Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup founders need some legal skills.

Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup:

1. Legal Entity - ability to set up an LLC or C-Corp for your business with proper articles of incorporation.
2. Cap Table - ability to set up the cap table with initial ownership of the founder, co-founder, and seed investors.
3. Trademark - ability to trademark the company name. 
4. Web Domain - ability to find and register the company domain name.
5. Family and friends funding - ability to take funding from non-accredited investors with SEC compliance.
6. Tax IDs - ability to set up a bank account with tax ID information for the company.
7. Employee vs. Contractors - ability to distinguish between an employee and a contractor for classification and tax treatment.
8. Legal Support - ability to identify the proper legal support needed for contract law, employment law, and other.
9. Legal Documents - ability to set up employment agreements, contracts, stock options, and board and shareholder resolutions and reports. 
10. Intellectual Property - ability to file a provisional patent in advance of filing design and utility patents.
11. Terms of Service - ability to create terms of service agreement for clients and customers.
12. Employment Agreement - ability to create an employment agreement with confidentiality and invention assignment contracts.
13. Recruiting requirements - knowing how to avoid asking questions that are prohibited by law.
14. Firing employees - ability to know how to fire an employee staying within legal requirements. 

For startup founders, these are the basic skills you’ll need to master to run your business in the early days.  


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Andreea Danila, Founding General Partner at Global Millennial Capital.

Global Millennial Capital was established by Andreea in 2019, backed by the Al Attiyah family office. It is the first female-founded venture capital investor from the Middle East to introduce artificial intelligence (AI) in the investment process. They invest in global scalable, tech-enabled, and highly transformational consumer-centric early-stage opportunities in Silicon Valley.

The fund is expected to have 50 bets and uses the Rounding Theory to make investments. 

Andreea is an award-winning entrepreneur, venture capitalist, investor, and board member of various portfolio companies in Silicon Valley including Envel, Unifymoney, Elly Health, Blue Studios, PathBooks, Millennial Beauty among others. She is the Senior Executive Officer within the Qatar Financial Center and Private Investment Fund Director with the financial services commission in BVI. Andreea is a Harvard Business School alumni and holds an MBA from HULT International Business School, Finance and Entrepreneurship, and a diploma from MIT Sloan School of Management. 

Andreea discusses what excites her now in the industry. She advises investors and entrepreneurs and shares some of the challenges they face.

You can visit Global Millennial Capital at www.globalmillennialcapital.com/, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/millennialcapital/.

Andreea can be contacted via email at andreea@millennialvc.co, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/andreea-danila. 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup founders need recruiting skills.

Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup:

1. Ability to define the jobs to be done with the requisite skills.
2. Ability to identify qualified candidates in the market that meet the requirements.
3. Can engage the candidates to discuss a position in your startup.
4. Ability to evaluate skills and assess fit for the company.
5. Can rank order the candidates.
6. Can negotiate compensation and employment agreements.
7. Ability to onboard the candidate and integrate into the company.
8. Can help the new hire pick up the position and be successful in it.
9. Ability to help the employee reach their full potential.
10. Can set up a program to retain the employee. 

These skills are necessary to grow your business as the company depends on the employees it hires.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Pano Anthos, Founder and Managing Director of XRC Labs.

XRC Labs is a startup accelerator and venture fund dedicated to fostering the next generation of disruptors in the retail technology and consumer goods sectors. 

The NYC-based company launched in 2015 with its founding sponsor, the Parsons School of Design at The New School. Having invested in nearly 100 startups, XRC Labs has built a world-class ecosystem with corporate sponsors including Mastercard, The Estée Lauder Companies, CVS Health, and more than 330 business mentors.

As the former leader of the digital practice at Eaglepoint Advisors, Pano enjoyed the challenge of understanding how far retail was from digital excellence and served in a number of interim roles from CEO, to Chief Product Officer and Chief Digital Officer for media companies, retail, consumer durable goods, and industrial companies.

Under Guided Launch, he advised or co-founded 4 digital media and software companies. including Gather Education, an ed-tech company building virtual reality classrooms that serve the 3G market. Prior to co-founding Gather Edjucation, Pano co-founded Hangout Industries, which was the first to bring video game technology and name brands to Facebook in 2007 and grew the Hangout Facebook apps to millions of users, leveraging: media brands (e.g. NBA, Conde Nast); fashion brands (Steve Madden, Abigail Lorick, Rich and Skinny Jeans), and lifestyle brands (Red Bull and Skull Candy). They were a Techcrunch 50 finalis,t and MITX Digital Media winner for "Best Use of Technology" in 2008.

Previously, he co-founded two enterprise software companies, Pantero, which sold to Progress Software at 13x trailing revenues & Syntra/Clearcross, bootstrapped to over 1000 customers in 30 countries with one of the first commercially available web services (1999) that was licensed into Oracle ERP and embedded in their ERP suite.

Pano discusses his investment thesis, advises startups and investors, and shares what he thinks are good opportunities for investors to pursue.

You can visit XRC Labs at www.xrclabs.com/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/xrclabs, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/xrclabs/.  

Pano can be contacted via email at www.xrclabs.com/contact, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/panoanthos/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ptanthos.  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup founders need marketing skills.

Here’s a list of skills to bring to your startup:

• Ability to analyze and choose a market segment to pursue
• Can create a story around your startup that sells
• Can define a position in the market and communicate it
• Ability to contrast and compare the company to the current competition
• Can generate content relevant to the target market for blog posts and social media
• Ability to set up the website for SEO
• Can track marketing programs with conversion to sales
• Ability to leverage email for marketing the company
• Can leverage social media for the target market
• Ability to build and leverage an influencer network
• Can write and launch a press release

Marketing is key to branding the company and selling the product.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Graham Forman, Founder and Managing Director at Edovate Capital.

Edovate Capital is a seed and early-stage venture capital company whose leadership invests in companies that lead innovation in the education market. They know firsthand the pains and gains of growing early-stage companies into successful firms and they have passion and experience in the education market. They look for outstanding people to partner with for the long term who have products or services that will transform education.

Edovate Capital partners with social entrepreneurs to scale companies solving education’s hardest challenges. They identify capital-efficient education technology companies tackling education’s hardest challenges, fund their growth, and help increase their impact. They have backed industry-leading K12 companies including Pear Deck, LearnPlatform, Paper Education, Kiddom, and BookNook Learning.

Graham spent his career in education, entrepreneurship, and investing. The first phase of his career was in education policy where he worked for U.S. Senator Paul Simon and former California State Assemblyman, Senator, and Community College Chancellor Jack Scott. He worked with school leaders addressing some of their biggest challenges in leading large school systems.

The second phase of his career was as a startup operator serving as head of sales, marketing, business development, and customer success in impact-focused SaaS companies serving education. His last role included leading sales and business development for Netchemia. During his tenure, the company grew to serve more than 2,400 school districts and 20,000 schools in the U.S. with a best-in-class talent management suite. Netchemia was acquired by People Admin (backed by Vista Equity Partners) in 2015, which kicked off Graham’s third career phase where he founded Edovate. In this role, he backs impact-focused seed-stage K12 companies with investment and advisory support.

He lives in Denver with his wife and two children and enjoys travel, tennis, the outdoors, and cooking.

Graham discusses the rise of the edtech sector, classroom engagement, next-generation school segments, the primary trends in the sector, Edovate Capital’s participation thus far, and more.

You can visit Edovate Capital at www.edovatecapital.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/edovate-capital/.  

Graham can be contacted via email at graham@edovatecapital.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/grahamforman/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/grahamforman. 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup founders need sales skills.

