Fri, 30 June 2023
We are excited to announce a new segment for you, How to Invest Series. Where we will be revisiting some of the smart insights, tips, and advice from our past guests on the show. To start off the series we will be touching on the Biotech and life science subject. So, let's dive right in and hear the answers to the question I made to each of our guests back in 2021: What makes for a successful company in this segment? Our first five guests are: Carter Williams, CEO and Managing Partner of iSelect Fund, Maximilian Bade, Founding Partner at Nucleus Capital, Orrin Ailloni-Charas, MD, who was the Managing Partner of the Global Health Impact Fund, Eyal Lifschitz, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Peregrine Ventures, and Ron Paliwoda, President of the Paliwoda Group. Carter Williams, a seasoned innovator and venture investor, has an extensive background in managing R&D and spearheading technological advancements. Currently, Carter leads iSelect, an early-stage venture firm based in St. Louis, which focuses on investing in companies tackling global issues with financially attractive business models. Maximilian has founded Nucleus Capital to support purpose-driven entrepreneurs addressing systemic challenges to planetary health. Nucleus Capital is a venture capital firm focused on investing in pre/seed stage companies at the intersection of synthetic biology, climate- and food technology. Dr. Orrin Ailloni-Charas is an experienced anesthesiologist and investment leader, with a diverse background in healthcare. In 2021, he was the CEO and Managing Partner of the Global Health Impact Fund (GHIF), a physician-led venture fund. Eyal, is an experienced entrepreneur and VC partner, with over 20 years of experience managing and investing in healthcare companies. Peregrine Ventures is a leading Israeli capital fund focused on high-tech companies in the life sciences, pharma, and digital health. Ron Paliwoda is an accidental entrepreneur and seasoned investor, primarily through the Ventures arm of The Paliwoda Group. Links from today's show: iSelect Fund: www.iselectfund.com; Nucleus Capital: www.nucleus-capital.com; Global Health Impact Fund: globalhealthimpactfund.com/; Peregrine Ventures: www.peregrinevc.com/; Paliwoda Group: www.paliwoda.com. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 30 June 2023
Type of Secondary Transactions Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are several types of secondary transactions as follows: Confidentially marketed public offerings -- these offerings go to institutional investors. These transactions use an S3 form to provide shares to known buyers. Bought deal -- these shares are bought by an underwriter who takes the risk of the transaction. Since the risk is shouldered by one underwriter the shares are typically priced higher. PIPEs -- these are Private Investments in Public Entities and give private investors the ability to buy shares directly in the company without public disclosure. PIPEs are more heavily discounted. Block trades -- these are transactions used by smaller sellers to sell their shares directly to another buyer without having to go through an underwriter. These transactions provide alternative ways of completing a secondary sale.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 29 June 2023
How Do Secondary Sales Work? Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Secondary sales typically occur with later-stage startups. Investors who want shares in a company will buy the shares from founders, employees, or other investors. The price is typically at a discount to the last priced round such as 15 to 30%. The seller must find a buyer for the stock. This could be existing investors in the company who want a larger position or new investors. Oftentimes investors who could not get into the investment round will buy shares through the secondary market. The company itself may know of potential buyers of the stock. There are websites that match investors to sellers of the stock. There are venture funds that focus on buying secondary shares as well. Investors use SPV or special purpose vehicles to structure the purchase. The purchased stock has a lock-up period and cannot be sold for a period of time. Those who sell the stock will need to take taxes into account.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 28 June 2023
Customize the Pitch for the Investor Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Customize the pitch for each investor. Research the investor before the pitch to learn more about their investment thesis. Review their portfolio of startups to see what is common about them and how your deal fits. For each investor choose three points to highlight that you think will connect with the investor. If the investor is interested in traction then focus on the growth rates and metrics in your deal. If the investor is interested in the team, then focus on what each team member is doing. Give the investor the chance to ask questions during the pitch so you understand their concerns. Have answers for the questions posed as you’ll hear some questions repeatedly. Oftentimes you’ll be in a place where the slides are not available. You need to know your pitch well and can give it even without the slides. After some practice, you’ll be able to identify investor types and can automatically customize the pitch for them.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 27 June 2023
