Fundraising

Do you have an amazing startup idea, but not sure how to fund it? Have you heard about equity and convertible debt, but completely confused how they work and which one is a better fit? In this article and the corresponding video, we introduce you to three main financing vehicles.

Investing in early-stage startups is very risky. There is a lot of uncertainty around the business model, the product-market fit, and the team’s ability to execute. It is thus no surprise that investors are understandably cautious and jaded, especially given the dismal statistics of the startup success rates. In this article and the corresponding video, we discuss three strategies you can employ to de-risk your startup, calm investors’ fears, and position your company as a more attractive investment.

Fear of public speaking is a common affliction for many people. As a startup founder, not only do you have to face it head on, but the stakes for you are also much higher. You are not just doing it to win a competition at school, or to get a promotion at work. You are pitching your dream, your idea that you have been developing into a fledgling business for months, a company ready to soar and it’s up to you to give it its wings. In this article and the corresponding video, we discuss four strategies for making a lasting impression on investors and getting funded faster.

When I meet first-time entrepreneurs, almost every initial conversation eventually turns to “How and where do I look for angel investors”? It’s the elephant in the room. The Everest all founders looking for funding must climb, whether or not they know how to rock climb and whether or not they have experience with extreme temperatures and altitude.

An accelerator is a school that helps entrepreneurs get their venture to the next stage. Most importantly, accelerators prepare founders for the Demo day where they can raise their next round of financing. These schools are most useful for founders with little startup experience or for foreign startups looking to enter new markets. When you have to sift through the many accelerator programs offered, it is easy to get confused. Luckily, in this article and the corresponding video, we put together eight criteria you can consider when deciding which accelerator is the best fit for you.

Determining how much equity to give co-founders or contributors is not easy. On one hand, you want to fairly reward people for taking the risk, believing in you and helping you build your company from scratch. On another, you want to create the right incentives and only offer equity to those who are committed to your company’s success long-term.

To determine the size of your financing round, not only do you have to consider the length of time for which you are raising capital, but to also figure out which costs you should and should not include. In this article, and the corresponding video, we discuss how to properly calculate your funding needs and we specifically focus on those costs that startup founders often forget, which results in them running out of cash and scrambling for funds much earlier than they are ready to raise the next round.

Many founders often ask me how much money they should raise – especially when it comes to their first funding round. Should they aim to cover three, six, twelve, or eighteen months of operations? Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet. The rule of thumb is that you should raise enough capital to get you to the next milestone and those milestones, and the amount of money required to reach them, vary from company to company.

In this article and the corresponding video, we discuss the top five mistakes entrepreneurs make in their pitch decks.

Many startup founders don’t fully understand why it is important to have a company valuation, especially at an early stage. We demonstrate how a company valuation affects the amount of control you, as a founder, are going to have and how much money you end up making in case of an exit with a help of a fictional example.