Discussion Topics

If you successfully raised your seed round you will find that Series A funding to be a new challenge.  Series A funding is different from seed funding in several ways. In seed funding, the entrepreneur must convince the investor that they can sell the product. In Series A funding, the entrepreneur must convince the investor […]

So, who does the Venture Capitalist serve? The VC raises funds from the Limited Partner and invests in startups. In talking with entrepreneurs, they make clear the VC serves the Limited Partners first. Many founders talk about how helpful the VC is to their company and personal growth. Entrepreneurs are important to the VC and […]

There are many metrics for determining how well your SaaS business is doing. Net dollar retention is a key metric that indicates the health of the business. To calculate it, take the revenue at the beginning of the month, plus upgrades, minus downgrades and churn. Divide this by the revenue at the beginning of the […]

Investors look for certain things in the pitch to decide whether or not to pursue. In pitching VCs, make sure you cover the following points: Say what your company does in 10 words or less. This provides context so the investor knows how to understand the rest of the pitch. Show how your team is […]

Pitching is an important skill in fundraising. Consider these key points in your next pitch: Tell a compelling story, not just any story. Use the pitch deck to communicate the “Why” behind your business. Time is short, so make sure you hit the key points of the business — team, product, fundraise, in a logical […]

The process of raising funding brings the startup founder several intangible benefits. Here is a short list: Fundraising forces you to think through your business strategy and articulate it clearly. Investors will challenge your strategy requiring the founder to defend it. The pitch elicits feedback from the investors which often improves the plan. While entrepreneurs […]

In raising funding, the startup should be doing as much diligence on the investor as the investor is doing on the startup. Start by checking out the portfolio of the investor and making contact with CEOs who have been funded by the investor. Ask the CEO about their experience with the firm.  Most VCs tout […]

In approaching venture capital, it’s important to know something about the VC’s sweet spot for funding. By reviewing the VC’s website, you can see their portfolio. By reviewing their portfolio companies, you can get a sense of the stage and sector of deals they invest in. The best way to learn about a VC is […]

Startup founders need time-management skills to run a business. Here’s a list of key skills successful founders have: 1. Can set up daily routines and repeat them consistently. 2. Can prioritize tasks doing the most important ones first. 3. Can delegate tasks to others when others are better suited for those tasks. 4. Can use […]

Startup founders need strategy skills to run a business. Here’s a list of key skills successful startup founders have: 1. Business model design – the founder can review a situation and develop a business model to create a profitable business. 2. Buy vs. build – the founder can decide between buying a solution or building […]

Startup founders need problem-solving skills to run a business. Here’s a list of key skills to develop: 1. Critical thinking – ability to analyze the key factors around a situation and find the real problem to be solved. 2. Decision-making – ability to choose the right solution and see it through to implementation. 3. Lateral […]

Startup founders need emotional intelligence skills to run a startup. Emotional intelligence helps the founder control emotions and empathize with others. Here are the key components for building those skills: Self-awareness – this is the ability to know yourself and recognize your strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. The more you know yourself, the more you can […]

Startup founders need to be visionary to run a startup. Vision starts with seeing a business opportunity and applying a solution to solve it. The founder clarifies the vision and shapes it into a platform, product, or application. This informs the founder of all business decisions going forward. It starts with knowing the industry and […]

Startup founders need general business skills to run a startup. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: – Ability to make decisions in a timely manner. – Ability to take risks on new ideas, people, and strategies. – Ability to communicate in a clear and precise manner. – Ability to show confidence […]

Startup founders need management skills to run a startup. Here are some key skills to have: – Ability to wear multiple hats at one time since there’s not enough revenue to fill every role. – Can hire and manage the team members.  – Ability to set strategy and direction for the team. – Can develop […]

Startup founders need to develop leadership skills to run a startup. Here are some key skills to have: – Know your market and research the competition well. – Demonstrate confidence in difficult situations and be able to make decisions and see them through. – Ability to build a strong team and support them. – Encourage […]

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Startup founders need conflict management skills to run a startup. Conflicts arise among the team members for the following reasons: They come from differing beliefs and viewpoints.   In the short term, the founder can separate […]

