When you set out on your fundraising journey for your company, your first challenge is to figure out who is willing to fund your startup at each stage and why. This helps you target your outreach efforts to the types of investors most likely to support you. That’s why I wanted to share this brief guide to who finances your startup journey. Here’s what you’ll learn: ✅ The startup financing cycle ✅ The relationship between risk, valuation, and time ✅ Why banks typically don’t f

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

💰 I Collected the Top 100+ Pitch Decks From VC-Funded Startups So You Don’t Have To Only about 1% of pitch decks land VC funding. (Inc.) How can you make sure you’re on the other side of the 99%? One way is to study decks that have made it so you can replicate what they did right. That’s why I wanted to share these top 100+ decks from VC-funded startups. They include decks from: ✅ LinkedIn, which raised $10M in its Series B in 2004 ✅ Uber, which raised $200k in pre-seed fund

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

There’s so much advice out there on creating a perfect pitch that entrepreneurs can easily get overwhelmed. But I’ve always believed that simplicity is key—to a great story, a great pitch, and a great company. That’s why I wanted to take this opportunity to show you the five essential ingredients of a great pitch. If you nail these five, you’re in a good spot. In a nutshell, your pitch must: 1️⃣ State a PROBLEM – What is the users’ pain point? 2️⃣ Provide a SOLUTION – How is

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

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

💰 Where We Are & Where We’re Going: What’s in Store for VC in 2022 2021 was, perhaps unexpectedly, a record-breaking year for venture capital. The year saw 27% more deals closing compared to 2021, and the capital invested rose by an incredible 98% to nearly $330 billion. (Forbes) Will 2022 keep up? The industry is facing higher interest rates, falling valuations, smaller corporate budgets, and slower growth. (Tomasz Tunguz) But it’s not all bad news. While we’re unlikely to

💸 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

🚨 There’s still time to register for our August AMA! 🚨 Chat with Wen Zhang, Founder & CEO of INNW Institute, as well as Mobeen Khan & other leaders across Texas— bring your questions! ⚙️ Register now! #startups #cfaskmeanything #texas