Discussion Topics

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are two approaches to financial forecasting for startups. The first is top-down forecasting. The second is bottom-up forecasting. Bottom-up forecasting uses the company’s historical data for cost and sales….

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are two approaches to financial forecasting for startups. The first is top-down forecasting. Top down takes a macro perspective by using the overall market sizes and industry estimates for…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. A financial model provides three outputs. Key financial statements, an operational cash-flow forecast, and key metrics for the business. Key financial statements include the profit and loss statement (called P&L),…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The most important financial statement is the cash flow statement because cash is the most important financial metric for the business. If you run out of cash then you most…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. After completing the financial projections, you may want to create various scenarios of your financial model.  Startups are often optimistic, while investors are pessimistic. You may want to create a…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The elevator pitch is the short-form version of your presentation for investor opportunities that give you a limited amount of time. The key to an elevator pitch is not to…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. After the pitch comes the investor discussion, in person or by conference call.  Research the investors in advance by looking them up on LinkedIn and their own company websites. In…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In developing the pitch deck, there are several mistakes I often see. One of the most common is trying to explain in great detail how the product or technology works….

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the fifth slide is the monetization slide. It answers the question on how you make money.  Show the business model you are using such as recurring…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the twelfth slide is the Investment Opportunity slide. This slide shows the fundraise target and how much is raised so far. Include interest and committed investors…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the eleventh slide is the Financial slide. The Financial slide gives the current status of the company with respect to revenue, expenses and profit. You want…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the tenth slide is the Value Proposition slide. The Value Proposition slide shows what value your product/service brings to the customer.  It should answer the question,…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the ninth slide is the Team slide. Show the C-level team, include the CEO, CTO, and CSO. Include a picture of each team member with their…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the eighth slide is the Competitive Advantage slide. First, highlight your core value proposition for the customer. Show what value the customer receives from your product/service….

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the seventh slide is the Competition slide. The Competition slide often helps highlight the market size and strength by showing who else is playing in that…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the sixth slide is the Traction slide. For this slide, show current sales as well as the funnel of upcoming sales opportunities. Include forecast numbers for…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the fourth slide is the Market slide. The Market slide shows the size of the opportunity. Show total available market, which is anyone you can sell…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the third slide is the Solution slide. For your solution, show a picture of the core product or technology so the investor gets a sense of…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck the second slide is the Problem slide. It’s important to start the pitch with the problem you are solving so the investor has a frame of…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In your pitch deck, the first slide is the Title slide. It’s important as it’s the first slide the investor will see. It should convey the style and culture of…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. After funding, you need to keep your family and friends investors informed on the status of the startup. Consider the following: Be transparent about the results and share both bad…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The goal of the pitch deck is to introduce your deal to an investor and find out what is essential to that investor. The goal is not to tell your…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising funds from family and friends, you could take it in the form of a gift.   Most family and friends want to help you out rather than make a…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In launching your startup you must consider your intellectual property strategy. Intellectual property or IP includes patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.  You should trademark your company name. For your…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising equity funding, you can only raise from investors who are accredited. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) establishes the criteria for those who are accredited. You can see…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In launching your startup you must consider employment law.  You should check to see what contracts your prospective employee may have signed with a former employer around non-competes, non-solicitation agreements,…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In launching your startup you must have a legal entity to raise funding. Start with an LLC or Limited Liability Company. This can be filed with your Secretary of State…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. All startups need to have a legal entity. Before you launch your fundraise make sure you have a legal entity filed as you’ll need it for accepting investment funds.  Start…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. If you want to raise venture capital funding, then check these points to see if you are venture fundable: Do you have the following: – Recurring revenue – Do you…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Raising funding requires document and business preparation as well as pitching and extensive followup. Throughout the process there’s one thing you need to do before you can raise the funding. …

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In fundraising, milestones are specific goals you have accomplished. In crafting your fundraise story, focus on key milestones both those you just hit and those you are striving for. This…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as anchor clients. Anchor clients are those who prepay for a custom version of…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as consultation funding. Consultation funding is using consultation work to pay the bills and…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others. In general, equity funding is for launching and growing a business and is the most…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as grants. Grants are typically provided by government organizations to spur research and make…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as crowdfunding. There are several forms of crowdfunding such as crowdfunding with prepayment, crowdfunding…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups use equity to fund their business.  Equity is an ownership stake in a company.  Equity aligns everyone’s interest in the startup. It preserves cash since it’s only paid…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Another source of funding is supplier funding. Supplier funding comes from those who provide services to your company such as contract manufacturing, software development, legal, accounting services, and more. Suppliers…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as a line of credit. A line of credit is a short-term loan from…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as bootstrapping and barter. Bootstrapping is using your own funds and that of initial…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In today’s startup world it seems everyone is a startup investor in some form or fashion. Startup investors call me to discuss deal structures, valuations, or serial entrepreneurs. I can…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as equipment leasing. Equipment leasing is used to reduce cash requirements for a startup…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equipment leasing lets you borrow funds to obtain assets such as computers, machinery, and other items you may need to build your product and run your business.  Instead of raising…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as licensing. You may be able to reduce the amount of funding needed to…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as factoring. Factoring is selling your accounts receivables to a finance company at a…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. When you sell a physical product and invoice the customer, it can take 30, 45, 60 days or more before they pay.   Factoring provides funding by reducing your accounts receivable…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as loans. Loans are debt instruments that must be repaid. Startups can find it…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Equity funding is just one source of funding for your startup. There are many others such as accelerators and incubators. Accelerators and incubators provide startups with workspace, mentorship, pitch practice,…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups use loans to fund their business. If you are taking a loan from family and friends, here are some points to consider: The first step is to determine…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups raise funding from family and friends on their first round to get the startup going. Before launching, make sure you do the following:  Co-founders should agree on the…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups use profit sharing to fund their business.  It is important that everyone involved has a very clear understanding of how “profit” is calculated. There are three locations in…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. I’m often asked if you should you take money from family and friends to fund your startup. Outside investors will look at family-and-friends funding as a sign of support for…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups use loans to fund their business. Here are a few ways to set up a payment structure and schedule. For payment structure you can use: Interest-only payments —…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups raise funding from family and friends on their first round to get the startup going. For those considering family-and-friends funding, think about the profile of the type of…

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso — your daily shot of startup funding and investing. So how do Venture Capitalists make money? VCs charge the limited partners a management fee on the funds raised. This is traditionally 2% which is paid out every year for…