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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.

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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. My invention and prototype works, but I need funding to continue.” They call first investments at this stage the “A-round,” and often follow with a B-round through G-round. Congratulations!

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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. Equity investing is very risky, but huge returns are possible if you pick the next Facebook, but failure means your entire investment is lost. In the U.S.,

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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.

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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?

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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.” Our industry needs more female leaders and they shouldn’t have to all quit their respective firms and raise their own funds to get a shot at running things. So What Does All This Mean? I’m only 52!

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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%). But they are also a tax on your time with portfolio companies, looking for new investments, running your shop and honestly they are a tax on your family life.