Startup founders need human resource skills. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: Can identify talent that matches the company’s strategy.   This includes defining the jobs with roles and responsibilities. Ability to find and recruit the right people for the position. This includes assessing the skills candidates have. Can craft employment agreements.  […]

Startup founders need some technical skills. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: 1. Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets – you’ll use this for budgeting, forecasts, and numerous other applications. 2. Data analysis – you should be familiar with Google analytics and other basic analytic tools to gather information about your sales […]

Startup founders need some accounting skills. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: Accounting vs. bookkeeping – bookkeeping is entering revenues and expenses into the proper accounts. Accounting is generating the income statements and balance sheets, along with filing tax returns. Accounting methods – know the difference between cash vs. accrual accounting. […]

Startup founders need some financial skills. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: 1. For business modeling – ability to calculate the unit economics of your business model including cost of customer acquisition and lifetime value of customer. 2. For fundraising – ability to calculate pre and post-money valuations and the impact […]

Startup founders need some legal skills. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: 1. Legal Entity – ability to set up an LLC or C-Corp for your business with proper articles of incorporation. 2. Cap Table – ability to set up the cap table with initial ownership of the founder, co-founder, and […]

Startup founders need recruiting skills. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: 1. Ability to define the jobs to be done with the requisite skills. 2. Ability to identify qualified candidates in the market that meet the requirements. 3. Can engage the candidates to discuss a position in your startup. 4. Ability […]

Startup founders need marketing skills. Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup: – Ability to analyze and choose a market segment to pursue – Can create a story around your startup that sells – Can define a position in the market and communicate it – Ability to contrast and compare the company […]

Startup founders need sales skills. Here’s a list of sales skills to bring to your startup: 1. Can craft a compelling story about the startup to sell to investors, prospective employees, partners, and others.  2. Knows the competition and the other choices the prospect has. 3. Knows the customer’s language, whether it be company-specific or […]

Writing is a key skill every entrepreneur should have. Email, social media, website copy, and more, all rely upon good communication. Here are some key points to remember: It’s not about you, it’s about your reader and what this will do for them. Write the way you talk in a normal, conversational tone. Summarize your […]

In managing deal flow, the key to winning the best deals is responsiveness. Startups submitting their deal are looking everywhere for funding and you’re just one option among many. Here are some key points to consider: Automate the initial response to a deal submission with an email acknowledging the sender. Customize the follow-up with the […]

In running deal flow, here are some best practices to consider: Automate your deal flow process as much as possible by capturing consistent information into one application. Track deal flow sources and analyze on a regular basis.   This shows where the best deals are coming from and where to spend time. Use online data sources […]

Deal flow is the lifeblood of the startup investor. It’s important to assess the deals in short order to prioritize follow-up. One way to help this process is to apply a rating to each deal. Here are some key factors and how to calculate them to use in your rating: – Revenue run rate – […]

Startup investing requires deal flow and the best deal flow comes from proprietary sources. Here are some key points to set up your own process: Contact your attorney and accountant as they are good sources of deal flow that aren’t known by everyone else. Launch a content marketing program. Your own podcasts, blogs, and more […]

Investors should set up a deal flow process that takes startups through in a timely manner. Here are the deal flow stages: Initial contact — before reviewing a deal there’s often a call or email that describes the deal. It’s best to provide initial feedback and ask key questions about key criteria. Encourage those that […]

Deal flow takes a substantial amount of time for the startup investor. It’s important to organize your deal flow process so it’s efficient. Use these steps to organize your deal flow. Set up a separate email for deal flow and use it to capture deals from websites, social media, and other sources. Have everyone on […]

Running deal flow is a time-consuming process. There are steps you can take to automate it. Here are some key points to consider: Standardize the information you collect by using forms on the website. Capture referral partners or sources so you can measure the results. Collect the startup submissions to run metrics and track progress. […]

Deal flow is key to a startup investor’s success.  Investors seeking startups to fund can follow these steps to attract deal flow: Build a global network of venture partners, scouts, and micro funds. Showcase your network to the startup community to capture more startup interest.  Set up a series of meetings to attract startups seeking […]

