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Beyond Money, What Do Young Startup Founders Want?
Just as investors invest in startups, startup founders make investments in their investors. From both sides of the table, profitability and long-term value are shared objectives: investors want to make investments that yield high ROIwhile entrepreneurs want to build products and business models that mature into game-changing companies, buyouts and IPOs. Especially for Gen-Y entrepreneurs, the startup scene is a "buyer's market" where the chances of finding funding and ultimately succeeding are s (Read Full Article)
Mentions: San Francisco Washington Los Angeles
3 Things Investors Should Never Be
If you are like me, you may be tempted to think like this:
Often we say "there's just no time" or "I don't have enough time" when presented with the opportunity to go to a networking event, or sit on a panel, or talk to a group of entrepreneurs. Schedules are full, that's why we have them. But just as it is important for entrepreneurs, it is incredibly important for investors to stay connected.
But often staying connected pays off when you least expect it.
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6 Characteristics that Investors Look for in an Entrepreneur
Angel investors don’t care. When angels are evaluating the founder of a company that intrigues them, they just want to know if the leader is actually a leader. How can they tell? Here are six personality traits that any angel should want to see in every entrepreneur: * Bold Entrepreneurs must take calculated risks. They must not be afraid to ask for what they need. They must be assertive. Angels need to ask the right questions to determine whether the founder is bold because he’ll need that trai (Read Full Article)
Mentions: Apple Steve Jobs Mark Cuban
5 Things To Know About Startup Culture
Certain qualities are inherent to successful startup culture. In addition to team talent, funding and market opportunities, culture plays an important role in startups. Below are five things to know about startup culture and why they are important to know as an investor. 1. Equity-driven Entrepreneurs take on risk just as investors do while working to build a company. Employees have confidence that the business will grow and thrive, and hope to make their equity as valuable as possible. This shared goal to create a valuable company aligns the priorities of the founders, employees and investors. 2. Boot-strapping At a ... (Read Full Article)
Choosing the Right Investors
By Harriette Halepis
Does business have to be personal? Not if you want to select the right person to invest with.
The old adage: “it’s not personal, it’s just business” holds very true when searching for an investment partner. Some people you can work with while others you are better off just being friends with.
Looking for someone who can co-invest with you is a lot like choosing a mate. You must be objective, look for someone who complements you, and make sure that all terms are made legal.
Complementing Skill Sets
Before you even begin the hunt ...
(Read Full Article)
Board Members Vs. Founders - What's the Right Mix?
Figuring out the right mix for a startup's board of directors is a lot like baking a cake -- too much of one ingredient and the cake won't taste right. The same holds true for the makeup of a board of directors -- too many board members and the company founders may find the business objective diluted. The board of directors at any company can wield power over business operations and play a role in major decisions about funding, products and the company's future. So it's important to get the right mix. Business developer MaRS in Toronto recommends ... (Read Full Article)
Mentions: Guy Kawasaki Dave McClure Toronto
Be As Committed As Your Money
There's an interesting saying that floats around the private investing world. It relates to the parable of bacon and eggs for breakfast and fits perfectly into the structures in place that define investors and entrepreneurs. In the saying, entrepreneurs play the pigs, while investors play the role of chickens. In the parable the implications are obvious to anyone who has had breakfast before. The pigs are 100% committed to the meal, while the chickens are merely involved. They play a role, but cannot rival the commitment of the pigs. What is interesting to note is that this is typically ... (Read Full Article)
5 Signs a Startup Is Likely To Fail
By Mark Di Vincenzo When it comes to investing in startups, there’s no shortage of advice about what to do, but there’s a lot less out there about what not to do. Rather than add to the huge pile of what to do, we’ll look at the other side. Here are five warning signs for investors who are considering giving some of their cash to a business that may look very promising: 1. The founders haven’t given up their full-time jobs. Creating a company is hard work, and it requires a lot of time. Many would-be ... (Read Full Article)
Mentions: Blackbox
How Long Before a Startup Needs to Show a Profit?
By Mark Di Vincenzo
How long before a startup should show a profit? As soon as possible? Never soon enough? Tomorrow? The answer depends on many different things, not the least of which is the entrepreneurs’ expectations. Some are happy to forever draw a decent salary and break even on paper.
But if the question is when does a startup need to show a profit, the question falls on the investors, whether the investors are mom and dad, an angel or a venture capital firm. Mom and dad and the venture capitalist probably have different expectations, but surveys show most ...
(Read Full Article)
5 Signs a Startup is Likely to Succeed
By Mark Di Vincenzo As just about everyone knows, most startups fail. The ones that succeed typically have certain things in common that pique the interest of investors. Here are five of the most promising signs (in no particular order) that a startup might make its founders and investors a lot of money someday: 1) A big market. The founders are pursuing an idea that has the potential to become a very lucrative business. The potential exists because the product or the service might appeal to many millions of people. A business starts in a garage will stay in the ... (Read Full Article)
Mentions: Harvard Business School Harvard Mark Di Vincenzo
How Many Board Members is Too Many?
By Mark Di Vincenzo How many board members is too many? 1,000? 500? 100? It's a question that has been asked for decades, most often by well-meaning people who want to help businesses run more efficiently. The common answers -- “It depends,” or “There is no right answer” -- often are true but very unsatisfying. Let’s hear from an institution that’s arguably in a better position than any other to answer this question: BoardSource, which conducts a voluminous amount of research on boards, says the “sweet spot” is 15 to 22 members, according to its Nonprofit Governance Index ... (Read Full Article)
You Mean It Tanked? 5 Common Mistakes That Kill Startups
By Mark Di Vincenzo A lot of startups look good in the beginning, but the fact is at least two-thirds of them eventually fail. Their leaders often blame the banks, which wouldn’t lend them enough money, the government, which saddled them with too many regulations and taxes, or their idiot partners, who sabotaged their best efforts. The fact is the entrepreneurs themselves usually are to blame for a variety of crucial mistakes that often were very avoidable. Here are the five most common ones: 1. Lone Wolves. Many entrepreneurs are control freaks who try to do it all themselves ... (Read Full Article)
Mentions: Microsoft Google Mark Di Vincenzo
5 Things Investors Look for in a Startup
By Mark Di Vincenzo What are the five things investors look for in a startup? If you talk with enough people and read enough blogs, it would be easier to come up with a list of the 500 things investors look for in a start-up. But after much boiling down, here are the five elements that the vast majority of investors say are important to them when looking for startups (in no particular order): 1. Management This one seems to top most lists. Investors look for a passionate, driven, smart team that can do something good even with a bad ... (Read Full Article)
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