Tag: Entrepreneur
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“Let me tell you how we got here…” This is the most useless part of a startup’s pitch. But you’d be amazed how many founders spend a ton of time on it! “Well, we started with furniture sales, then we pivoted to eVTOL sandwich delivery. But the FAA shut us…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Founders, Investing, Money, Small Business, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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“A lot of VC’s just want to give us money because we’re in YC. They don’t care about what we’re building.” That was a great founder I spoke with yesterday who’s currently in YC. It seems insane to me, but a lot of investors operate like this. Team, product, traction,…
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You’re not charging enough for your product. Charging too little, or nothing at all, is the most common mistake I see founders make. Why do founders do this? And how much should you charge? Let me break it down… A Common Problem I cannot tell you how many founders I…
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A while back, I met a really interesting fintech startup. Revenue was growing like crazy, 30% MoM. So why did I pass? Because I stick with what I know. The company was in Nigeria, and the market is just too unfamiliar. Like a lot of US investors, I only invest…
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I’m a $5,000 first check. But this week, I introduced a founder to a VC who offered him $800,000. This is why you should meet with small investors. Let’s say you’re raising a $2 million seed round. At first glance, talking to a guy who writes $5,000 checks seems like…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Fundraising, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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A company you invested in got acquired. Time to buy that mansion, right? Not so fast. Most acquisitions in startupland are nothing like Salesforce’s $28 billion purchase of Slack. The more common scenario is what’s called an “acquihire.” I’ve had this happen a few times in my portfolio. Let me…
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Here are the financial situations of a few founders I know: 1) Salary paused indefinitely.2) Searching for side jobs to pay the bills while continuing to run the company.3) Relying on a spouse with a normal job because the startup isn’t making money. We’re talking enormous stress here. But money…
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Yesterday afternoon, I was chatting with a great founder. She was having a really hard time — her two co-founders had just left the company. People rarely talk about co-founder divorce. But it happens, and when it does, it has a profound effect on a company. After a co-founder breakup,…
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We all know a warm intro beats a cold message any day. But how do you get them? I’m going to show you how to get 10X the warm intros you’re getting today. And it’s surprisingly simple. Getting more intros is all about making it easy for the person doing…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Networking, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startups, Tech, VC, Venture Capital+
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Deep in the bowels of a startup’s data room, there’s a critical document: the cap table. A problem with this document can kill a financing. Let me run you through 4 common cap table problems so you can avoid them. 1) Dev Shop or Venture Studio on the Cap Table.…
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Tremendous 