Here’s a list of sales skills to bring to your startup:

1. Can craft a compelling story about the startup to sell to investors, prospective employees, partners, and others. 
2. Knows the competition and the other choices the prospect has.
3. Knows the customer’s language, whether it be company-specific or industry-specific.
4. Understands the customer’s problem. 
5. Spends twice as much time listening as talking.
6. Ability to probe for the customer’s careabouts.  
7. Ability to set up a sales funnel and bring prospects through it one step at a time. 
8. Ability to ask for the sale.
9. Can generate social proof to show how others have succeeded with the product.
10. Can turn sales into a repeatable process that becomes a core system within the company.
11. Can set up sales compensation plans with proper incentives.

Many investors look for basic sales skills in the founder before funding the startup.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Elisa Miller-Out, Managing Partner at Chloe Capital.

Chloe Capital is a seed-stage venture capital firm that invests in women-led innovation companies.

Despite recent progress, only 2% of female founders receive venture capital funding, with only 0.2% going to African American founders.

Chloe Capital is on a mission to change that in partnership with foundations, universities and corporate innovators. They travel across the U.S. as part of the #InvestInWomen Tour, moving capital to female founders in each city we visit. Their fundraising experiences for women entrepreneurs and impact investors spotlight innovation, connect founders and investors to resources, and build community.

The firm invests in seed-stage companies with at least one woman in the C-suite receiving a fair amount of equity. Companies should have a working prototype, with the potential to disrupt macro industries including SaaS, blockchain, AI, VR/AR, IoT, cleantech, agtech, hardware, edtech, wearables and/or robotics.

Elisa is an exit-tested serial tech entrepreneur, investor, board director and community builder. She has over 20 years of experience, including 10 years in the software product space. She’s had 2 exits and 2 acquisitions and has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, The Washington Post, TechCrunch and more. Her career spans multiple startups and global fortune 500 companies. She serves on the board of Women 2.0, Singlebrook and BAX and is co-founder of PollQ, a chatbot startup for higher ed. She’s a graduate of Columbia University.

Elisa discusses her investment thesis and advises startups on what to do before raising funding.

You can visit Chloe Capital at www.chloecapital.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/chloecapital/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/chloecapital. 

Elisa can be contacted via email at elisa@chloecapital.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/elisamillerout/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ElisaMillerOut.  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Writing is a key skill every entrepreneur should have.

Email, social media, website copy, and more, all rely upon good communication.

Here are some key points to remember:

It’s not about you, it’s about your reader and what this will do for them.

Write the way you talk in a normal, conversational tone.

Summarize your message in just one or two sentences.  

If you can’t sum it up, then you don’t have a clear message to communicate.

Gain clarity on your message then rewrite it.

Avoid the story format as it takes longer and buries the lead.

Write it once, and then review and rewrite it several times. 

Remove adverbs and other extraneous words.

Use numbers where possible as it makes the message stronger and more compelling.

Writing takes practice and is a skill that will help you greatly in your fundraise.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Kim Banham, Principal at Connetic Ventures.

Connetic Ventures is an early-stage VC that uses proprietary data and machine learning to remove bias, increase efficiency, and create transparency. They view themselves as a data company that happens to invest in startups. Venture capital is inefficient, biased, and relies heavily on human capital, which makes it nearly impossible to scale. To solve this issue, Connetic Ventures created Wendal. Wendal is their AI bot that helps them analyze companies and teams. Wendal is reinventing venture capital by removing 'The Pitch' and giving all founders and companies a fair shot at being funded.

Kim is responsible for investments in the United States, Europe, and Israel. Her background in organizational communications and business finance allows her to build relationships with investors as well as startup companies. Kim enjoys traveling, but after living abroad in Slovenia, Croatia, Switzerland, and Hungary for 8 years, she is happy to call Northern Kentucky home. Kim is passionate about funding female and minority founders and treating all founders equally. 

Kim shares what excites her now in the industry. She advises investors and entrepreneurs and shares some of the challenges they face.

You can visit Connetic Ventures at www.connetic.ventures and https://wendal.io/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/connetic-ventures/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/conneticVC.  

Kim can be contacted via email at kim@connetic.ventures, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/kim-banham-05b039138/.  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In managing deal flow, the key to winning the best deals is responsiveness.

Startups submitting their deal are looking everywhere for funding and you’re just one option among many.

Here are some key points to consider:

Automate the initial response to a deal submission with an email acknowledging the sender.

Customize the follow-up with the sender’s name.

Make clear how your deal flow process works. 

Set expectations as you proceed as some startups get overly excited when they’re only 10% through the process.

Provide a point of contact for the startup in case there’s a breakdown in communication.

Once qualified, set up a call with the startup to discuss their deal.

Make clear what information you need for diligence.

In each step, provide timely information about the process with the next steps.

Apprise the startup of their status with your group to reduce the “where are we at” calls.

Maintain responsiveness throughout the process.

A quality deal-flow process burnishes the reputation of the firm and generates more deal flow.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Riley Oickle, Owner and CEO of Riley Oickle Investments.

Investing in real estate can be a stressful endeavour. Without systems and processes in place, chaos can set in quite quickly and money can be lost. For those of you that are ready to do your first investment deal but are fearful of the unknown, a joint venture is a fantastic option. Becoming a joint venture partner with Riley Oickle real estate investor is a great opportunity to get an understanding of real estate investing, while also owning equity in a property.

Riley Oickle is a graduate from Western University where he studied Business & Kinesiology while competing in Varsity Track & Field.  From the age of 18 to 24, he started multiple businesses including ‘Home Maintenance London’ & ‘RO Business Consulting’ which combined,  surpassed $2 million in revenue. Since then, Riley still operates his businesses from afar, and now focuses his career in real estate investing full-time. He is passionate about helping people take their first step toward financial freedom through the investment vehicle of real estate.

Riley advises investors and discusses where he sees the real estate industry going. He speaks about his investment thesis and some of the challenges investors face.

Riley can be contacted via email at info@rileyoickle.com, via his website at www.rileyoickle.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/rileyoickle.

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In running deal flow, here are some best practices to consider:

Automate your deal flow process as much as possible by capturing consistent information into one application.

Track deal flow sources and analyze on a regular basis.  

This shows where the best deals are coming from and where to spend time.

Use online data sources to augment your deal flow information.  

This step helps make follow-up decisions easier to figure out.

Monitor your deal flow activity for changes.  

This shows the impact of the market and conditions and signals for a change in follow-up.

Set up workflow processes so the deal goes to the right people in the proper sequence. 

Flag your most important deals to make sure they don’t fall through the cracks.

Optimize your system for your deal flow by gathering only the relevant information.

Connect your deal flow system to your email and other systems to integrate into the overall workflow.

Deal flow can be expensive in time and money, so it’s important to apply these steps to reduce the cost.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Gaston Eguren, Investment Analyst at Proeza Ventures.

Proeza Ventures is the largest mobility-focused VC in Latin America. They are based in Monterrey, Mexico, and Houston, Texas, looking to invest in companies focusing on industrial tech, smart components, new vehicles, MaaS, and digital data services. They are backed by the Proeza Group, a portfolio management company with two global platforms operating in the mobility and agroindustry sectors.

Proeza Ventures’ mission is to discover and invest in visionary founders building early-stage revolutionary startups transforming the way in which they think about mobility and with whom they can partner to make a more sustainable world.

Gaston started his career working at IGNIA Partners doing impact investments on the emerging middle class of Latin America, and then worked at Latitud Capital, a search fund looking for mid-market companies in Monterrey. He graduated from ITESM having studied business administration. 

Gaston discusses growth, trends, his criteria for investing, changes expected in the next 12 months in the mobility industry, and more.

You can visit Proeza Ventures at www.proezaventures.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/proezaventures, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ProezaVentures.  

Gaston can be contacted via email at gaston.eguren@proezaventures.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/gaston-eguren/.  

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Deal flow is the lifeblood of the startup investor.

