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- Are you meeting your customer’s expectations?
- Have you found your “teacher customer?”
- Everything changes from concept to release.
- Is your product ready for your market?
- Ouch! If I had only learned this before losing millions!
- Take only “smart money” investments
- Need investment capital?
- What do you give up when you take outside investors?
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Category Archives: Ignition! Starting up
Need investment capital?
Preparing for the game… If you have been following our recent insights, you’ll be up to speed knowing that professional investors negotiate tough terms, from provisions of control over asset acquisition, eventual sale of the company, future investments, forced co-sale … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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Need money? Read this!
How important is this issue for your business? The subject of raising money is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. Some businesses require very little capital and the … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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Could you be the next Ford, Jobs or Musk?
Well, it’s a fair question. Note that none of these three famous innovators were inventors like Thomas Edison, but visionaries who see a new marketplace or niche or how to reach the mass market in ways not previously attempted. Innovation … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up
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Sharpen your business vision!
I love absolute statements. Pardon my English. But this is one of my favorite statements. You’re at the ignition stage of your newest business venture. Of course, you have a vision for what you will do to change the world. … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Positioning
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How to reach beyond the prospect’s gatekeeper
What’s a gatekeeper? Looking for an entrance into a VC, an angel group, a bank, a CxO for a sales opportunity, or any other entity? There are always gate keepers whose job it is to filter out the inconsequential or … Continue reading
What if you and your investors don’t agree on an exit?
First, the implied promise: Taking money from professional investors such as angels or VCs usually requires that you agree to seek an exit for those investors in your plan, often targeting five to seven years as the ideal period for … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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Don’t just raise money. Do it on good news!
Why is this important advice? Because the first rule for raising money is to do it on good news – right when sales are increasing at an accelerating rate. Or when a major customer signs a significant deal. Or when … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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The best advice startups will never follow
Dave’s note: This is a reprint of a 2015 insight that seems to have struck a chord with investors and entrepreneurs. None of this advice has changed… Let me tell you a few short hair–raising stories of entrepreneurs who have … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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Don’t get hung up on early stage valuation.
Here’s the “what.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up pre-money valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even … Continue reading
Posted in General, Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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Three Important Issues for Your Business Plan
Some professional advice Here’s more advice from professional investors for aspiring entrepreneurs. Each of us has a list of things we look for early on when identifying whether we want to go to the next step in analyzing a … Continue reading
Posted in General, Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
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