The Wall Street Journal has a story out today that says “Web Startups Hit Cash Crunch.” There has been a fair bit of reaction in the tech blogs and I thought I’d toss into the discussion some things we are seeing: 1) There are so many startups out there raising money. I don’t think this is a bad thing. It’s a good thing. Entrepreneurship is in vogue. Innovators are innovating. Makers are making. But I cannot remember a time when we have gotten more inbound traffic. It is not just coming from entrepreneurs. It is coming from angels, seed investors, VCs, lawyers, accountants, friends, aunts, un
. . . → Read More: Angel Investors and Startups — A VC Perspective
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It’s really easy to find information about raising money from angel investors or VCs, but many people don’t think about another important way to fund your startup: raising money from family and friends. I’ve raised money from friends and family twice and want to share what I’ve learned so that you can raise money from your friends and family and still be able to attend your family reunions. Raising money from friends and family can be easier and less complicated than raising money from professional investors, but is not without drawbacks. There are certainly pros and cons to raising money fro Cap Tables (short for capitalization tables) are spreadsheets that show how much everyone owns of the company. You can get a stockholder ledger from your lawyer that will list all the stockholders and show how many shares or options they have, but I don’t consider that a cap table. For the past 25 years, I’ve used a simple form, mostly given to me by the partners I worked for when I first entered the venture capital business in the mid-80s, but with a few modifications by me over the years. Last night I put together a public read-only google spreadsheet that shows you a basic cap table in t (Although this orignal post was written about VC diversification, the points are equally valid for Angels.) Question: How do VCs mitigate risk in their investment portfolios? Are VCs simply looking to diversify the type and stage of companies in which they invest, or do they employ other financial hedging strategies? I’m not aware of VCs using classic financial hedging strategies. In many cases, they are prohibited from doing this by their LP agreements and/or investment documents in the companies when they make an investment. While I’m sure there are some folks that Today, I’m talking with David Rose, who founded AngelSoft, now , in 2004. Gust provides a platform where angel investors and entrepreneurs can connect and discuss ventures. Originally created with angel investors’ needs in mind, Gust now has more than 750 investment organizations worldwide using its platform to manage deal flow and other day-to-day tasks. Over 125,000 startups have, through Gust, worked with more than 35,000 individual investors on their ventures. The company is based in New York City, has a development office in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and a European office in Pa Here is an example of a great entrepreneur knowing how to take his company to the next level, and increasing the value of his stock. Lesson: founders need to not let their egos get in the way of accelerating the company growth. I have thought a lot about the issue of how to stimulate a region’s entrepreneurship over the years. Today, at the roundtable, we had a discussion around the topic, especially in the context of specific geographies that were represented at the session: Dublin, Ireland, and Kolkata, India. Today, building Internet businesses, or businesses that are primarily marketed through the Internet, is viable for entrepreneurs all over the world. It is no longer Silicon Valley’s exclusive domain. So, there is no real reason why places like Dublin or Kolkata cannot create significant entrepreneurial energ There’s certainly no shortage of successful young entrepreneurs in business today. We hear daily of fast growing startups from New York City to Silicon Valley, headed by CEOs such as Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Mason and Tim O’Shaughnessy. These creative minds have demonstrated the power of youthful tenacity and innovation, combined with a sharp eye for business. Yet, in 2010, entrepreneurs aged 35 to 54 were responsible for over 50 percent of total new entrepreneurship activity in the U.S, according to the . Individuals aged 55 to 64 also made their mark, representing 22.9 percent of new entrepreneurs in 2010, compared I’ve started three companies, and now I’m an angel investor. So I’ve been on both sides of the table. There are lots of good articles out there about pitching, and surely everyone who pitches me has read some of them. Still, a few problems appear over and over again. If you’ve ever had to sort through resumes and cover letters, you’ve seen this effect: People tend to have the same misconceptions and therefore make the same mistakes. There are many items useful to entrepreneurs on the site including:
. . . → Read More: Orrick – Start-Up Tool Kit – Term Sheet Creator – Start-Up Forms Library |
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