It’s important to assess the deals in short order to prioritize follow-up.

One way to help this process is to apply a rating to each deal.

Here are some key factors and how to calculate them to use in your rating:

Revenue run rate - take your current monthly revenue and multiply by 12 to annualize it.

Gross Margin - take your Cost of Goods Sold, divide by the revenue, and subtract 1. 

Burn Rate - monthly cash expenses minus monthly revenue.

Cohort Analysis - take the number of users who join the program and track the outcome of each. 

Cost of customer acquisition - monthly sales and marketing expenses divided by revenue from the customers signing up that month.

Payback - number of months of recurring revenue to cover the cost of customer acquisition.

Magic Number - revenue over two months multiplied by four and divided by sales and marketing costs over the same timeframe.

Sales Cycle - average number of days from first contact to customer signing up.

Lifetime Value - the total amount of revenue generated from a customer.

Total Available Market - the total amount of money spent in a target market.

Give each factor a score, say 1 to 10 with 10 being the best.  

Add up the factors to give the deal a score on a scale of 1 to 100.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Mia Urman, Founder & CEO of AuraPlayer.

AuraPlayer was founded in January 2013 by Mia, an Oracle veteran with over 20 years of Oracle Forms experience, and Java Guru Yossi Nakash, CTO. AuraPlayer’s founders built a modernization solution for Oracle Applications that would activate and communicate with Oracle Forms in an automated way, without redevelopment or migration changes. Today, AuraPlayer sells its products and services to businesses and government offices all over the world.

Headquartered in West Orange, New Jersey, AuraPlayer’s goal is that no Oracle Forms customer should be forced to migrate and no EBS application should be forced onto the cloud. AuraPlayer resides alongside your current Oracle applications and helps launch them into the digital world.

AuraPlayer’s mission is to build and deploy enterprise-grade, Oracle-based business applications by using next-generation technologies that will help you take your business to the next level.

Mia is an Oracle ACE Director and a renowned expert on Oracle development technologies and mobility, with over twenty years experience working, presenting, supporting, training, and consulting Oracle products. 

Prior to founding AuraPlayer, while providing consulting services to customers, Mia became intimately familiar with some of the leading challenges facing Oracle Forms/EBS legacy clients and co-founded AuraPlayer Ltd., a development house to provide mobilization and automation solutions.

Mia is a coveted speaker on Oracle technologies at various conferences including Oracle OpenWorld, IOUG Collaborate, ODTUG Kscope, UKOUG, DOAG, and keynote speaker at other Oracle Technology events.

Mia discusses growth, trends, changes expected in the next 12 months in the mobility industry, and more.

You can visit AuraPlayer at www.auraplayer.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/auraplayer, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/auraplayer.  

Mia can be contacted via email at miaurman@auraplayer.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/miaurman, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/miaurman. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup investing requires deal flow and the best deal flow comes from proprietary sources.

Here are some key points to set up your own process:

Contact your attorney and accountant as they are good sources of deal flow that aren’t known by everyone else.

Launch a content marketing program. Your own podcasts, blogs, and more, will build a pipeline of deals.

Organize your own pitch sessions separate from accelerators and incubators. Those groups run pitch sessions, but they are available to everyone so they provide little in the way of proprietary deal flow.

Create a community out of your network and invite them to send you deals. 

Provide mentorship to each startup to make their time with you beneficial to those companies. Those startups will return the favor with their recommendations to other startups.

Start a dinner series and invite investors and startups to share a meal along with their experiences.

Create a brand that fosters community connectedness. The community will respond by sending you deals.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Jeffrey H. Bunin, Vice President of Commercial Lending at Capital Lending Corp.

Founded in 1995, Capital Lending Corp. first offered commercial property loans. Soon after that, the company began to offer residential financing in Northern New Jersey. In 1996, Capital Lending Corp. added business financing to its offerings. One year later, it became approved by HUD as an FHA lender. Capital Lending Corp. is a licensed correspondent mortgage lender in the state of New Jersey.

Today, Capital Lending Corp. serves New Jersey as a residential mortgage lender and originates commercial property and business financing on a national level. Capital Lending Corp. also serves larger private and public sector customers outside of the United States. The company continues to offer its services with the same business model on which it was founded, without charging upfront fees. Capital Lending Corp. maintains a highly-trained staff of multilingual financial experts. They are your financial solutions provider for the challenges and opportunities you face. They help transform your plans into reality.

Before joining Capital Lending Corp., Jeffrey was the Director of Planning for a major NJ chemical company. In this capacity, he contributed to its success by helping increase sales from $30 million to $350 million. He did the strategic plans, business valuations, M&A, budgets, and board appropriations. He contributed to over $30 million of income through acquisitions, avoiding poor investments, sales and profit improvements, cost savings and improved procedures. Jeffrey also has experience in metals recycling, printing, equipment manufacturing, food processing & marketing, e-commerce, etc.

Jeffrey’s CCNY degree in chemical engineering, plus his Rutgers MBA (President of the Business School Alumni Association 1997-2000), and continuing education has kept him abreast of the latest business trends and financial developments.

Jeffrey advises investors and entrepreneurs and shares some of the challenges they face. He discusses what excites him now in the industry and how he sees the state of startup funding evolving.

You can visit Capital Lending Corp. at www.capitallending.com.

Jeffrey can be contacted via email at jbunin@capitallending.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jeffbunin/.  

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Investors should set up a deal flow process that takes startups through in a timely manner.

Here are the deal flow stages:

Initial contact -- before reviewing a deal there’s often a call or email that describes the deal.

It’s best to provide initial feedback and ask key questions about key criteria.

Encourage those that meet the criteria to apply, and discourage those that don’t.

Submission -- the startup provides a deck or executive summary.  

Review the deal for your key criteria. It’s best to give a fast “no” so it doesn’t waste everyone’s time.

First call -- set up a call with the ones that meet your criteria to learn more.

Explain how your diligence process works and the amount of time it takes.

Team review -- review the deal with your team.

Determine additional questions to ask and decide the next steps.

Second call -- the startup meets the team.

The team and the startup take a deeper dive into the business and everyone gets to know each other better.

Diligence --  the team starts diligence on the deal.

Discuss valuation and other terms. By now, both sides should be in the same range.

Closing -- the team wraps up diligence and finalizes the investment documents.

Both sides should be looking to close. 

At each stage, educate the startup about the process and their status.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Kevin Rivers, Managing Partner at Black Ventures, LLC.

Headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, Black Ventures, LLC (BV) is an emerging private equity firm that buys media companies and real estate assets in wildly inefficient markets. They buy revenue-generating assets in music rights, apps, books, YouTube IPs, and enterprise software. They work with bootstrappers, self-funded and venture-backed companies, influencers, publishers, and profitability-focused founders. Through their M&A deals, they merge the assets into their media and IT businesses to expand their overall growth. 

Kevin is a serial tech entrepreneur and is raising his inaugural fund to provide access to capital for YouTubers and music companies. Prior to working at Black Ventures, Kevin was CEO of Venzo Digital, an award-winning music distribution service that helped musicians earn over $2M in sales within the first year. Kevin sold Venzo to an NYC venture capital firm years later. Prior to Venzo, Kevin spent several years in the music tech space by creating the first Facebook Music Store platform, gaining media attention for a revolutionary music industry model, and securing landmark deals with leading gaming publishers. 

Kevin shares with Hall what excites him now in the industry, advises entrepreneurs and investors, and discusses his investment thesis.

You can visit Black Ventures, LLC at www.blkvc.com/, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/xeinge/. 

Kevin can be contacted via email at ikevinrivers@gmail.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/kevinrivers.

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Deal flow takes a substantial amount of time for the startup investor.

It’s important to organize your deal flow process so it’s efficient.

Use these steps to organize your deal flow.