Challenges in Secondary Sales Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are several obstacles to overcome in completing a secondary sale. Here are some challenges to consider: Board approval -- In many cases, the company must approve any founder shares being sold. Right of First Refusal -- companies that have raised funding have Rights of First Refusal on any offers of stock sales. The company must sign off those rights to allow others to purchase the shares. Co-Sale Rights -- Investors may have Co-sale rights which require any purchasers of the company's stock to purchase an equal amount from the investors. Corporate Laws -- some states have regulations around the re-sale of the company's stock. Transfer restrictions -- some companies have restrictions on the transfer of stock and must approve any transfers. 409A valuation issues -- the company uses a 409A valuation to set the price for employee stock options. Any secondary sales of the company's stock above that 409A price may increase the 409A valuation impacting the price of employee stock options. Review these issues before pursuing a secondary sale.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 26 June 2023
Benefits of a Secondary Sale Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. A secondary sale brings several benefits to the stakeholders in a startup. Companies stay private much longer than before. Those in the company need access to capital. For founders, a secondary sale provides some liquidity in the near term giving them the opportunity to continue growing their business for a larger exit. For employees, a secondary sale provides access to liquidity reducing job hopping to find a larger salary elsewhere. For the early stage investors, the secondary sale provides returns before subsequent larger rounds of funding dilute them. Institutional investors can use the secondary sale to buy into the business bringing additional expertise as well as cleaning up the cap table of smaller investors. This makes the business more attractive to the eventual buyers of the business.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 23 June 2023
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Zeke Trezise, Associate investor of New Stack Ventures and a member of the Full Ratchet podcast team. Located in Chicago, IL, USA, New Stack Ventures is specialized in pre-seed and seed funding for startups led by entrepreneurs outside the traditional Silicon Valley mold. With a mission to empower underrepresented talent, they invest in a diverse range of sectors such as B2B SaaS, Fintech, and Healthcare. They also stay ahead of industry trends, ensuring their agility in the ever-evolving startup financing landscape. In addition to financial support, New Stack Ventures offers strategic guidance and mentorship to portfolio companies. The Full Ratchet podcast is a popular and influential resource in the world of venture capital and startup investing. Hosted by Nick Moran, a seasoned venture capitalist himself, the podcast features in-depth conversations with industry experts, successful entrepreneurs, and thought leaders, providing valuable insights and analysis on various topics related to startups, fundraising, and investment strategies. Zeke Trezise is a dedicated venture capital investor with expertise in early-stage investments. His diverse industry knowledge has helped build a balanced and robust portfolio for New Stack Ventures while supporting the success of numerous startups. Zeke comes from a family of entrepreneurs and has always had a strong interest in business and finance. Zeke's background includes working with startups, sourcing new promising startups, and assisting with diligence on investment deals. He believes in the importance of focus and clarity in startups, and his role primarily revolves around deal flow and evaluating potential investments. Zeke is also interested in the trends and developments in the venture capital world, including the democratization of access to investments and the impact of crowdfunding. Visit New Stack Ventures at newstack.com, www.linkedin.com/company/new-stack-ventures, and on twitter.com/newstackvc?lang=en. Listen to The Full Ratchet podcast here fullratchet.net Reach out to Zeke at zeke@newstack.com, and on www.linkedin.com/in/zeke-trezise _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 23 June 2023
Why Do Investors Want Secondaries Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Secondaries stands for secondary sales which refers to selling privately held stock in startups to other buyers. Investors buy secondaries instead of waiting for the next fundraise round. By buying now rather than later the investor can lock in a lower valuation. Investors in secondaries provide liquidity to other investors who trade off some portion of the valuation for that liquidity. Investors in secondaries buy into proven startups and are not at risk to go under for startup failure. As companies stay private longer, there are more secondaries available for purchase. Employees selling their shares after a poor-performing quarter often drop the asking price providing an opportunity for investors to gain more shares at a lower valuation. Later-stage companies come with substantial market and performance data on which to make an investment decision, unlike early-stage companies where little data is available. Investors often purchase secondaries to gain exposure to new technology markets. Finally, investors often use secondaries to diversify their portfolios.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 22 June 2023
