AngelList is awesome. In fact, we encourage all of our startups to use AngelList to raise money – it’s clearly useful to both founders and investors. Two-way transparency FTW!
First things first, don’t make your startup profile public immediately — take a few minutes to check out the tips below. It’s better to spend an extra hour up front to polish things up, first impressions count.
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Chris Dixon recently wrote about the experience economy and this particular part caught my eye:
The era of competing over technical specifications is over. Users want better experiences from devices, applications, websites, and the offline services they enable. It is no coincidence that interaction design is replacing technical prowess as the primary competency at startups.
I totally agree with the first part of the statement but fundamentally disagree with the last sentence above. Interaction design isn’t replacing technical prowess, it’s requiring startups to have even …
This post was inspired by a discussion on Facebook where I started a comment with this: in 2012+, why does it matter where anyone’s located anymore?
It used to be that startups had to chase the money/investors and, because travel was usually expensive, they had to look in their backyard or move elsewhere. These days, that balance has shifted: cross-country flights can be obtained for <$500 roundtrip and capital is following the talent, regardless of location. In the case …
If you’re an investor, it’s harder than ever to be a big fish in a small pond. If you can’t (or won’t) fund a company on fair terms, someone else will.
If you’re a founder, it’s harder than ever to raise money on a mediocre idea. After all, if I see a company with more traction halfway around the world, why wouldn’t I invest in it instead?
As much as AngelList has helped founders obtain capital from investors that may not be …
In the past, it was often the case that the skills required to build online startups were hard to find. If you could find the people with those skills and subsequently build something, you’d tell potential investors that you had some sort of secret sauce (read: intellectual property) that sets you apart. Today, it’s not hard to build, test and launch a startup within a weekend. More importantly, it’s become easier than ever to obtain paying customers in that same …
Earlier today, VentureBeat wrote about the dirty secret behind the incubator boom. Francisco raises an important point: other than initial money, what do these incubators bring to the table? The broader question is, what value do all investors bring to the table? As access to early stage deal flow opens up to more potential investors (see: AngelList), investors are being forced to prove their value. Especially if you want to get into the best deals.
For …
If you’re trying to raise money today, the fact of the matter is that it’s getting harder: as the web gets bigger, the world gets smaller. More founders, from all over the world, are going after the same pool of money.
(As an aside, crowdfunding may make the initial round a little easier to raise but I suspect it will actually raise the bar for folks trying to raise a subsequent round from “traditional” investors. You’ll have even more founders, many …
I spoke at a Founder Institute DC event last night along with Gabe Zichermann (by the way, you’re missing out on some seriously good stuff if you haven’t seen Gabe speak elsewhere) and Matt Howard. If you’re in the startup trenches, these tips are for you.
FI: Product and Service Development…
As recently as five years ago, it wasn’t uncommon to see startups raising hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars, before they had a customer-ready product. Mostly, this was due to the high costs involved with internet startups (servers and bandwidth weren’t cheap). Things were expensive and you had to obtain permission from investors (via funding) to do any of it.
Today, that barrier is almost non-existent. Many founders are focusing on ramen profitability, …
If you’re an investor, simply having money isn’t doing it anymore:
I was talking with one of my favorite entrepreneurs the other day, who was trying to choose a lead for his next financing round. This is a guy who had plenty of options. Facetiously, sort of, he said he was planning on picking the VC who had the most unique visitors to his blog. That, of course, sent a chill down my under-publicized spine. Again, i
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Yeah, I think you need those s...
by Justin Thorp on Curation and Urgency: Two Requirements for any Startup (and Community)
Absolutely agreed. After havi...
by Dave Gullo on Curation and Urgency: Two Requirements for any Startup (and Community)
That's the problem, it shouldn...
by Paul Singh on Curation and Urgency: Two Requirements for any Startup (and Community)
Agree 100%, but it seems that ...
by Tim @ An Entrepreneurial Life on Curation and Urgency: Two Requirements for any Startup (and Community)
Congratulations and all the be...
