ENTREPRENEURS 411 Archives - The 411 On Startups (tm)

Why we’re ditching Demo Days | TechCrunch

Mar

2017

I started to realize that Demo Days might be getting stale when an investor at one of our events told me to share the highlights after the pitches were done — he would be out in the hallway with a beer. Another time, an investor said he wanted to quit his job and build a ...

16 Startup Metrics | Andreessen Horowitz

Aug

2015

WITH JEFF JORDAN, ANU HARIHARAN, FRANK CHEN, AND PREETHI KASIREDDY We have the privilege of meeting with thousands of entrepreneurs every year, and in the course of those discussions are presented with all kinds of numbers, measures, and metrics that illustrate the promise and health of a particular company. Sometimes, however, the metrics may not ...

Access To Capital — By: Karen Letain & Ken Kousky

Aug

2015

A really good primer on Angel investing equally applicable to angels and entrepreneurs. This was found at http://bluewaterangels.com/resources/. ACCESS TO CAPITAL 2 What’s Inside this eBook? Chapter 1 : Historical Overview………………………………………………………4 Where are the jobs?………………………………………………………………………4 No startups, no jobs……………………………………………………………………….5 No funding, no startups…………………………………………………………………..6 Only winners count………………………………………………………………………..7 Bring forth the gazelles…………………………………………………………………..9 The policy dilemma………………………………………………………………………10 What we need……………………………………………………………………………..11 ...

Setting The Right Valuation For A Competitive Series A Round | TechCrunch

Aug

2015

Founders are often puzzled by how VCs derive valuations for competitive Series A rounds. A competitive Series A round is an equity round where a company generally raises greater than $5 million led by a top-quartile venture capital firm. During these Series A rounds, it is not uncommon for founders to receive multiple term sheets from lead investors at different ...

Startup Industry Insights from First Round Capital

Jul

2015

According to First Round Capital, a top venture capital firm located in Philadelphia, PA, women founders outperform men. In a report published by the firm yesterday, First Round Capital revealed the finding as one of ten major insights it has learned over the past ten years the VC firm has been in operation. Called the ...

Business Name Mistakes That Investors Hate to See

Jul

2015

Just as with names of people, there isn’t any ultimate right or wrong, and every name has unique implications in different cultures, economies and markets. Names can imply strength, value, connection or friendliness, or they can set opposite tones. As you search for that perfect name, it pays to avoid the key mistakes that we investors and ...

Here’s How You Organize Your Business Plan Into a Neat, Concise Statement

Jun

2015

While a single sentence may convey the overarching direction of your business plan, you may also need to develop an elevator pitch that combines a few additional concepts into a paragraph so that you can better describe your plans. Here is a ‘paint by numbers’ approach that may help you put your plan into a ...

To Clean Up Your Startup’s B.S., Bring Sales Into The Leadership Team | TechCrunch

Jun

2015

“Coin-operated idiots”. Even if no one says it out loud about sales people anymore, they might still think it. It’s the perception some startup CEOs have when it comes to their sales force (unless the founders have come from sales themselves). Just load ‘em up and watch them do their mindless best … like at ...

Studies Find Angels Significantly Impact Success Of Funded Companies – Forbes

Jun

2015

. . . . .Two studies show real evidence that startups backed by strong angels really do better than their counterparts that fail to get such funding. The studies by Harvard Business School professors William Kerr and Josh Lerner and MIT Sloan School of Management professor Antoinette Schoar (along with Stanislav Sokolinsky and Karen Wilson) ...

This app lets founders pitch startup ideas to investors, media with 2-minute videos – GeekWire

Jun

2015

For entrepreneurs, it’s not always easy finding the right time and place to pitch a potential investor on an idea — and that’s where Founderfox wants to help. The new app, which just launched this weekend, is a free video-pitching platform for startups that are looking to hail the attention of investors, media, and other ...