Why Companies Delay IPOs Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Companies stay private much longer than they used to. Previously companies ran an Initial Public Offering to gain access to the public markets for financing. Companies delay their IPOs for any of the following reasons: Avoid the cost of going public which is fairly high given the regulatory requirements. Maintain a level of privacy over their operations and financials by remaining private. Continue to operate the business as usual with their own board of directors rather than gaining public scrutiny that comes with a public company. Avoid the rollercoaster ride of sentiment in the public markets. The private markets today provide sufficient capital to pre-IPO companies so the need for capital no longer drives companies to go public.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 21 June 2023
What Are Secondaries Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Secondaries stands for secondary sales which refers to selling privately held stock in startups to other buyers. This arises from several sources such as investors who want to get into the deal after the fundraise is complete or employees who want to sell some of their shares. Secondary sales are on the rise since companies are staying private much longer. Investors often want to apply some of their startup capital into companies in the three years before an anticipated IPO as investing in the first three years of the startup’s life translates into a long holding time. There are many sources of secondary shares including: Employees at companies doing well. Websites that match investors to startups. Venture funds that focus on secondary sales. A secondary sale is different from a fundraise as the latter involves issuing more stock thus diluting the existing shareholders. A secondary sale is a transfer of ownership and therefore there’s no dilution to the current investors. Most secondary sales come with a three-day lockup before re-selling the shares.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 20 June 2023
Preparing the Diligence Documents Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Investors interested in your startup will want to perform due diligence on the deal. Diligence is a standard process investors go through to review all the relevant documents and checkmark all the boxes before investing. In preparing your diligence documents consider the following: Start with a checklist of potential items to include. Most due diligence lists are comprehensive and include many items not applicable to an early-stage company. Start with the standard documents which include the following: Entity filings -- investors want to see documentation on your LLC or C-Corp filing. Many investors only invest in Delaware C-corps. You may need to change your entity filing to meet the investor’s requirements. Patent filings -- half the value of submitted patent filings are for investors as it demonstrates a competitive advantage. Consider filing provisional patents in advance of a fundraise. These are relatively simple documents compared to full patent submissions. Three to five-year financial forecasts -- you’ll need detailed financial projections showcasing your vision of how you will spend the raised funds and the business results from it. This needs to be bottom-up analysis and not a top-down estimation. Cap table -- this is the list of the current equity owners and what percentage each one has. Organization chart -- this shows the current employees and their positions. Gather these core documents into one folder that you can give to interested investors. If you consider the information confidential, then you can ask the investor to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 19 June 2023
Customize the Pitch for Your Investor Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In pitching investors, you’ll find that each investor is unique. Customize the pitch for the investor by emphasizing the elements of your deal that intrigue the investor. If the investor focuses on the business model, then talk about how your business model works and why it will be successful. If the investor focuses on the team, then spend time talking about the unique skills the team brings. While the slides may be standard for each pitch, the time spent on each slide should align with the interests of the investor. Turn your pitch from a monologue into a dialog with the investor. Encourage questions along the way to surface areas of interest and disinterest. Identify the risk points that the investor sees in the deal and focus on how you mitigate those risks. Some investors are impact investors and want to see how your startup will provide a positive impact in the environment, social, or governance realm. For those investors, emphasize your impact metric showing how your startup helps the community. Tailor the presentation to each investor by turning it into a collaborative process.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound.
