Author, Investor, Speaker, Mentor
One of the mental traps that I try to avoid is what I’m going to term “the implied assumption of success.” This trap occurs when entrepreneurs say something like, “If I raise $2 million instead of $500K, I’ll be able to get much farther, so I should raise $2 million.” The issue, of course, is … Continue reading The Implied Assumption of Success
Investors are fond of telling entrepreneurs about how dangerous it is to raise too much money too early on. We advise entrepreneurs to minimize fundraising until they achieve product-market fit, and are ready for scaling up. The problem is, entrepreneurs don’t want to hear it. It’s like telling Americans to lose weight by eating less … Continue reading When you raise a lot of money, you raise the degree of difficulty
The great Eric Barker notes that the #1 negotiation principle that HBS teaches its MBA students is being likeable: http://bit.ly/19qRqeG “Here’s the equation for getting what you want. Cutting to the chase: You want to get more. You want more money, a better offer, a better deal; here are the components of what you need … Continue reading “They Need To Like You”: Friendship & Raising a Series A
Paul Graham has just published one of his best essays ever, “How To Raise Money” http://bit.ly/18acSGq I was nodding my head through the entire essay, but I want to draw particular attention to what Paul has to say about valuation. Now YC companies are (in)famous for raising money at huge valuations, and Paul has been … Continue reading Paul Graham to Entrepreneurs: Stop Worrying About Valuation
While the startup life can be full of excitement, it can also be incredibly repetitive. Take the pitch, for example. Many entrepreneurs dislike fundraising because they have to deliver the same pitch over and over. I’ve lost track of the times that people have referred to themselves as a wind-up toy. Yet if entrepreneurs think … Continue reading Getting to the point is a cardinal virtue
I love Jason Lemkin’s writings about entrepreneurship and building SaaS companies. Jason’s most recent success is EchoSign (sold to Adobe), and he was unusually candid about the importance of having a VC investor rather than a “party” round: http://bit.ly/17a2AW7 “Everything else, for funding, in the end didn’t really matter. The first $2m? Great, but we … Continue reading Always Get A Lead Investor
I’ve really been enjoying the pitch videos that BetaBeat has made available as part of its “The Pitch” webisodes. From what I can tell, “The Pitch” applies the classic webisode model (short I just watched a video that showed the founders of Silver Living, a super-Yelp for retirement homes, pitch to Steve Schlafman of Lerer … Continue reading BetaBeat’s “The Pitch” web series is smart marketing that should cloned for Silicon Valley
It’s never easy to raise money. People who say, “It’s easy to raise money,” usually neglect to mention the second half of the sentence, which is “if you are in a hot space, know the right people socially, and fit the Silicon Valley central casting notion of an entrepreneur (20something white or Asian male with … Continue reading It’s never “easy” to raise money