Set up a separate email for deal flow and use it to capture deals from websites, social media, and other sources.

Have everyone on the team send any new deals to that email address.

Take all submitted deals and place them into a CRM with contact information, sector, stage, and other key information.

Update that record with the deal status and next steps.

Create a series of follow-up emails to send to those in the deal flow pipeline such as how your deal flow process works and when to expect a follow-up.

Develop a process for screening the deals for basic criteria and send “pass” notices to those deals that don’t meet them.

Set up calls with those that meet the criteria to qualify them and move them through your standard process.

Run reports to understand the deal flow and how well it is providing quality deals.

It’s important to review your successfully funded deals for key information so you can prioritize those deals for follow-up.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Daniel Cohen, General Partner at Viola Ventures.

Viola Ventures is part of Viola, Israel’s leading tech-focused investment group with over $3.5B AUM. Founded in 2000, Viola Ventures empowers early-stage start-ups to become global leaders. The fund manages over $1B and has backed some of Israel’s unicorns such as Payoneer, ironSource, Lightricks, Outbrain, Redis Labs, Pagaya, and more. To date, the fund has invested in 82 companies and has recorded over 40 exits.

Daniel joined Viola Ventures after 11 years at Gemini Israel Ventures where he invested in various companies including Adap.tv (acquired by AOL for $450M), Outbrain, WatchDox (acquired by Blackberry for ~$100M), and Minute Media. Daniel’s investment focus is the B2C market, including consumer internet, e-Commerce, DTC, games, and digital media. Daniel began his career as a developer and product manager in a few Israeli high-tech companies, including Commtouch and Scitex. He has a BA in computer science and psychology from Tel-Aviv University and an MBA from INSEAD.

He currently serves on the board of EX.CO (formerly Playbuzz), Lightricks (creator of Facetune), and Maapilim. He was also on the board of Tapingo (acquired by Grubhub for $150M) and Origami Logic (acquired by Intuit).

Daniel advises investors and entrepreneurs, shares how he sees the industry evolving, and discusses his investment thesis.

You can visit Viola Ventures at www.viola-group.com/fund/violaventures/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/violaventures/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/violagroup. 

Daniel can be contacted via email at danielc@viola.vc, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/coheda, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/coheda. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Running deal flow is a time-consuming process.

There are steps you can take to automate it.

Here are some key points to consider:

Standardize the information you collect by using forms on the website.

Capture referral partners or sources so you can measure the results.

Collect the startup submissions to run metrics and track progress.

Use well-structured data sets so you can apply automation tools for analysis and data pulls from other platforms and software applications.

You can set up search tools to look up the founder and company to provide background information.

With a filled-out dataset, you can run reports on trends on the deal flow such as sector, stage, and fundraise amount.

With work automation software, set up to pull information from your CRM and other sources such as social media.

You can capture information from online databases such as Crunchbase and other tools to fill out more details.

These techniques improve your captured data and help you identify ideal startups to pursue.

Tracking the deal flow will help you identify the best sources of deals.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes back Ash Kaluarachchi, CEO at StartEd.

StartEd’s programs are for education innovators with companies around the world with tech-enabled solutions to improve education and workforce learning.

The StartEd Immersion program, which is a 5-day commitment, provides mentorship from the StartEd Network - the most seasoned and supportive network of investors, entrepreneurs, and educators in the world. It is designed to help entrepreneurs with up to $5M in funding or revenue secure their next round of financing and expand their customer base.

The StartEd Bootcamp is a 5-week, flexible part-time program for early-stage innovators, including working professionals, educators, and industry switchers, to test their ideas, build or enhance early products, and gain early customers.

Ash has directly advised and enabled growth for thousands of founders, educators, and investors, solving problems in education and workforce learning. His accelerator programs have resulted in 10% of global EdTech unicorns.

As an advocate for entrepreneurs, he has advised, launched, and operated multiple edtech and workforce accelerators, including for Techstars, the #1 startup accelerator and mentorship-driven seed-stage investment fund in the world, and organizations such as Kaplan, Intel, US News, Google, Amazon, NYU, USC and the University of Pennsylvania.

He is the Producer of EDTECH WEEK (www.edtechweek.com), a virtual distance learning and networking event for global education leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and educations. He was voted one of the Top 100 Influencers in Education Technology by Edtech Digest. Ash has an MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown, and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Economics from Grinnell College. He lives in New York City with his wife and daughter.

Ash speaks about the rise of the edtech sector - classroom engagement & next-generation school segment, the primary trends, what makes for a successful company in this segment, and more.

You can visit StartEd at www.started.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/started-accelerator, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/startedaccel. 

Ash can be contacted via email at ash@startedaccelerator.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ashanthaik, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/ashanthaik.   

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Deal flow is key to a startup investor’s success. 

Investors seeking startups to fund can follow these steps to attract deal flow:

Build a global network of venture partners, scouts, and micro funds. Showcase your network to the startup community to capture more startup interest. 

Set up a series of meetings to attract startups seeking education, networking, and mentorship.

Provide content that helps startups.

Launch an accelerator program.

Provide programs for early-stage startups to organize their business. 

Join pitch competitions as a judge or coach.

Provide a forum for startups to practice their pitch and gain experience answering questions.

Start a dinner series and invite promising startups to join for socializing and networking with investors.

A dinner meeting is a great way to foster the community and connect startups and investors.

Launch a newsletter with helpful information.

Set up a podcast and interview key people in the community.

Set up these programs to run continually throughout the year with an event happening every month.

It takes a year or two to generate awareness and another year to establish a brand.

Consistency is key, so set up a support team to help make it happen.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Greg Foster, Founder & CEO at Vizen Analytics.

Headquartered in Walla Walla, Washington, Vizen offers a fully-managed cloud AI consumption-based subscription service that maximizes forecast accuracy while reducing inventory holding costs. They enable a better way to project product demand while preventing overstock waste and inventory stock-out conditions. Vizen provides everything your business needs to succeed without making a significant digital IT investment. They do all the work including historical data analysis that’s presented in a gorgeous SaaS UI with integrated SKU predictions. 

Greg has over 20 years of sales leadership and technology-based business development experience building great teams and executing successful projects working for and with Fortune 500 companies including Sprint, NTT, Nestle, and Toshiba America. His visionary, strategic thinking has played a role in the implementation of IoT platforms, smart power solutions, and AI-driven supply chain mobility. He has created IP using external data to improve demand forecast accuracy. Before launching Vizen Analytics, Greg gained experience working on other startup-related projects.

Greg speaks about growth in the manufacturing/supply chain segment, the primary trends, his participation in the sector, and changes expected in the coming 12 months.

You can visit Vizen Analytics at www.vizenanalytics.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/vizen-analytics.

Greg can be contacted via email at greg.foster@vizenanalytics.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/gregoryfoster1. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Investors seeking more deal flow should look to their own network.

Here are some steps to find deals from your contacts:

Identify the type of startup you want to fund. 

Search for contacts related to that sector and domain. 

You’ll find experts with deep knowledge of the technology, as well as those who know the major players in the industry.

Follow-up with them to learn more about the up-and-coming companies in the industry.

Talk with other investors for any deals they’ve seen, both those they invested in, and those they’ve passed on.

Seek out business brokers, M&A advisors, and investment bankers who see deal flow on a regular basis for potential deals to pursue.

Talk with those who hold business development and corporate development titles as they often see early-stage startups.

From these contacts, identify common references to startups in your sector.

Follow the funding news for your area or sector to see who is getting investment and then research those companies to find where they came from.

Trace them back to the source which could be employees coming from a large company, a university, or other.

To attract more deals you can build out a blog, website, or online portal.

You can run an event series to bring people together for networking, education, or funding.

This lets you tap into your network in an ongoing consistent way.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Karen Vandiver, Owner of New Healthworks and Founder of Mindful Meditation Training Institute.