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Fri, 16 June 2023
Preparing the Pitchdeck Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In preparing your pitchdeck consider the following: Start with a template slide deck. This ensures you cover all the key points. Each slide is one section of the executive summary. Problem/Opportunity, Solution, Product, Team, etc. Write out on each slide what you want to say about that topic. Use the short bullet point format as long descriptions are not necessary. Go back and convert the bullet points into graphs, charts, and images and polish some into concisely worded bullet points. Walk through the presentation to see how it flows. You may need to move slides around to make the story fluid. If you want to create additional slides then do so but put them at the end of the presentation as Appendix slides. This way you can provide the basic presentation to everyone but have the additional slides for questions that may arise. The key is to identify your message first and then write it out in a manner that best communicates that message.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 16 June 2023
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Zamir Shukho, CEO and Founder at Vibranium VC. Located in San Francisco Bay Area, California, USA, Vibranium VC is a venture fund based in Silicon Valley and led by an international team of serial entrepreneurs. The investment focus is on seed-stage B2B SaaS startups. Vibranium.VC aims to identify future champions and support their rapid growth and global expansion. With Vibranium, every startup becomes STRONGER. Zamir Shukho is the CEO and Founder of the Vibranium.VC venture fund. With 20 years of professional experience, he has a background as a serial entrepreneur having created 10 companies and organizations. Zamir is also an expert in venture capital, management, and corporate innovation. In addition to this, he is a startup mentor and a certified coach of the Stanford I2M program. Zamir shares his expertise in corporate innovation and B2B SaaS. He emphasizes the importance of being a smart investor and providing mentorship support to startups, particularly in the B2B SaaS market. He discusses the challenges of starting a VC fund and the need for a committed and excellent team. Visit Vibranium VC at https://vibranium.vc/, and on www.linkedin.com/company/vibraniumvc Reach out to Zamir atzamir@vibranium.vc, www.linkedin.com/in/zamirshukho/, and on twitter.com/ZamirShukho. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 15 June 2023
Identify the Target Investors Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Once you’ve identified the ideal investor type for your business you’ll need to build a target list of investors to pursue. Research potential investors for their criteria and how it matches your deal. Key areas to look for are industry sector, stage of investment, and geographic preference. Look at the portfolio companies invested to see if they are similar or different from your startup. After building the list then research the investors by looking at their investment history if available. Look for press releases on past fundings as well. Talk with their portfolio companies to find out their experience with the investor. Ask the portfolio company if they think your deal would be a good fit for the investor. If possible, ask the portfolio company for an introduction. Investors will appreciate the fact that you are taking the time to do the homework.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 14 June 2023
Profiling the Ideal Investor Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are several types of accredited investors in the startup world. These include angels, venture capitalists, and family offices. Angels write smaller checks compared to the other two but can provide support for your business as advisors and networkers to raise more capital. Venture capitalists write bigger checks and often take a more proactive role in the company such as a board of directors position. Family offices also write bigger checks but don’t generally provide much in the way of support as advisors or networkers. Most startups approach angel investors first because their diligence is not as demanding and there’s no need for a board at the very early stage. Startups approach either venture capitalists or family offices for bigger checks and to gain more management support for the business. Venture capitalists have a narrow focus on the type of business they fund while family offices have a broader focus. Venture capitalists are primarily focused on the exit while family offices are often mission-driven in their investment. Consider the type of investor you need for your business and target the right investor.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 13 June 2023
Valuation Methods To Consider Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In preparing your fundraise you need to consider your current valuation even if you’re using a SAFE or Convertible Note. There are several methods to use to estimate your valuation. The most often used method is comparables. This method looks at similar companies that recently raised funding and uses that as a proxy for your startup's valuation. It can be a challenge to find companies that fit exactly but if you generalize into tech, healthcare, consumer product goods, etc, you can find comps for your startup. You can also use the rule of four which gives your startup a $1M valuation for each of four points: sales, team, product, and intellectual property. Give your startup the full $1M if you have each category fully developed. If it’s less than fully developed then give your valuation a portion of it. For example, if the product is fully developed and ready for the market then it’s $1M. If on the other hand, it’s in beta form with some functionality then give your valuation $500K. Add up all four numbers to calculate your valuation. There are other methods such as the Berkus method which uses a scorecard and the venture capital method which looks at the exit price and works back to your current valuation. It’s best to try several methods to see which one puts your business in the best position. In the end, valuation is a negotiation and not a formula. No matter what valuation you propose the investor will challenge it so make sure you have solid evidence of your proposed number.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 12 June 2023
