-
Search this blog
Archives
-
Recent Posts
- To directors and advisors: “Noses in; fingers OUT!”
- Are your board members as valuable as you?
- Should board members be elected “for life?”
- Fight for balance on your board!
- Your need for a board grows with complexity.
- Your board should protect you!
- Hire a consultant; ignore the advice!
- How to cheat legally on your tax return.
Categories
Category Archives: Raising money
The best advice startups will never follow
Let me tell you a few short hair-raising stories of entrepreneurs who have raised money and regretted it later. Here are some rules that entrepreneurs almost always ignore to their future peril. Don’t take money from relatives who can’t afford … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
5 Comments
Stay in touch with your investors.
Investors as a group have a common gripe – almost universal. Information flows from the company irregularly, in fact most often when the company is urgently in need of more money. Investment documents usually call for quarterly reporting by the … Continue reading
Don’t be defensive, but defend.
When meeting with investors, during the period devoted to feedback after your presentation, you will hear comments and recommendations that don’t resonate with you. Some will be from a misunderstanding of your explanation. Some listeners will challenge your assumptions. Some … Continue reading
Don’t get hung up on valuation.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve walked away from deals where the entrepreneur insists on a start-up premoney valuation that is so high, no angel could expect to make a return upon the investment, even with a reasonable … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
2 Comments
Turn the tables: What’s an angel look like?
Angel investors, particularly those in organized angel groups, are typically former entrepreneurs who have had successful liquidity events in their pasts, or executives of companies who’ve retired with the funds from their stock options. Occasionally, an angel is a member … Continue reading
Posted in Raising money
1 Comment
Find your champion.
If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become … Continue reading
The Rule of Thirds
It is rare when one person starts a company, supplies all the funding, and shares no management tasks or equity with others, and still grows the company to any significant size, worthy of a multi-million dollar opportunity to cash out … Continue reading
Huge opportunities do NOT command amazing pre-money valuations.
Dave’s note: Popular Bill Payne returns this week with a thoughtful take on valuations. By Bill Payne One entrepreneur has a company which appears to be scalable to a $30 million exit value in five to eight years, and a … Continue reading
Posted in Ignition! Starting up, Raising money
Leave a comment
Early stage money: The problem with PPMs
By Bill Payne Bill Payne has been actively involved in angel investing since 1980, funding over 50 companies and mentoring over 100 more. He is the recipient of the coveted “Hans Severiens Award form the Angel Capital Association, its highest … Continue reading
Posted in Raising money
6 Comments
Both sides must be fair in a term sheet negotiation.
By Basil Peters After being an active angel investor for about fifteen years, I realized that many of the discussions I was involved in were virtually identical to ones I’d had many times before. A good example was during the … Continue reading
Posted in Raising money
1 Comment