New Healthworks services include corporate and executive coaching, professional telehealth services, and mindful meditation training. She provides in-office therapy in Harker Heights and in Austin, Texas.

Karen is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Texas-approved supervisor with extensive experience. Karen served as an Academic Advisor for Graduate Assistantship for undergraduate students while earning her Master’s Degree at Baylor University, Adjunct Professor of Psychology at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. She served as a regular guest lecturer at the University of Texas Doctoral Theories class. She has trained in Systemic, Strategic, and Bowen Family Systems. 

Training in EMDR added to her already successful outcomes with trauma, PTSD, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. As a certified hypnotherapist with the National Guild, she has had success with behavioral issues along with peak performance. Her ability to utilize a unique and creative approach is individualized for each person and has led to real results.

Karen has created inpatient and outpatient treatment programs for psychiatric hospitals and outpatient treatment centers. She has provided numerous presentations at multiple military bases on PTSD and combat stress. She also provided annual guest lectures on Jungian Psychology at the University of Texas in Austin's Doctoral Counseling Theories Class and annual lectures to the LMFT Supervisor Training Class at Texas A&M Central Texas.

She has written articles for Military One Source, Austin M.D. Magazine, Enjoy Whole Health as a psychology columnist, and the Santa Fe Sound Board Music Magazine.

Full Bio: https://karenvandiver.com/about-nh 

Karen advises investors, discusses some of the challenges in the space, and how New Healthworks fits in this landscape.

Karen can be contacted via email at karen@karenvandiver.com, via her website at www.karenvandiver.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/karen-vandiver-184538ba/. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Understand Blockchain”, you’ll hear about changes expected in the coming 12 months and our guests’ final thoughts.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The blockchain space has made tremendous progress in setting up substantial networks and meaningful applications.  Blockchain continues to drive change in the tech space in particular fintech. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

David Johnston, Managing Director, Yeoman's Capital, 01:25
Dave Hendricks, CEO and Founder, Vertalo, 04:47
Christian Kameir, Managing Partner, Sustany Capital, 15:14
Jake Ryan, CIO, Tradecraft Capital, 25:37
Rashad Kurbanov, CEO and Co-founder, iownit.us, 31:37

I hope you enjoy this episode.
_______________________________
For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org  

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Deal flow is important to the startup investor.

After you set up your initial sources, you can expand your deal flow in the following ways:

Connect with other startup investors and offer to share your deal flow with them and invite them to return the favor.

The best deals come from other investors, especially those who you know well and have seen quality deals from them before. 

Talk with your portfolio companies and ask them to send you any deals they think are qualified for startup investment.

Founders and CEOs have a greater chance of meeting other startups than many investors do. They also understand the criteria of the investors and can provide an initial screen.

Talk with service providers such as attorneys, accountants, and bankers who see startups every day.

Start with your own service providers and expand out from there.

Have them make an email introduction.

Promise to set up a call with anyone they refer so they have confidence their time spent on the intro will not fall through the cracks.

Report back to the referrer with the outcome.

The more feedback they get then the more qualification they can perform.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes John Oamen, Co-founder & CEO at CutStruct Technology Limited. 

CutStruct Technology is a proptech company aimed at unlocking the next one million homes in Africa by improving the construction business environment, leveraging technology as an enabler in the specific areas of how stakeholders buy, hire for, and manage their projects.

John is a strong believer in the process as the bedrock for all desired outcomes like cost savings, ease of doing business, efficiency in any area of endeavor, and particularly in construction. You arrive at the end goal by observing the day-to-day principles of success in any field. He believes people don’t get to their desired outcomes as a result of excessive focusing on those outcomes while ignoring the little details

He founded Faultless Finish Limited, where he built a project finishing reputation, establishing a name as an industry leader in finishing and home completion space.

As an aspiring business leader, he decided to apply to the illustrious Lagos Business School to hone his business leadership skills and network with other like minds and more established business leaders. He is a firm believer that we are more influenced by the company we keep more than most realize and makes a conscious effort to keep a strong network of game-changers at every point in his life.

A husband and father of 2, he believes in leaving every place in life better than you met it hence his favorite phrase “progress over perfection”. He also believes that children are an extension of their parents and are an opportunity for world improvement and so he spends a lot of his time teaching them life skills, ethics, empathy, and continuous improvement.

John discusses the state of investing in construction in Africa, the number of companies in the sector, the challenges they face, and his business model.

John can be contacted via email at john.oamen@cutstruct.com, via his website at https://linktr.ee/JohnOamen and www.livevend.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/johnoamen, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/johnoamen_e.   

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Deal flow is the lifeblood of startup investing.

It’s important to set up sources to provide quality deal flow on a consistent basis.

Here are the steps to set up your deal flow sources:

1. Map out the entrepreneurship and funding groups in your geographic area or sector.
2. Use the web and social media searches for an initial pass.
3. Check out universities for their entrepreneurship programs, including business plan competitions and accelerators.
4. Review the Chamber of Commerce for the trade associations for your area or sector to find programs related to startups.
5. Meet with venture capitalists, angel groups, and other investors in your sector or area.
6. Map out the accelerators, incubators, makers markets, and other groups that support aspiring startups.
7. Identify lenders such as banks, factoring companies, and equipment leasing companies, and more who may have deal flow.
8. Create and maintain a calendar of events to track their activities.
9. Reach out to those groups on a regular basis to offer support such as education, mentorship, and coaching.
10. Consider creating a newsletter to share with those in your sector or community to foster the relationship.
11. Follow up to support the best sources of deal flow and increase your engagement with those groups.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

Music courtesy of Bensound

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Deal flow is key to successful startup investing.

It takes a great deal of time, so it’s important to build a strong process for managing it.

It helps to use a software tool to track it.

Start with the key steps for running deal flow as follows:

Set up a deal flow source with angel groups, venture funds, online portals, and others.

Capture deal information into the software tool with their key information.

Run an initial screen to see if it meets your criteria -- have 3-5 key points to check.

Set up the first call to find out more details and update the deal flow software with the results.

Set up a partner meeting to review the deal with others in your fund, syndicate, or network.

Negotiate valuation and terms.

Perform diligence on the deal.

Close the investment.

Set for ongoing follow-up and reports.

In each step, capture the results into the software.

On a regular basis, analyze those results to find the following:

-Which sources gave you the best deals

-How much time did the calls take to capture the necessary information to make a decision

-What key factors the startup must have to go all the way through to funding

After analysis, update your process to screen out deals that won’t make it.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Ken Hubbard, CEO of The Pitch Company.

As investors, The Pitch Company feels that business leaders would be more successful if they could get their company story out more concisely and with the pertinent information they need, in an expedited and organized structure.​ The Pitch Company’s frustration with the process led them to test over 60 different pitch templates for effectiveness. They realized it was not just the template that was the culprit, but the need for coaching by investors that makes the difference.

Building his first company in 1988, Ken, late to the party, scrambled to catch up to the rocketing computer industry. He shortly found a home in one of the fasting growing integration companies followed up with starting and developing revolutionary data center equipment. After a short hiatus, he began dabbling in angel investing.

Though he had raised significant funding, both debt and equity throughout his career, being on the other side of the table, as an investor, came with a different type of responsibility. Business leaders wanted advice on their business. Ken quickly learned that most business leaders had a basic understanding of how to pitch their companies but didn't understand what the investors were interested in and how they wanted the information. So he studied all the great presentations, built a system, and tested it for over 4 years. 

Ken discusses how he sees the state of startup investing progressing post-COVID-19, some of the challenges startups face, and how The Pitch Company fits into the landscape.

Ken can be contacted via email at kenhubis@gmail.com, via his website at www.pitchproceo.com, via telephone at (949)342-4449, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/investinginsuccess. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Deal flow is critical to successful startup investing.

