TheFunded Launches Founder Showcase
December 16, 2009
TheFunded.com launched what they’re calling the Founder Showcase, an opportunity for new startups to get exposure on their website.
From their email:
The overall startup climate is improving, but it’s still too hard for young companies to get exposure. Finding the right investors and getting access to the media is as challenging as it every was. It’s time to democratize access and address this problem head on. We can change this together.
Today, we’re launching the Founder Showcase, where any Member can showcase their business on TheFunded.com. Once a quarter, TheFunded.com will invite ten early-stage companies with the most Member votes to an event where they can pitch in front of an audience of leading entrepreneurs, media, and investors for free. Best of all, the inaugural Showcase event is just days away in January.
Startup Profile: TheHappyHourLocator.com
June 25, 2009
Company: The Happy Hour Locator
Name: John Harvey
Title : Owner/President
Email : john.harvey@thehappyhourlocator.com
Give us the 30-second elevator pitch on your company
The Happy Hour Locator is an internet advertising website with the target market being the business traveler. We will feature 20 of the best establishments around a 10 to 15 mile radius of each airport in Texas for now but soon will be nationwide. We will provide photos of each establishment, their specials and music so the traveler will already know what to expect before they arrive their destination. (more…)
Nuggets from AngelConf
March 5, 2009
AngelConf, an event to share the secrets of angel investing to green investors, was held today out in Mountain View at Y Combinators offices.
While I wasn’t able to watch the live stream, I did follow some of the tweets coming across about the speakers and advice that was being shared. Here are a few of my favorites.
Jim Young: “even in downturn, there is still more $$$ than deals that deserve it” #AngelConf (via @davemcclure)
“The best angel investors aren’t in it to make money…” @TechCrunch (via @garrytan)
greg mcadoo @ sequoia - what separates entrepreneurs is their unique view of the market. They see what’s coming years in advance (via @evbart)
another tip for Angels from @naval: don’t take board seats; waste of both angel & startup time (via @davemcclure)
From Paul Graham at #AngelConf: “Good angel investors are decisive.” - They give a clear YES or NO very quickly. (via @JonMarkwell)
Of course there is a lot more chatter happening, view it here. Also, keep an eye on the AngelConf site as they may be posting a recording of the event later.
TechStars Releases Legal Docs
February 8, 2009
TechStars, a Boulder, Colorado based startup incubator/mentorship program, has just announced the release of the legal documents they use in the seed funding of their companies.
TechStars was co-founded by David Cohen who is also one of the co-founders of SpringStage.
If you’re a web/tech startup, reading up on these documents will help you begin to get your brain around everything that goes into the seed funding stage and hopefully generate some questions in your head that you should be asking.
You can read David’s post on the TechStars blog and access the documents HERE.
Facebook ads are NOT the place to find money for your startup
January 23, 2009
Let’s be clear about this.
Maybe you have seen this ad come up on your facebook page:
Sounds good right? Score a $25k loan with no collateral and fast approval… gee, I wonder what got us into this credit crunch in the first place.
Well, that ad takes you to this super high quality website:
That’s it. That’s the only page… still want the money? Didn’t think so.
Sequoia Capital Partners Reiterate Value of Cash
October 9, 2008
Apparently, TheFunded.com managed to procure meeting notes of a CEO of a Sequoia Capital portfolio company, made their mandatory gathering to discuss what their companies should be doing in the current economic climate. TheFunded published the full text in their members only section, but Lance Weatherby, a ‘Venture Catalyst’ at Georgia Tech, republished it on his blog.
The speakers at the meeting seem to echo my sentiments yesterday about CASH being king, and there is A LOT mentioned about cashflow and cutting expenses… cutting DEEP. Whether it mean cutting unnecessary features from your product, cutting employees, cutting salaries; the most drastic the better in order to PRESERVE cash and you cash flow.
(I had a whole list of my favorites here before wordpress decided to eat my post for lunch and I had to start from scratch. Read the full text over at Lance’s blog for all the good stuff.)
This is pretty serious stuff from one of the country’s premier venture capital firms. However, when you really sit and think about what they had to say, really, it’s just sound, LEAN business practices that you should probably be following anyway. Right?
As a startup, you HAVE to know that cashflow is going to be very important to your (ultimate) success and you should ALWAYS keep expenses as trim as you can. Don’t we learn that in Business 101?
I love the last sentence in the text of the meeting notes:
Get Real or Go Home
Good advice for all of us!
Now is the time to bootstrap your new business!
October 8, 2008
Are you starting a new business? Or maybe you have already? Well, here is my advice to you…
Forget VCs, forget the SBA, forget the bank loans, forget Visa/Mastercard/AmEx… You don’t need them.
