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

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

MAY 8, 2022

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. That’s not an attractive statistic if you crave control and power. Recognize that the best people don’t work for free.

Startup 130

Startup USC Entrepreneur Statistics 130

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2021

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Check competitor numbers and industry average statistics to get you in the right range. Calculate investment amounts and timing.

Startup 147

Startup Pricing Sales Statistics 147

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 4, 2015

Most aspiring entrepreneurs understand that you can’t build a business if you won’t commit to delivering a product or service, but many are hesitant or refuse to commit to any financial forecasts. Check competitor numbers and industry average statistics to get you in the right range. entrepreneur financial forecast investor startup'

Entrepreneur 102

Entrepreneur Startup Pricing Sales 102

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 14, 2014

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. That’s not an attractive statistic if you crave control and power. business dilemma entrepreneur founder Noam Wasserman'

Entrepreneur 107

Entrepreneur Statistics Equity Satisfaction 107

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 19, 2017

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. That’s not an attractive statistic if you crave control and power. The dilemma is that these goals are usually mutually exclusive.

Entrepreneur 57

Entrepreneur USC Statistics Equity 57

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2016

Billionaire entrepreneur and "Shark Tank" co-host Mark Cuban is an outspoken proponent of the all-in early approach, and has made it clear that he gives no credibility and low odds to founders seeking funding who have not fully committed their time and efforts to their cause. The early entrepreneur lifestyle is not much fun.

Entrepreneur 63

Entrepreneur Startup Satisfaction News 63

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 19, 2018

As an advisor to young entrepreneurs, I find that many are a bit naïve about how the investment process really works. In my first working session with this entrepreneur, I suggested ways to break this request into stages or tranches, based on showing traction, with the first amount in a more affordable range of $50 thousand or less.

Tips 86

Tips Funding Startup Entrepreneur 86

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 10, 2019

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup founders quandaries in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. That’s not an attractive statistic if you crave control and power. Recognize that the best people don’t work for free.

Startup 97

Startup USC Entrepreneur Statistics 97

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 5, 2015

I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Asking for early-stage money before you have customers and revenue will likely kill your credibility with real investors. Most investors won’t touch a first-time entrepreneur at this stage.

Funding 104

Funding Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding 104

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

But like the company Kyriba, where we recently sold our position at above $1 billion, it took time until the revenue exceeded $100 million recurring and then the industry really competed to back this amazing company since it had scale, defensible technology and long-term, committed customers. VCs have different views and strategies on this.

Venture Capital 223

Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

Steve Reich

MARCH 30, 2012

Let me give you a few examples: SwingbySwing Golf created an iPhone/Android app that lets golfers use the GPS in their phone to measure distance to the hole and track statistics. One of the founders wrote a Python script that sent out custom emails to a list they had developed. Three full time developers and no marketing spend.

Incubator 91

Incubator Web Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 91

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

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. Searching LinkedIn, for example, is a must for contemporary entrepreneurs. Identify customer executives who need your solution.

Startup 61

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Funding 61

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2017

As an angel investor and business advisor on new ventures, I expect to see five-year financial projections from every entrepreneur. Does this entrepreneur understand the basics of business costs in the selected business domain, growth dynamics, and the competitive environment? Set a target growth and market penetration rate.

Pricing 57

Pricing Startup Entrepreneur Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 19, 2013

Most entrepreneurs struggle with many startup Founders dilemmas in building their business, and these key dilemmas are probably the biggest source of pain and failure for the entrepreneur lifestyle. That’s not an attractive statistic if you crave control and power. entrepreneur startup founder dilemmas business'

Startup 98

Startup Entrepreneur Statistics Equity 98

socalTECH

MARCH 31, 2014

Bitvore is based in Irvine, and is backed by serial entrepreneur Yuri Pikover, as well as other angels. 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.

Orange County 245

Orange County Startup News IBM 245

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

One of the few local funds to recently raise a fund is TVC Capital (www.tvccapital.com), which just closed TVC Capital II, a $75 million growth equity and buyout fund. Jeb Spencer: We consider ourselves a private equity firm. One issue has been a difficulty by indigenous funds to raise their own capital from their limited partners.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

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

OCTOBER 14, 2016

What every entrepreneur is asking me these days, is “How do I get to be a unicorn?” 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. Keep working on increasing the momentum.

Company 100

Company Companies Startup Statistics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 30, 2012

If you are an entrepreneur starting a business for the first time, I recommend that you find a product concept that is already accepted and improve on it, rather than tackling that ultimate disruptive technology. Market research is more meaningful if there is already a market and real customers. Easier to find investors.

Patents 84

Patents Startup Statistics Course 84

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 26, 2011

If you are an entrepreneur starting a business for the first time, I recommend that you find a product concept that is already accepted and improve on it, rather than tackling that ultimate disruptive technology. Market research is more meaningful if there is already a market and real customers. Easier to find investors.

Startup 91

Startup Patents Statistics Course 91

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 professor plotted data and showed us statistically that most people buy stocks when they are booming (e.g. The best MBA class I took was an investment strategy class. VC’s are not immune to this phenomenon.

Venture Capital 263

Venture Capital Startup Invest Funding 263

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

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2016

We try to hire people who we believe will be upfront and respectful of entrepreneurs and know that it’s far easier to judge ones decisions on the outside than it actually is to have to make the tough decisions inside of a startup every day. You don’t have unlimited equity to dole out. You can’t make everybody an SVP.

Startup 150

Startup Coach Course Invest 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 25, 2020

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.

Startup 150

Startup Technical Review Equity Statistics 150

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

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

OCTOBER 26, 2010

In case you think that all of these are employed by big companies, listen to these statistics: According to an article in U.S. How can you beat finding someone who has been there and done that, able to mentor Gen-Y, has lots of connections to people in your industry, and is often willing to work for equity alone? Customer Service.

Mentor 75

Mentor Statistics High Tech Demand 75