Here are some key points to consider:

Deal flow gives you experience with founders, valuations, exits, and many other aspects of the startup process. 

It teaches you a great deal about the market, current technology, and the startup ecosystem.

Deal flow gives you practice on how to analyze a pitch, what questions to ask, and what you should take away from each pitch.

Look for quality over quantity. The better the deal flow, the better your investment outcome.

Set up deal flow sources accordingly.  

Start with those in your network to gain access to their deals and offer to return the favor.

Seek out quality accelerator programs to find more resources.

Consider joining an angel network for deal flow, as you can share the feedback with others.

Join online portals with deal flow so you can learn the current state of valuations, technologies, and sectors.

Reach out to venture capital, family offices, and other investors to join as a syndicate partner in their deals.

The greater number of deals you review will give you more choices as well as educate you about the market. 


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Angel Ribo, Founder of The CEO Confidant.

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, The CEO Confidant helps clients create a salesforce that will not only guarantee and improve their own company's profitability, but also that of their clients.

Angel Ribo, known as The CEO Confidant, is a business influencer, LinkedIn strategist, international TV host, public speaker, CEO consultant, board member, and philanthropist.

In the last 21 years, Angel has helped more than 1,500 CEOs in 33 different countries to accelerate the growth of their businesses. He was born near Barcelona, and he has lived in 8 countries and speaks 5 languages.

Established entrepreneurs and corporate CEOs hire Angel to bridge the gap globally for expansion and exposure to grow their businesses.

Angel sits on the Board of the Evolutionary Business Council, an organization with more than 350 global transformational leaders with a combined reach of well over 600 million people.

Angel is based in Texas, and early in 2017, he launched his International Foundation, Wisdom for Kids. He has also helped more than 1000 underprivileged kids in Latin America become entrepreneurs using their local resources.

Angel advises startups and investors and discusses his company and his foundation, Wisdom for Kids.

Angel can be contacted via email at angel@angelribo.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/angelribo and www.linkedin.com/company/the-ceo-confidant, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/angeletgaruda.  

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

So how do you know when not to invest in a startup?

Here’s a checklist of show stoppers:

• There’s no business plan and no plan for an exit.
• There’s no vision for the company.
• There’s no growth in the target market.
• The business doesn’t provide enough of a return on investment.
• The team has too many holes to stand up.
• The projected growth rate is too high and is unrealistic.
• There’s no differentiation over the competition.

Use the process of elimination to remove deals from consideration so you can focus on the ones that can make it.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Joseph Edgar, Founder of TenantCloud.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, and founded in 2014, TenantCloud is a cloud-based property management system that allows you to manage up to 75 units for free, accept and manage rental applications, store accounting, collect and track rent, manage visual maintenance requests, get a personal listing website, and much more.

Joe originally hails from Chiloquin, Oregon, and is an experienced entrepreneur and investor who bought his first real estate property at 14 years of age. At age 17 he co-founded Modern Homes Inc., a company in Porto Alegre, Brazil, which he sold in 2001. Joe founded Edgar Investment in 2003 as a property holding company for his investments, which also focused on real estate development of new and renovated residential homes in Eugene, Oregon. In 2007, Joe founded EI Investments, a $10 million venture fund focused on providing debt and equity to early-stage companies in OR and TX.

In 2008, Joe joined Governor Perry’s office and managed $487 million in state authority with a focus on early-stage and emerging companies. In 2011, Joe joined Commissioner Staples in advising, operating, and deploying the J4T Venture Fund, which is a $46.5 million investment fund focused on Texas’ early-stage companies. Joe is also a member of the US Treasury SSBCI Venture Capital Working Group, which works to bring best practices for early-stage investment throughout the U.S.

Joe holds a Bachelor of Science with a focus in Economics from the University of Oregon, with high honors, an MBA from Cornell University’s Johnson School of Management, and is a Kauffman Fellow. Joe is also active in the community as a member of the Central Texas Angel Network, volunteers time with the Community Tax Center helping low-income families file their tax returns, and assisted in founding the non-profit organization Texas Pace Authority, which focuses on bringing clean energy to Texas.

Joe advises investors and entrepreneurs, discusses the evolution of the industry post-COVID-19, the housing market in Austin, and shares some of the challenges startups face.

You can visit TenantCloud at www.tenantcloud.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/tenantcloud/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/tenantcloud. 

Joe can be contacted via email at jedgar@tenantcloud.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-edgar-7a018521, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/joe_edgar_.  

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The best deals have more investors than they need.

So how does an investor gain access to those deals?

Startups choose investors who can provide support beyond the fundraise.

Here are some examples:

1. Offering specific advice on how to build the business and grow it. 
2. Make introductions to potential customers, new employees, or needed suppliers.
3. Help them find office space.
4. Finally, provide support as a sounding board or an attentive ear. 

As an investor, you can separate yourself from the crowd of investors by offering more than just funding.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Understand Blockchain”, you’ll hear about participation in the blockchain segment and what investors look for.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The blockchain space has made tremendous progress in setting up substantial networks and meaningful applications.  Blockchain continues to drive change in the tech space in particular fintech. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

David Johnston, Managing Director, Yeoman's Capital, 01:26
Dave Hendricks, CEO and Founder, Vertalo, 04:36
Christian Kameir, Managing Partner, Sustany Capital, 08:21
Jake Ryan, CIO, Tradecraft Capital, 16:50
Rashad Kurbanov, CEO and Co-founder, iownit.us, 20:00

I hope you enjoy this episode.
________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org       

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

As a startup investor, you will find there are many deals to consider.

In fact, there are too many startups to diligence and pursue.

You want to build quality deal flow channels that meet your criteria and screen out the noise.

Quality sources often have experienced entrepreneurs working on their second and third businesses.

While accelerators, incubators, and universities provide an important function in the startup community, the vast majority of startups from these programs are not ready for investment.  

In most cases, they need at least a year before they are ready for investors.

Emerging tech hubs are good sources for quality startups with minimal noise. 

Online funding portals are becoming the go-to place to find startups.

In your network, you’ll find some investors have developed relationships with professional groups that provide quality startups. 

Set up relationships with these sources to maintain your deal flow. 


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes back Jeff Stewart, Co-Founder & Managing Director of GPO Fund.

The GPO team invests in tech-driven, founder-led, North American companies that can harness Asia-Pacific public capital markets to achieve growth, business expansion, and market leadership. Historically, venture capital succeeded by investing early in companies that later went public to access growth capital, establish market leadership and provide ROI.

Over the past twenty years, the U.S. IPO market has shifted focus to mega-cap listings.  Mid-sized companies now rarely attract growth capital through U.S. public offerings.

Venture capital time horizons have elongated to over ten years and M&A and private equity are often the only strategic outcomes, stunting opportunities for companies to realize their full potential. Meanwhile, Asia-Pacific economies and investment capital are rapidly expanding. There is a significant demand in Asia-Pacific to invest in high-growth technology companies that can expand globally and list on an APAC exchange. 

Jeff is an investor, serial entrepreneur, and inventor with experience scaling technology-enabled international businesses.  

Jeff began his career as a Management Consultant at Ernst & Young’s Technology Practice, living on the road, advising Global 1000 financial institutions and exchanges. While still in his 20s he started his first technology company. He has since started numerous venture-backed companies, including two companies included in Inc. 500 lists of the fastest-growing companies. In 2014, Jeff’s FinTech start-up was recognized by the World Economic Forum as a Technology Pioneer, and that same year, Jeff was recognized as the William F. Glaser Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year.

Today, Jeff is a Managing Director at the Global Public Offering Fund, which he co-founded in 2018 to invest in founder-led, growth stage, technology companies. 

