loans, so there is no loan payback period or interest payments. Find a private equity firm or friendly individual.

Technical Review 105

Technical Review Equity Invest Startup 105

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 29, 2018

According to statistics by Fundly , crowdfunding contributed $34 billion in funding last year around the world, including peer-to-peer lending. Yet crowdfunding is no panacea for hungry entrepreneurs and startups. In fact, there are many types of crowdfunding, including donations, reward, pre-orders, loans, and equity.

Equity 72

Equity Entrepreneur Statistics Funding 72

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2021

Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. The average amount per startup has been $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment.

Funding 138

Funding Startup Equity Invest 138

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 27, 2016

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Equity investments are not loans, so there is no loan payback period or interest payments. Find a private equity firm or friendly individual.

Equity 55

Equity Startup Technical Review Statistics 55

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2023

One of the biggest myths I have found in the entrepreneur community is that every startup needs one or more outside investors for credibility and success, and perhaps is even entitled to at least one. Draw up a list of the best prospects, and put together your best story for follow-up. But don’t wait for them to contact you.

Statistics 98

Statistics Entrepreneur Funding Social Media 98

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2015

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Thus investing in startups should always be approached as a low odds game.

Startup 106

Startup Angel .Net Entrepreneur 106

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 12, 2014

The last thing a new entrepreneur wants to think about for a new startup is how it will end. Yet one of the first things a potential equity investor asks about is your exit strategy. Equity investments are not loans, so there is no loan payback period or interest payments. Find a private equity firm or friendly individual.

Entrepreneur 115

Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review Equity 115

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

Crowdfunding is rapidly becoming the major source of funding for seed-stage startups. According to recent statistics , there are already over 500 website crowdfunding platforms, such as Kickstarter , available; and over $5 billion was raised this way last year. A micro venture capital firm. A “genesis” venture capital round.

Funding 104

Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 3, 2016

According to recent statistics from the International Business Innovation Association ( InBIA ), there are about 7,000 business incubators and accelerators worldwide, with over 90 percent being non-profit and focused on incubator programs for community economic development. Costs, returns in equity and funding access.

Incubator 58

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Equity 58

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I had just left Salesforce.com where I was VP, Products, after they had acquired my second startup. Just as I was getting the swing of things the world shifted beneath my feet and the stock market went into a free fall and venture capital all but shut down for nearly a year. Accel led the B, Morgan Stanley the C and now HIG the D.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 1, 2015

Image via Flickr by Jupiter Labs Many first-time entrepreneurs find themselves unable to bootstrap their startups, and also unable to find early funding at the venture capital level or even with angel investors. The average amount per startup was $23,000, usually in the form of a convertible loan, rather than an equity investment.

Entrepreneur 106

Entrepreneur Startup Equity Invest 106

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2016

Based on some good estimates of how many new ventures have been started in the last five years, the statistical odds of any individual startup making it to this level are less than one in a million. When top tier investors compete for a piece of the action, the price can go up exponentially.

Company 100

Company Companies Startup Statistics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 13, 2016

One of the biggest myths I have found in the entrepreneur community is that every startup needs one or more outside investors for credibility and success, and perhaps is even entitled to at least one. Draw up a list of the best prospects, and put together your best story for follow-up. But don’t wait for them to contact you.

Startup 61

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Funding 61

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

Our system will go off and watch those things for you, trend them over time, do statistical analysis on them, or you can use it as a very advanced news gathering system, which is what we''re doing with it today for Wall Street. Jeff Curie: I''ve been a startup guy here in Orange County for a long time. Why did you start in that market?

Orange County 245

Orange County Startup News IBM 245

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 8, 2016

One of the myths I often hear as an advisor to many entrepreneurs is that their lifestyle would somehow be better if they could more easily find other people’s money to build their startup. Most entrepreneurs never forget for a moment that having investors means owing money, even if they can legally argue that equity is not debt.

Funding 57

Funding Startup Satisfaction Entrepreneur 57

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 9, 2014

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). Thus investing in startups should always be approached as a low odds game.

Invest 111

Invest Angel Funding Startup 111

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2016

There seems to be a big debate these days about the best approach to starting a new business. Some argue the only way to start is to drop everything and jump in with both feet, while others recommend an overlapped approach to the lifestyle, including not quitting your day job until you have revenue and a proven business model.

Entrepreneur 63

Entrepreneur Startup Satisfaction News 63

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2015

Thus, financial projections for up to five years are a necessary element in every business plan. Per the words of an old country song, “if you don’t know where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere else.” If you are losing money on every unit, it’s hard to make it up in volume. Forecast sales-volume expectations.

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Startup Pricing Sales 102

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 20, 2016

With the advent and growth of crowdfunding over the past few years, many entrepreneurs have predicted the demise of those demanding angel investment groups and venture capital organizations. At least ten online portals are already gearing up to help regular people buy startup equity, without abiding by accredited investor rules.

Equity 54

Equity Platform Entrepreneur Demand 54

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

TechZulu met with Hale Boggs, from Manatt Digital Media, and discussed Manatt Digital Media and the future of LA’s startup scene. TechZulu: Let’s start with an easy question. How is the LA startup scene? With the ability to get companies up and going with lesser capital needs means you can grow quickly.

Los Angeles 84

Los Angeles Media Invest Startup 84

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

With these, if you can paint a positive picture for your new venture, I assure you that investors will sit up and take notice, and you will also know how to drive yourself and your team: Determine your gross margin on sales. If you lose money on every unit, you won’t make it up in volume. Project unit-volume and price levels.

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

socalTECH

MARCH 10, 2010

Robin's latest startup is Internships.com (www.internships.com), an online site focused on aggregating internship opportunities and providing resources to potential interns. We spoke to Robin about the new startup, his executive team, as well as his angel investing activity here. How did you decide to start Internships.com?

Startup 223

Startup Content Sites CTO Coach 223

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 29, 2009

But any entrepreneurs raising capital should keep in mind that this opening of the markets could possibly be temporary. The rest of this post series deals with the reasons why VC froze up in the first place, why investments have heated up recently and why the future of VC funding at the current pace is not certain.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

Having time to think about “leadership” at most startups feels like a luxury. The reality of most startups is about survival. If people don’t know the mission there is no way to achieve the objective and you end up with a team pulling in 100 different directions – even if only by small amounts.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 12, 2010

You folks are just that awesome that we try and hook our readers up whenever we can so you are Welcome! Eric Ries is the author of the blog Startup Lessons Learned and the lean startup methodology. Dave McClure is a Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur, startup investor, and blogger. Twiistup 007 Speaker List: Peter Guber.

Twiistup 40

Twiistup Riot Games UCLA Media 40