Remove Company Remove Funding Remove Invest Remove Mentor
article thumbnail

Every Startup Goes Through Distinctive Funding Phases

Startup Professionals Musings

Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million-dollar investment before they even have a business plan. It’s helpful to think of startups as proceeding through several stages, which I have defined a long time ago from a funding perspective. Funding or rollout stage. Growth and exit stage.

Startup 122
article thumbnail

5 Venture Periods Call For Unique Funding Strategies

Startup Professionals Musings

Thus your startup maturity and growth stage is the primary key to success with potential funding sources. Venture capital firms look for the most mature companies they can find, Angel investors typically deal a tier lower, while friends and family are most likely to help you get started. Congratulations!

Funding 125
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

5 Startup Funding Models That Depend On The Consumer

Startup Professionals Musings

Even if you ignore all the hype around crowdfunding, there can be no doubt that it is a real alternative for entrepreneurs to achieve visibility and funding today. Of course, there are thousands of other companies that don’t achieve their minimum goal, requiring all contributions to be returned. Donation good-cause model. In the U.S.,

Funding 141
article thumbnail

Kara Nortman Was Just Promoted to Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures. Here’s What it All Means

Both Sides of the Table

I’ve become fond of saying “if I had a dollar for every person who told me just how much they loooooved Kara Nortman, I’d have a 10x fund.” Kara said “no” because she wanted to start her own company, which she did and I backed. and of course a relentless pursuit of helping founders succeed. So What Does All This Mean? I’m only 52!

article thumbnail

6 Tips On Where And When To Look For Startup Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

They don’t realize that according to statistics from Startup.co , almost 60 percent are funded with personal savings and credit, and another 25 percent get their money from friends and family. That leaves only about fifteen percent that actually get their funding from investors, through crowdfunding, banks, angels, and venture capitalists.

Funding 173
article thumbnail

Upfront Ventures Adds Hamet Watt as New Investment Partner

Both Sides of the Table

In other news we announced the closing of $61 million in funding at Maker Studios , which I’ll talk publicly about soon. But as sweet as that success has been (we invested pre-revenue in a small team) today my even more important news was the further expansion of our partner ranks. Mark, why wouldn’t you fund him?

Invest 340
article thumbnail

Some Reflections on VC Investment Decisions

Both Sides of the Table

I started in 2007 with a thesis that my primary investment decision would be about the team (70%) and only afterward about the market opportunity (30%). Today we’re in a world where 10 accelerators are bombarding you with emails to meet their 10-15 companies. So that means 2-3 good investments a year and we are doing well.