Jeff shares with Hall what excites him now, what sectors he focuses on, some of his past experiences with startups, and some of the challenges they face.

You can visit GPO Fund at www.gpofund.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/global-public-offering-fund, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/gpofund.   

Jeff can be contacted via email at jeff@gpofund.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/stewartjeffrey/. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

So how do you know when to pull the trigger and invest in a startup?

After applying the investment thesis, check for the following:

There’s a strong team with integrity, industry knowledge, and business experience.

They have product validation and market validation - the product works and people will pay for it.

They have the prospects for high growth and are demonstrating it at some level now.

Their business is scalable.

They are building a business that other companies will want to buy - eventually.

The potential return is large, so the investor can reach a 44% IRR or better.

Finally, you can help the startup in some way such as finding other investors, providing domain knowledge, or making other meaningful connections for the startup.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Luke Hohmann, CEO & Founder of FirstRoot.

Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, FirstRoot teaches financial literacy and budgeting - through a process known as Participatory Budgeting - and civics, as kids decide how to invest real money in their school. 

Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which a group of students determines how to invest a shared budget to improve a school.

PB authentically motivates students to learn and practice the “Four Cs” of the 21st Century curriculum: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration — all while teaching design thinking, civics and jump-starting their journey to increasing financial literacy. Students experience true agency and stewardship over their futures, learning through their own experiences how money really works.

A serial entrepreneur, Luke's last company, Conteneo, was an enterprise software company that helped global companies manage investment portfolios using Participatory Budgeting. Luke is now leveraging the experience he gained working with some of the world's largest companies to help prepare our children for their future by bringing Participatory Budgeting into schools to teach financial literacy, civics, and design thinking.

The author of four books, Luke has been cited as an inventor in more than a dozen patents and is an internationally recognized expert in Agile Software Development.

Luke discusses what led him to start working in the personal finance and personal literacy space, some of the challenges he has faced, and the evolution of the industry.

You can visit FirstRoot at www.firstroot.co, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/firstroot, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/firstrootinc. 

Luke can be contacted via email at luke.hohmann@firstroot.co, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/lukehohmann, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/lukehohmann.  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

While there’s a great number of startups looking for funding, the startup investor needs to set up deal-flow sources.

Your personal network is a good place to start. Contact not only investors in your network but also attorneys and accountants who may see deals seeking funding. 

You can join the local angel network in your area or if you are in a specific sector, join one on a national level. 

Your local university may also be a good source of deals.

There are many online platforms available now where you can source deals both general and sector-specific.

Finally, consider starting your own accelerator/incubator or venture studio in which you bring companies together for coaching and mentoring in advance of funding.

This is a great way to see the company in action before you invest.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Carl Grant III, EVP of Global Business Development at Cooley.

Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Cooley is a law practice where clients partner with them on transformative deals, complex IP, regulatory matters, and high-stakes litigation, where innovation meets the law. 

Carl leads Cooley’s business development team firm-wide, which assists clients in connecting with sources of angel investment, venture capital, and private equity. Team members also connect clients with potential management team members, advisors, independent board members, prospective partners, customers, and other value-add members of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Due to an overwhelming volume of deal flow and email traffic during the COVID-19 era, Carl co-founded VentureRaise, a LinkedIn-like platform with the specific purpose of helping entrepreneurs identify investors who are a fit and connecting them through trusted referral sources.

Carl hosts a weekly podcast called Rainmakers, which features top business developers across a variety of industries.

Carl previously served as executive director, technology industry for PricewaterhouseCoopers, the world's largest professional services firm where he led the business development in the DC Metro Region and drove unprecedented growth. Prior to joining PwC, he managed the Capital Attraction Program for Fairfax County EDA, an initiative that more than doubled the number of venture capital funds in that county. Immediately before joining Cooley, Carl was on the management teams of two venture capital-backed technology companies in the Northern Virginia area, EYECAST, and cyberCFO. He was also a director in a division of Multimedia, leading up to and through Gannett's $1.7 billion acquisition of the company.

Click here to see Carl’s complete bio.

Carl shares what excites him now, advises entrepreneurs and investors and discusses some of the challenges startups face.

You can visit Cooley at www.cooley.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/cooleyllp/mycompany, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/CooleyLLP. 

Carl can be contacted via email at cgrant@cooley.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/carlgrant, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/CarlGrant.  

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In analyzing potential investments, it’s important to understand their business model and how well it meets the venture investors’ requirements. 

The business model consists of unit and customer acquisition economics as well as market and business economics.

Unit economics is the cost to provide a product that drives gross margin.  

This determines how much revenue is left to cover the business expenses.  

In general, 40% gross margin should be the floor.

Customer acquisition economics is the cost of acquiring a customer which drives scalability.  

This determines how much you have to spend to grow sales.

In general, your cost of customer acquisition should be ⅓ or less than your average customer revenue.

Market economics is the cost of penetrating a market which will drive fundraising requirements.  

This determines how much funding you have to raise to capture a portion of the market. 

You must show a growth rate of at least 50% year over year to continue raising funding. 

Business economics is the cost of running the business which drives profitability.

This determines how soon you can achieve cash flow positive and no longer have to raise funding to stay alive.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Reyn Aubrey, CEO of PocketChange.

Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, PocketChange is a social media platform created to reverse the chaos created by social media 1.0. They do many things differently, including paying for a donation to charity every time someone posts, likes, or comments on something on the platform. They have reworked content moderation, policy, and have built a community culture that is good. They have launched their platform and have already raised money for angel investors and received press and influencer attention.

Their content moderation has been rebuilt from the ground up to deal with their current divisive social climate. Best of all, the community is filled with people who believe that social media can be better than what it is today.

"Society is more divided, more hateful, and more fed up and frustrated than ever before. Social media 1.0 accelerated this mess, and social media 2.0 can get us out of it." ….Reyn Aubry.

Reyn was named one of the top 25 innovators in Colorado, and his previous consumer products company outsold Walmart and Target in his home state. Now Reyn has shifted his focus to building a massive company that rights the wrongs of social media 1.0, and in the process makes society a better place. 

Reyn is part of the next generation of leaders building the future of social platforms. 

He currently resides in Denver full-time.

Reyn discusses the state of investing in social media, some of the challenges startups face, and some of his plans for PocketChange.

You can visit PocketChange at www.pocket change.social, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/pocketchange, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/PcktChange.  

Reyn can be contacted via email at reyn@pocketchange.social, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/reyn-aubrey, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/reynaubrey. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The elevator pitch can do more for you than just give you a short-form pitch.

It boils down your pitch to the bare essence.

This helps you focus on your core value proposition.

It helps you think through your pitch so you can prioritize the most important points.

It gives you messaging to use online through social media and email where the formats lean to the short form.

It gives you the opportunity to show what your product can do.

Specific case studies are often helpful in communicating your value proposition.

The pitch is short which triggers the listener to ask questions to learn more.

The short form makes it easy to drop into conversations and answer questions such as, ‘what does your company do?’

Long-form pitches often provide so much information that the listener can’t identify what your product does and why they should care.

Boiling it down into this format makes it very clear.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Understand Blockchain”, you’ll hear about primary trends and what makes for a successful company in this segment.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The blockchain space has made tremendous progress in setting up substantial networks and meaningful applications.  Blockchain continues to drive change in the tech space in particular fintech. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

David Johnston, Managing Director, Yeoman's Capital, 01:25
Dave Hendricks, CEO and Founder, Vertalo, 04:08
Christian Kameir, Managing Partner, Sustany Capital, 11:04
Jake Ryan, CIO, Tradecraft Capital, 15:07
Rashad Kurbanov, CEO and Co-founder, iownit.us, 17:40

I hope you enjoy this episode.
_______________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org       

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The elevator pitch is one of the most important pitches you can give.

Here are some key points to remember in delivering your elevator pitch:

Keep it around thirty seconds. 

