Tag: Startup
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Founders ask me all the time how to improve their pitch. Here’s what I tell them…focus on the Big 3: Vision, Team and Traction. Every day, I see lengthy decks and memos that get mired it detail. Exhaustive market analyses, 10 year projections, and long lists of “advisors.” Ditch all…
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+ Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Small Business, Startup, Startups, Tech, Venture Capital+
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Investors are obsessed with pedigree. Today, I made a list of where every founder I’ve invested in went to college. So, do the top schools produce better founders? Let’s find out… To be consistent, I looked at where the Founder & CEO of each of my investments got their bachelor’s…
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+ Business, College, Education, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founder, Founders, Investing, Money, Startup, Startups, Tech, University, Venture Capital+
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I once met a founder who went into $700,000 of debt for his startup. On the Mr. Bray Labs podcast, I dug into that and other crazy stories I’ve seen in my 3.5 years investing in startups. Here are some of my favorite moments from the Part 2 with Jesse:…
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+ Angel Invesing, Business, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Finance, Founders, Investing, Money, Silicon Valley, Startup, Startups, Tech, 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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Want to make that 3 or 4x fund an 8x? Then you better have reserves. A new report from Primary Venture Partners shows that reserves strategy is one of the biggest drivers of returns in venture capital. Let’s dig in… From Good to Great (Funds) Partner Jason Shuman analyzed over…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, LP, Private Equity, Silicon Valley, Startup, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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“We did 200 user interviews before we built a thing.” Mike, startup founder Mike* is the founder of an awesome new SaaS company. The product he showed me was far better than most. But what really excited me was the way he built it. “Make Something People Want” Y Combinator’s…
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Venture-backed startups have created virtually all of the net new jobs since 1977. Of the top 5 US companies by market cap, every single one raised venture capital. Venture capital has a huge impact on the US economy, but few people understand how it works. In The Secrets of Sand…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Investing, Money, Reading, Silicon Valley, Startup, Startups, VC, Venture Capital+
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Last Thursday, I was preparing to judge a startup pitch competition. I thought to myself, “How can I make sure every startup hits the key points?” Then, it came to me: a checklist! Every time you pitch investors, you need to give them certain key pieces of information. Without those…
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+ Entrepreneur, Finance, Founders, Investing, Money, Public Speaking, Startup, Startups, Tech, Venture Capital+
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A robotic arm carefully grips the cup as frothy milk cascades onto smooth espresso. It gently places the cup before you. Coffee is served. I’m a little obsessed with coffee. I have five coffee makers at home, each for a different style. But if the next generation of robotics companies…
Tremendous 