Preparing the Business Metrics Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Investors are looking for a high-growth company with good unit economics. In preparing for your fundraise you need to identify a handful of key metrics that show your growth story. For the seed stage, you must have a run rate that is above 10K revenue per month. For the growth stage, you need to be on a revenue rate of 50K per month or better. Next, calculate your growth rate. You need to be doubling sales year over year. Anything below 50% annual growth rate will not be seen as a high-growth company. Recurring revenue is a priority because it shows predictable growth. In fact, investors care more about predictability than the growth rate. This factor more than any other drives your valuation. Show your cost of customer acquisition and lifetime value in unit economic terms. Choose three key numbers from the above to showcase in your presentation. Don’t make them dig through your spreadsheets to find it. Instead, pull out three numbers and show them.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 9 June 2023
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Bentley Adams, CEO & Founder at Way. Located in Los Angeles, CA, Way is an intuitive eating app that helps people find peace in their relationships with food and their body. Their mission is to impact health and happiness, with a vision of the future where restrictive diets are a thing of the past - where people discuss listening to their body instead of what diet plan they’re failing on. Through simple, thought-provoking questions and sessions that incorporate intuitive eating practices and apply them within the CBT framework, Way has helped 73% of users think differently about how they eat or actually eat differently (i.e. at the grocery store or restaurant), in the first week. Most apps struggle to get 10% of customers to benefit, ever. Bentley is a mission-oriented, three-time health entrepreneur. The first company was a VC-backed laboratory management company that exited successfully to Private Equity and the second company was a digital marketing agency focused on the consumerization of healthcare and became an Inc. 500 company. Earlier in his career he was a top producer for Beckman Coulter and audited Medicaid while at KPMG, but his passion has always stemmed from his mission to impact health and happiness and his college minor studying physiology, functional movement, and the emotional and psychological layers of helping people find lasting behavior change that betters their whole life, health, and happiness. Bentley shares the unique approach and differentiation of his company, from its competitors Unlike restrictive diets, Way focuses on intuitive eating and cognitive behavioral therapy to create sustainable and long-term changes in eating behavior. Visit Way at www.eatmyway.com/, and on www.linkedin.com/company/eatmyway. Reach out to Bentley at bentley@eatmyway.com, and on www.linkedin.com/in/bentley-way. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 9 June 2023
When To Raise Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Most founders go out for a fundraise prematurely because they need money, not because they are ready for fundraising. Consider the following to understand when to raise funding. Have a compelling idea that you can clearly articulate. Have a validated customer, market, and product lineup. Have the investor documents prepared. While you will always be changing the deck it needs to show the core product, team, and fundraise. Be able to demonstrate the product even at an early stage. Show customer interest through engagement as well as revenue. Talk to some investors to identify what risks they see in the deal then show how you mitigate those risks. When you have these things done, then consider launching your fundraise. Engage investors with your deal and remember never to attend an investor meeting empty-handed. Always have some customer engagement to discuss.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 8 June 2023
Milestone the Raise Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Founders often want to compress their fundraising into one round for the sake of efficiency. While this may sound like a good idea, it’s actually an expensive one for the founder. Raising too much money in the early stages will cost the founder equity dilution. The valuation of the startup is low at the beginning and will rise with more products built and revenue generated. Raise a small amount upfront to get the business going such as $250K. If you try to raise less than $250K most angels and venture capitalists will not consider this enough to build something meaningful. Take your overall fundraising and break it into smaller milestones such as $500K for a seed round. It’s often the case that you will need to raise another $500K a year later which some call a seed plus round. It’s still seed funding and comes at the same terms as before. But it’s easier to raise because you broke a $1M raise into two milestones. This strategy lets you raise funding and then work on the business. For the next round, you’ll need some time to build the product and close customers. A rule of thumb is it takes one year to raise $1M. A $500K raise will come in closer to half a year. When you raise funding it should be a full-time job. The key here is it doesn’t have to be a full-time job for the entire year.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Wed, 7 June 2023
How Much Funding To Raise Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. When raising funding consider how much you should raise. Start with the overall amount of funding required to take the business to cash flow positive. This is often a fairly large number for platform-based businesses in a high-growth sector. Take the overall amount of funding and break it down into milestone raises. At the early stage of the business, the valuation is low. As you build the team, the product, and the revenue your valuation will go up. For the first round of funding raise as little as you need to reach the next milestone. If you raise too much funding in the first round you will be giving away too much equity. Save the larger rounds of funding for later when you have a much higher valuation. Pre-seed rounds are often at $250K, Seed rounds at $500K to $750K, and Series A rounds at $1M to $5M. Each round will cost you 20% of the equity. Be careful in setting valuations too high in the first round as you’ll need to at least double that valuation in the next round.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Tue, 6 June 2023