Take the CASH you have, and start building your business one customer at time. If you don’t have the CASH you need, then it’s probably not time for you to be starting your venture.
Forget the beta and forget free. Get your product out in front of everyone and start charging! Now is the time for a business model that makes money. (is the freemium model dead?)
Save the money you’re making and don’t blow it on stuff you don’t need. When you do need something, pay for it with the cash you’ve saved.
Sounds like common sense right? You would think. However, here in DFW we’re already seeing business that depend on short-term credit starting to falter, as noted by Alex Muse in this post today on the Texas Startup Blog.
There is a financial guy on the radio and I love one of his sayings:
“… where cash is king and the paid off home mortgage has taken the place of the BMW as the status symbol of choice.”
A lot of people in the business world drive BMWs I’m sure, but how many operate their businesses without debt?
Of course, in the business world there are many situations in which credit of some sort is a necessity and it would certainly be difficult to completely eliminate it. If you have to use, do so wisely and with careful consideration.
3 Ways to Raise Startup Money
October 3, 2008
Asheesh Advani of Entrepreneur.com has an article over on MSNBC covering three honest ways to raise startup money. He points out a number of pitfalls that are common to entrepreneurs and then gives these three things:
- Develop financial projections that are rooted in verifiable assumptions
- Write paychecks that don’t bounce, but increase as the business grows
- Get your clients to compete to be first
These are all great points but I especially like the last one, on many levels. It’s no secret that people love to be first. It’s like an insatiable thirst with no quencher. When you have customers competing to let you provide them service/product/etc, you are sitting in a great position to grow your business in the right directions on your terms.
Guy Kawasaki recently said in a talk that if you go to a VC and say, “I need money to scale”, they will invariably respond with their checkbook.
Dallas Based Astadia Inc. Grabs $7MM in Funding
October 2, 2008
Astadia Inc, a SaaS company here in Dallas, announced yesterday they closed a second round financing deal for $7MM to diversify their product offerings. Astadia is the largest Salesforce.com partner.
The round involved North Atlantic Capital based in Portland, ME and Kodiak Venture Partners based in Boston, MA. As part of the deal David Coit, Managing Director of North Atlantic Capital, was added to the Astadia board of directors.
You can read their Business Wire press release over at MarketWatch.
Pitch Camp Dallas is COMING!
September 21, 2008
Alex Muse over at the Texas Startup Blog announced today that he and Christopher St. John will be hosting Pitch Camp on October 18th. If you’re interested in participating, leave a comment on Alex’s blog or shoot him an email. Here is the post from Alex:
Christopher St. John and I are hosting ‘Pitch Camp‘ on October 18th, 2008 at the INFOMART (in Dallas, TX). The all-day event (10AM to 5PM) is designed for up-to 50 entrepreneurs. Pitching your startup to prospective employees, angel investors, venture capitalists or journalists can be daunting for the most experienced entrepreneur, must less the startup novice. Pitch Camp will be very interactive and hands-on – come prepared to work. This isn’t a spectator sport (oh and you won’t be getting funded, this is purely an educational event). Here is the tentative agenda:
- 10:00 – 10:30 How to pitch to angels and venture capitalists.
- 10:45 – 11:15 When to use a deck and when to demo.
- 11:15 – 11:45 How to pitch to journalists.
- 12:00 – 1:00 Lunch/Networking
- 1:00 – 3:00 Pitching workshop (the group assists 1-3 entrepreneurs prepare a pitch)
- 3:00 – 3:30 Real live pitching (1-3 entrepreneurs, prepared by group will pitch)
- 3:30 – 4:00 Pitch feedback from panel of 1-3 real live venture capitalists and angel investors
- 4PM-5PM Beer/Networking
What we need (i.e. how you can help):
Christopher is working to select 1-3 entrepreneurs who would be willing to become the guinee pig or case study for the workshop. If you would like to be one of three entrepreneurs whose pitches we work on, please comment on this post with a) who you are, b) what you are working and c) what stage is your idea/business.
While Christopher is working to recruit pitchers, I am responsible for finding the coaches/trainers. We need two or three venture capital or angel investors and one journalist who are available to give a 20 minute talk on how to pitch between 10AM and Noon. Additionally, we will need two or three venture capital or angel investors who would be willing to judge and critique pitches between 3PM and 4PM. If you can help out with the morning or afternoon please ping me at amuse@m-ven.com. If you are simply interested in providing advice or suggestions please post those to the comments.
If you are interested in attending, please RSVP on the Upcoming site here. The event is sponsored by SpringStage startup network.
