Yesterday I wrote about how the size of seed investments impacts the likelihood of raising a Series A round. The data shows that raising a seed round under $300k gives you a very small chance of raising a Series A. I’ve always thought that small seed rounds are risky, because it doesn’t give you enough […]
Size Matters in Seed Investments
Tomasz Tunguz has done a great analysis of the likelihood of follow on financing based on the size of your seed round. You need to check it out, and just read his blog in general, it’s awesome. What Tomasz has found from analyzing thousands of deals (from Crunchbase) is that there’s only a 12% chance […]
Want to Raise Money? Ask for Advice
When you start raising money for your startup, people will tell you, “If you want advice, ask for money. If you want money, ask for advice.” You might dismiss this as generic, cookie-cutter advice, but there’s definitely some truth to it, particularly the second part. If you want money, ask for advice. Recently, I was […]
Raising Capital and Lying
It should go without saying: don’t lie when raising capital. And yet in the last few months I’ve been party to a handful of incidents that suggest otherwise. Without naming names, I’ve seen three lies: Lying at Demo Day. I know Demo Days for accelerators are meant to be big shows and you’ve gotta find […]
Lean Startup Versus Raising Capital
Lean Startup is about experimentation and learning. It’s about being intellectually honest and methodical in your approach. It’s about going slow before going fast. It’s about moving backward before moving forward. Investing on the other hand is about storytelling and big vision. It’s also about proof and hockey stick traction. So when raising money how […]
The Two or Three Things You Need to Raise Capital
Yesterday I chatted with an entrepreneur that was looking for advice on raising capital. I’ve written quite a bit about fundraising in the past, but it’s a hard topic and a challenging thing for people to get through. Most people have never raised funding before, and even with all the advice out there it’s still […]
Clean Up Before Raising Funding
Raising money is a dirty job, but someone has to do it right? Very true, but it’ll go a lot easier if everything behind the scenes is clean, well-organized and ready to go. If you get to the point where you’re about to marry a VC and take their money, there will be a due […]
There’s No Such Thing as a Nominal Investment
Micah Baldwin has a great post on the confusing roles and responsibilities between mentors, advisors and investors. It’s a must read for any entrepreneur (particularly those in accelerators where the roles are often mashed together even more.) Micah makes the point that even small investment amounts from mentors ($5-$10k) are important. And he’s absolutely right. […]
8 Questions on How to Prepare for VC Meetings
Lately I’ve been answering questions on Sprouter and having a lot of fun doing it. Hopefully it’s useful to the people asking as well. Not surprisingly, a lot of the questions are about VCs and investors – how to pitch them, what to pitch, how to prepare, etc. It’s a popular topic and something I’ve […]
Do Investors Invest in Ideas, People or Markets?
Investors often say that they invest in people first, then the market and lastly, the idea. I’d say that’s generally true, but it’s also very difficult not to triage and make judgement calls in reverse. When an investor asks for a pitch, they don’t say, “Tell me why you’ve got what it takes to be […]
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