Feb
01
Recently a CEO in our portfolio asked me a question that I get often: As a startup with limited capital is it better to be cautious and stretch runway or should you be aggressive and reduce runway? The answer of course is “it depends”.
Jan
10
One of the least favourite things about raising money from VCs is having to deal with board meetings once you’re funded. Most board meetings suck. I’ve sat through my fair share on the company side. To date, as an investor, I’ve tried to avoid them favouring regular informal interactions. But since board meetings are inevitable [...]
It seems everyone is getting into the incubation/ acceleration game now. According to this list, there are hundreds (and the list is a year old). So, with so many incubators all offering something that appears to be similar, how do you choose which one is right for you? GigaOm posted this week about history repeating [...]
Nov
10
(photo courtesy of Heri at Montreal Tech Watch) We held a demo day for the first grads of our Founderfuel program this week. It was an amazing event with over 600 people and nine awesome presentations from the teams. While the teams nursed some well-deserved hangovers the next morning I put together some suggestions for [...]
Back when I first entered the startup World, it was hard to create a startup. For starters you needed over $1M just to get going. You had to buy gear, software licenses, etc. And there was no real social web to help you cheaply bring products to market. These days there are effectively no barriers [...]
Raising money is always hard. Especially so if it’s your first time and if your company is brand new. As seed investors, we routinely work with 1st time founders and by default are working with young companies. For the most part, the cap tables and prior financings we see are clean, but more often than [...]
I spent last week in the Valley and met a number of entrepreneurs that either recently raised $ or were in the process of raising. I won’t comment on the crazy valuations going on out west (that’s been covered already). Instead, I want to talk about an interesting phenomenon regarding high profile angels and the [...]
Apr
21
As we know all too well, most VCs you pitch will say ‘no’. So, when it comes to raising your round, you shouldn’t be jumping in a plane for every 1st meeting you get. 1st meetings mean nothing. There is no assurance that they will move ahead. Investors could be learning about the space, just [...]
Often, when I meet companies and we talk about what milestones they will accomplish with their seed funding, one of them is to get to cashflow positive. I don’t have hard numbers but would guess that 1/2 think they will do this with seed funding and another 30 – 40% will do it after Series [...]
Apr
07
Startups are a team sport. All great founders and management teams are surrounded by advisors, investors and service providers that bring complimentary skills, perspectives, networks and prior experience that presumably help your startup move faster. But when it comes to fundraising, that “outer circle” around your company should play a secondary role. Advisors can play [...]
Mar
03
One of the most frustrating aspects of raising capital is how long it can take. Even if an investor loves the idea after the 1st meeting, the process still takes months. Now that I am sitting on the other side, I have a better appreciation for why things take longer than entrepreneurs would like. So, [...]
Techcrunch reported today about the new joint venture between Yuri Milner of DST fame and super angel Ron Conway. Called Start Fund, this new investment vehicle will give every single YCombinator company a $ 150K debenture with no cap and no conversion discount. As an investor, I see some potential issues with this. For one, [...]
Once upon a time, VCs raised big funds and wrote big cheques. They talked about putting “money to work”, and looked to put $5M – $10M into every company they backed. There were many reasons why this strategy did not work that have been well documented. And while some funds were successful with it, the [...]
I’ve probably posted about this before, but something I read this morning made me think about it, and it’s an important concept so forgive me if you’ve heard it before. Nic Brisbourne from DFJ Esprit across the pond in the UK has an interesting post on apply lean startup principles to fundraising. I think it [...]
Dec
07
Investors are fond of asking entrepreneurs about exit strategy. After all, Investors get in in order to get out or exit. And these days the predominant exit is to be bought by another company. So, getting a sense of who would buy you and why is a logical part of the investment decision. Prolific angel [...]