Fundraising Timeline Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. For every $1M of funding you want to raise, it will take one year to raise it for early-stage startups. This includes time to prepare the company, the investor documents, and the pitch as well as contacting, pitching, and following up with investors. It’s best to have your pitch deck and financial projections prepared before the fundraiser as well as a basic dataroom with the key documents investors expect. This shows you have the fundraise well organized. Investors have their diligence process and of course, they are very busy so you have to work through their schedule. Fundraising should be a full-time job for the CEO with support from the team for document preparation. The first few investors are the most difficult as every investor wants to go first. Once you reach 50% of your fundraising goal you can estimate the remainder of the raise will take about 30% less time than the first half of the raise. The process may run faster if you have run a startup before, especially if you have had an exit.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Mon, 5 June 2023
Fundraise Differences by Stage Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising funding over the life of the startup you’ll find there are differences in the fundraise at each stage. The goal at the Seed stage is to show you can sell the product. At this stage, the investors will look primarily at the team since there’s little in the way of product or revenue. You need to show a working prototype and initial customer validation though. You must convince the investor that customers will pay for the product and use it. At the Series A stage, the goal is to show you can grow the business. At this stage you need to show a repeatable and predictable process for acquiring the customer, delivering the service, and retaining them. Show a sales funnel with prospects tracking through the process of turning into customers. At the Series B stage, the goal is to show you can scale the business. In this stage, you need to show you have growth drivers built into the business that scales the company. This includes systems that can drive scale growth such as a partner network, sales force capability, and ability to expand into new markets with the same platform. At each stage, the pitch deck will need to reflect the goal for the fundraiser and demonstrate what the business is doing to achieve it.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 2 June 2023
On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Liam Krut, Investment Partner, at Reinforced Ventures. Located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, Reinforced Ventures invest in overlooked areas of deep tech and have a network of over 1700 experts. The company was founded by technologists with a mission to serve and fund the next generation of commercial infrastructure in software and autonomous systems at their source in Pittsburgh, PA. Reinforced Ventures was selected into the 2022 Top 50 Emerging Managers by Weekend Fund. Liam works full time with Reinforced Ventures, previously a private equity diligence consultant for software company acquisitions with computational biology background at CMU, research experience at Harvard/MIT, and founder of a biotechnology and a cybersecurity company. Liam's focus is biotechnology investments. Liam dives deep into the deep tech space, all the risks and returns, the outstanding approach of Reinforced Ventures, and much more. Visit Reinforced Ventures at reinforcedventures.com/, and on www.linkedin.com/company/reinforced-ventures/. Reach out to Liam at liam@reinforcedventures.com, and on www.linkedin.com/in/williamkrut/. _______________________________________________________ For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Fri, 2 June 2023
Von Restorff Effect Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The Von Restorff effect is defined by Wikipedia as an item that sticks out and is more likely to be remembered than other items. The startup pitch that provides something unique will be remembered more than the others. To use the Von Restorff effect in your pitch consider the following: Highlight key elements of your message so it is visually distinctive. Use graphs or charts to help your presentation stand out from text-only slides. Highlight words or phrases to emphasize key points. Use GIFs with motion to capture attention. The goal is to take the investor off ‘autopilot’ and get them to consider the information more deeply. Presentations that are distinct and stand out from the others will be remembered by investors. By standing out from the crowd investors will consider the deal on its own merits rather than in comparison to other deals.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ Thank you for joining your host Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
Thu, 1 June 2023
What Type of Funding Should You Seek Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. When raising funding consider the type of funding you should pursue. There are many types of funding such as equity funding including angels and venture capitalists. There are debt funding tools including loans and revenue-based funding. There are crowdfunding portals including rewards, equity, and peer-to-peer lending. Before choosing a type of funding, consider the following: Investigate each type of funding and consider where it may fit into your overall funding plan. It’s most likely that you will use two or three types of funding over the life of your business. To understand the type of funding you should seek ask ‘how you will pay the investor back.’ If you plan to pay back when you sell the business, equity funding is an option. If you plan to pay back out of the business's cash flow, then debt funding is an option. If you have a consumer-facing product, consider crowdfunding, which offers both debt and equity options. Break your funding down into component parts and consider using more than one type of funding for your business.
Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding. _______________________________________________________ Thank you for joining your host Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group Please follow, share, and leave a review. Music courtesy of Bensound. |
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