BLOG STARTUPS, VENTURE AND THE TECH BUSINESS
Posts Tagged ‘Fundraising’
March 16 2010
by Scott Johnson
Top 5 Presentation Mistakes
The presentations I see, for the most part, get a B. Not failing, but noticeably short of excellent. Only once in a blue moon do I encounter an A. It is surprising to me that I don’t see more “A” presentations because:
The presenters are high achievers who got A’s in engineering classes at prestigious universities ...
February 25 2010
by John Backus
VC Tips for Entrepreneurs: Thoughts About Raising Money
Most entrepreneurs raise money to help their businesses get off the ground. Whether from angels or venture capitalists, I see most entrepreneurs making the same mistake. They raise money when they “have to.” There is a better way. With some advance planning, you can raise money, easier, at certain moments in time. Take advantage of ...
February 12 2010
by Todd Hixon
Pay to Pitch?
Should entrepreneurs pay third parties to help raise money? This is a perennial question in the venture world. It comes down to two things:
Will the investment in outside help pay off?
Will investors see paying for help as a negative factor?
There are different kinds of fund-raising help. The main ones are: “investment ...
February 9 2010
by Todd Hixon
The Seduction of Venture Debt
Summon up your picture of a VC: insouciant air, expensive casual clothes, youthful with a touch of gray for gravitas, cruising the 101 in a Porsche, thinking about moving up to a Tesla. Does this guy have a sub-prime mortgage? No way, you think! But probably he does, not on his house but on his ...
January 11 2010
by Scott Johnson
Follow-on Capital
I see seed stage investing happening all around me. Angels appear to me to be very active as individuals although I have nothing but anecdotal data to support that. Dedicated funds doing seed investing are gaining traction with LPs who want their piece of the next super-deal. We at NAV do the occasional seed deal, ...
November 11 2009
by John Backus
Venture Capital: 5 tips on how to navigate the VC gauntlet
Early-Stage venture capital firms see every imaginable type of business idea. Since we are the first institutional fundraising “gate” that entrepreneurs have to pass through, the variety of business plans which we see fill the spectrum from awful to terrific.
Over the years I have seen lots of bad ideas: Bad ideas for big businesses. Bad ...
September 15 2009
by Todd Hixon
Tips For A Good First Pitch
You are setting out to raise the first financing round for your start-up business. You sit down to draft a pitch. What should it say? [We’re early stage investors, so these ideas are geared to the companies we see, which are typically raising their first round of investment from professional (“institutional”) investors.]
Let’s start with first ...
September 11 2009
by Thanasis Delistathis
In search of the next “Rocket Ship”
How long does it take promising young startups with large potential markets to scale to $50MM? Longer than you might think if you looked at the projections of the average startup that comes through our door.
An article in the Wall Street Journal Blogs online discusses how long it took many well known public companies to ...
July 14 2009
by Todd Hixon
What The Financial Crisis Means For Entrepreneurs, Part 2: Course of Action
Part 1 painted a grim picture of the current state of entrepreneurial finance: reduced revenue for most companies, longer exit horizons, lower exit values, less venture money available from fewer funds, tough to raise follow-on rounds, and general uncertainty as the venture industry restructures. While revenues and exits should improve over the next several years ...
July 12 2009
by Todd Hixon
What the financial crisis means for entrepreneurs. Part 1: The Problem
The 2008 financial crisis had, at first, relatively mild impact on entrepreneurs. Ground zero for the crisis was the credit markets, but thankfully, start-ups seldom use credit. The economy began to slow but had substantial momentum through the end of 2008. The venture funds that fund start-ups had capital commitments that have been honored in ...