Investors seeking more deal flow should look to their own network. Here are some steps to find deals from your contacts: Identify the type of startup you want to fund.  Search for contacts related to that sector and domain.  You’ll find experts with deep knowledge of the technology, as well as those who know the […]

Deal flow is important to the startup investor. After you set up your initial sources, you can expand your deal flow in the following ways: Connect with other startup investors and offer to share your deal flow with them and invite them to return the favor. The best deals come from other investors, especially those […]

Deal flow is the lifeblood of startup investing. It’s important to set up sources to provide quality deal flow on a consistent basis. Here are the steps to set up your deal flow sources: 1. Map out the entrepreneurship and funding groups in your geographic area or sector. 2. Use the web and social media […]

Deal flow is key to successful startup investing. It takes a great deal of time, so it’s important to build a strong process for managing it. It helps to use a software tool to track it. Start with the key steps for running deal flow as follows: Set up a deal flow source with angel […]

Deal flow is critical to successful startup investing. Here are some key points to consider: Deal flow gives you experience with founders, valuations, exits, and many other aspects of the startup process.  It teaches you a great deal about the market, current technology, and the startup ecosystem. Deal flow gives you practice on how to […]

So how do you know when not to invest in a startup? Here’s a checklist of show stoppers: – There’s no business plan and no plan for an exit. – There’s no vision for the company. – There’s no growth in the target market. – The business doesn’t provide enough of a return on investment. […]

The best deals have more investors than they need. So how does an investor gain access to those deals? Startups choose investors who can provide support beyond the fundraise. Here are some examples: 1. Offering specific advice on how to build the business and grow it.  2. Make introductions to potential customers, new employees, or […]

As a startup investor, you will find there are many deals to consider. In fact, there are too many startups to diligence and pursue. You want to build quality deal flow channels that meet your criteria and screen out the noise. Quality sources often have experienced entrepreneurs working on their second and third businesses. While […]

So how do you know when to pull the trigger and invest in a startup? After applying the investment thesis, check for the following: – There’s a strong team with integrity, industry knowledge, and business experience. – They have product validation and market validation – the product works and people will pay for it. – […]

While there’s a great number of startups looking for funding, the startup investor needs to set up deal-flow sources. Your personal network is a good place to start. Contact not only investors in your network but also attorneys and accountants who may see deals seeking funding.  You can join the local angel network in your […]

In analyzing potential investments, it’s important to understand their business model and how well it meets the venture investors’ requirements.  The business model consists of unit and customer acquisition economics as well as market and business economics. Unit economics is the cost to provide a product that drives gross margin.   This determines how much revenue […]

The elevator pitch can do more for you than just give you a short-form pitch. It boils down your pitch to the bare essence. This helps you focus on your core value proposition. It helps you think through your pitch so you can prioritize the most important points. It gives you messaging to use online […]

The elevator pitch is one of the most important pitches you can give. Here are some key points to remember in delivering your elevator pitch: Keep it around thirty seconds.  Practice it to get the timing right. Use the rest of your time to engage with your audience in questions and answers. Talk at a […]

Today we’ll talk about a rolling close. Closing a fundraising round can be challenging given the schedules of the investors. A rolling close is used in a deal that is open to investors who can sign the documents and send in their money on their own schedule.   This allows the startup to take funding a […]

In pitching your startup for funding, you’ll find many opportunities to engage investors. Not all opportunities will provide substantial time and attention to investors. Develop an elevator pitch for those times when you have only a few moments to capture the investors’ interest. Here are some key points to consider: Start with the problem you […]

The elevator pitch is a key tool in your fundraise. Here are some best practices to make your elevator pitch a success: Before delivering your pitch, learn something about your audience. What are their careabouts? What motivates them? Customize your pitch for your audience. Don’t try to tell them everything, instead, tell them just enough.  […]

Elevator pitches can be used in many ways. The pitch states the problem, the solution, and how to learn more about it. In addition to fundraising, it can also be used in sales. Instead of asking for an investment, the ask goes to purchasing the product. Another type of elevator pitch is the question pitch. […]