Latest Episodes

Having a better product than the competition is no guarantee of success, but it does help with your fundraise. Here’s how to build a better product: First, understand the customer and the work they must do. Know the overall process flow and how the customer’s job fits within it. Analyze...

Startups fail for many reasons. Here’s a list of the more common ones: Ran out of cash.  This is the most common reason of all.  Could not raise additional funding. Lost too much business to the competition. Did not generate enough revenue to make the business model work. Had a...

Angel investing can be a rewarding experience, providing not only investment returns but also making the world a better place. It also comes with challenges. Here is the challenge of angel investing: There’s a small number of investable startups. There’s a large number of startups to comb through to find...

Early-stage investments require follow-on funding to reach a substantial size, providing a return to the investors that justifies the risk.  Here are the odds that a startup will raise its next round of funding. After the first round, about half go on to raise a second round. This is not...

In startup investing, the team is the most important factor pointing to success or failure. Here are some key steps in evaluating the team for your startup investment. Look for examples of execution on the current startup. Execution trumps the idea. If there’s no execution, then it doesn’t matter how...

Founders raising funding often ask for general interest first with no commitment. A soft commitment is an interest from an investor just short of a commitment. Investors use this to maintain the dialog with the founder as they learn more about the deal. Some use this as a bargaining chip...

Startups raising funding must show a growth story. The best growth story is a revenue curve going up and to the right at a 45-degree angle. For venture,  the growth curve must be at least 50% year over year. Here are some key steps to take to expand sales: Increase...

Burn rate is a key metric investors use to check the health of a startup. Based on the burn rate and cash in the bank, one can calculate how much time the startup has.  Here’s how to calculate burn rate. Use incoming cash as the first data point.  It’s a...

Angel investors are familiar with startups raising funding who come through their normal channels. Deals are often submitted on their software platform or referred by a trusted source. In the world of crowdfunding, startups come through a new compliance channel called Reg CF. The startup posts their deal on a...

Startup investors not only provide capital but also ongoing support to the startup. Here are some key steps to be a good startup investor: Research the market and provide actionable recommendations to the team about customers to pursue. Provide ongoing support through the tough times as well as the bad...