Lack of product-market fit is a top reason why startups fail, accounting for over 40% of failures. (Startup Devkit) And yet, while many founders can fumble through a definition of product-market fit, many are hard-pressed to pinpoint the best way to measure it. There are many ways to think about product-market fit: 🔷 Your Net Promoter Score (NPS) 🔷 A feeling in your gut 🔷 When 40% (or some other threshold) of your users would be “very disappointed” if you stopped making yo

In the startup world, the difference between good and great can make or break you. After all, about 90% of startups fail (Embroker). Of the 10% that make it, it’s a safe bet that the founder(s) played a pivotal role. That’s why I wanted to share this advice from Selina Tobaccowala, co-founder of Evite and President of SurveyMonkey. According to Tobaccowala, great founders: 🔷 Have hard conversations with co-founders before they even start. 🔷 Nail the balance between internal

Most entrepreneurs study others’ successes to learn how to succeed in their own ventures. But there’s a lot to be learned from failure, too. And learning from other people’s failures is a lot less costly than learning from your own (although you should do that, too). That’s why I wanted to share some of the top reasons startups fail, with examples: 🔻 Ran out of cash/failed to raise new capital (38%) ➡️ Airlift, a Pakistan-based ride-sharing app/delivery service, closed down

Running out of cash is the #1 reason startups fail, accounting for 38% of all failures. (CB Insights) That’s why having a handle on cash runway is so crucial. Here are 3 common cash flow mistakes to avoid courtesy of Sifted, a resource for startups founded by the Financial Times’ innovation editor John Thornhill: 1️⃣ Relying too much on manual spreadsheets. 👉 Make sure you have a structure in place so the information you’re relying on is up-to-date. 2️⃣ Only looking at actua

When it comes to investing, here’s something all investors have in common: They don’t want to miss out on the next big thing. Luckily for founders, FOMO (the fear of missing out) can be a great tactic to get investors interested in your company. So here are some tips on creating FOMO among investors: 🔹 Have a list of 100+ potential investors. 🔹 Show the VCs that others are very interested by conveying a sense of momentum (e.g., note that you are speaking with others without

We hear so much about entrepreneurs looking to raise funding that raising capital may seem like the unequivocally right thing to do. But raising outside funding isn’t always the right move for your company. And it definitely pays to do some soul-searching (or perhaps more importantly, analysis of your company and goals) to figure out if it’s right for you. Here are some reasons why funding is the right move: 🔹 You need money to grow. 🔹 It’ll allow you to grow much more quic

💸 VC Fundraising Is Set to Surpass 2021 Record Buy the dip. It’s one of the simplest investment strategies out there, and it illustrates a key point: Market downturns are a time of opportunity. This is true for venture capital, too. 2021 was a record-setting year for venture capital in the U.S., with VC funds closing on deals worth $142.1 billion. At the end of July of this year, US funds had already closed $137.5 billion. (PitchBook) So while the market may be down and ther

🤔 How Investors Think: Binomial Decision Tree in VC Investing Founders: Have you thought through how VCs evaluate risk? You’ve probably read a lot about how to structure and deliver your pitch. But knowing how investors make decisions about whether (and how much) to invest can help you figure out exactly how to present your company in a way that is attractive and mitigates some of the risk VCs are anticipating. That’s why I wanted to share this binomial decision tree for VC