Practice it to get the timing right.

Use the rest of your time to engage with your audience in questions and answers.

Talk at a normal pace and don’t speed up or rush it.

Rushing shows a lack of confidence in your pitch.

Use a conversational tone so you invite questions and feedback.

Show your passion and let your energy come through.

After you write your pitch, practice it and modify it 'til it’s polished.

Replace the filler words with more descriptive ones.

It’s important to show the problem, the solution, and the benefits. 

Customize your pitch for the audience by focusing on what’s important to them.

It’s okay to have more than one version of the same pitch.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Jonathan Staenberg, Founder and CEO of Staenberg Venture Partners.

Staenberg Venture Partners is a Seattle-based venture capital firm focused on the technology industry mostly between San Francisco and Seattle.

Early in his career, Jon established several marketing groups at Microsoft. He then joined the senior management team of Virtual i-O, a venture-backed startup, as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. In 2003, he joined Rustic Canyon where he continues to serve as an Advisory Partner.

Now, his model is to work as an advisor to those companies and funds he invests in.

Most recently, he advised Rocketship.vc, Blockchain Coinvestors, and Wunderground.com.

Jon has worked with venture-backed companies for over 30 years in several capacities. As an entrepreneur, he’s established five companies, served on the senior management team of several early-stage organizations, and provided venture capital funding to more than 500 start-ups. Jon is one of the more experienced venture capitalists in the Pacific Northwest, having raised four funds totaling over $500 million.

Jon graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University, graduating with a B.S., M.A., and M.B.A. While at Stanford, he started and ran two successful companies. Jon grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and is a hardcore Nebraska Cornhusker fan. In his spare time, he collects sports ticket stubs.

Jon shares his thoughts on the current state of startup investing and what he thinks will be the biggest change we will see in five years. He also discusses his investment thesis and advises entrepreneurs and investors.

You can visit Jon at www.staenberg.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jonstaenberg, and via email at jon@staenberg.com. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Today we’ll talk about a rolling close.

Closing a fundraising round can be challenging given the schedules of the investors.

A rolling close is used in a deal that is open to investors who can sign the documents and send in their money on their own schedule.  

This allows the startup to take funding a little at a time throughout the fundraise campaign rather than trying to capture all the checks and signed documents in one go.

This often applies to a convertible note in which the startup raises funding over an extended period of time using the same note.

It works even if the round does not meet its total fundraise objective in which case the company will have to move forward with less funds.

If there’s a minimum amount that must be invested to launch a company, then it’s better to use a single close method. That way the investors have assurance the company has raised enough funding to achieve the objective.  

One variation on this is an initial closing with a rolling close following.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Bharat Kanodia, Founder and Chief Appraiser at Veristrat.

Veristrat is a professional services company, headquartered in Pleasanton, California. They provide various valuation and advisory services. Veristrat provides services to value various tangible, intangible, and financial assets for the purposes of financial and tax reporting purposes, fairness opinions, purchase price allocations, goodwill impairment, and litigation and dispute resolution.

Bharat has been in business valuation since 2000 and has valued assets in real estate, industrial, personal property, and financial assets including some unique assets such as the Golden Gate Bridge, NYC subway system, Hartsfield Atlanta Airport, and Las Vegas casinos. He has signed off on over 4,500 valuations with $2.6 trillion in assets globally. 

Bharat discusses how he helps startup and growth companies with valuations and the best way to approach valuations. He also advises investors seeking value in early-stage companies that have little to no revenue.

You can visit Veristrat at www.veristrat.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/veristrat-inc, via Twitter at www.twitter.com/whatsitworthtv, and via YouTube at www.youtube.com/c/whatsitworth. 

Bharat can be contacted via email at bkanodia@veristrat.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/bharat-kanodia-asa.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In pitching your startup for funding, you’ll find many opportunities to engage investors.

Not all opportunities will provide substantial time and attention to investors.

Develop an elevator pitch for those times when you have only a few moments to capture the investors’ interest.

Here are some key points to consider:

Start with the problem you are tackling and how big and costly it is.

Make it easy for the investor to grasp what you are doing.

Say what you do in just one sentence.

Investors need context and will find it difficult to follow until they know what you do.

Avoid telling a story in your elevator pitch, as there’s not enough time.

Instead, just give them the conclusion.

Some founders believe the investor can’t understand the startup unless they know the technology or science behind it.

Avoid going into the details of how the product works. Instead, focus in short order on the benefits of it. There will be time later to discuss how it works.

Founders often suffer from the curse of knowledge. 

They know everything about their work and implicitly assume the investor knows more than they actually do.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Gayatri Sarkar, Founder of She-VC and General Partner at Advaita Capital.

She-VC is a media platform that featured $100B+ combined capital of institutional investors championing the diversity, equity, and inclusion for VCs/PE investors. Advaita Capital is a growth activist tech fund focussed on DEI-ESG metrics in venture asset class. 

Gayatri was awarded the Global Leader Under 40 Award for championing diversity and equity inclusion among institutional investors through She-VC, featuring a combined capital of $100B+. She is the GP of a growth activist tech fund focussed on diversity, equity, and broader environmental social governance mandate, a team of experienced partners from top-tier funds from Blackrock’s former CIO, Oppenheimer, and the former COO of the second-largest division of SAC Capital. She serves on the advisory board of large asset management firms and VC fund of funds. 

Gayatri was also the former Managing Partner at a sports platform - the extended family office of an Israeli billionaire family - a former GP of a digital assets fund (acquired), a former Federal Reserve Bank Manager managing US Treasury’s assets for the US Military, Navy and big banks. She started her career as an enterprise tech architect at HP and IBM, managing billion-dollar accounts. Gayatri is a serial entrepreneur who founded a consulting company and a tech startup with AUM $50M. She graduated in Physics, Math, and Economics/Finance and serves on the alumni non-profit board of Harvard Kennedy School NEA. 

Gayatri shares her investment thesis and what excites her now. She also advises investors and entrepreneurs and discusses some of the challenges they face.

You can visit She-VC at www.she-vc.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/she-vc. 

You can visit Advaita Capital at www.advaitacap.com.

Gayatri can be contacted via email at gayatri@she-vc.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/gayatrisarkar, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/gs_vcactivist. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The elevator pitch is a key tool in your fundraise.

Here are some best practices to make your elevator pitch a success:

Before delivering your pitch, learn something about your audience.

What are their careabouts? What motivates them?

Customize your pitch for your audience.

Don’t try to tell them everything, instead, tell them just enough. 

Focus on the benefits of your product or service and not the features.

Capture their attention with a question or problem description.

Describe your solution in one sentence.

Set up for the follow-up by offering to send them more information or set up a call to discuss in more detail.

Write out your elevator pitch and replace the filler words with more descriptive words.

Wordsmith the pitch so it’s tight and flows well.

Practice it so you know it by heart and can customize it when necessary.

It’s important to take time to craft a good elevator pitch.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Troy Schlicker, Owner, Broker, and Real Estate Advisor at Reserve Realty, and Host of the Austin Spotlight podcast.  

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Reserve Realty is an Austin real estate company specializing in residential buying and selling for homeowners and buyers. Started in 2014, they have helped clients navigate hundreds of real estate transactions, emphasizing educating them through the process to make it as smooth as possible.

As a resident of Austin, Texas, for 15 years, Troy has seen Austin go through rapid growth and numerous changes. Originally from Michigan and with degrees in Marketing and Financing from Concordia University, St. Paul in Minnesota, he has used that experience as the foundation of a real estate career that has spanned over a decade.

Troy previously worked at Bank of America as a Senior Mortgage Loan Officer. His knowledge of the mortgage industry and of the Austin real estate market has helped him assist clients with all of their real estate needs.

Troy hosts the Austin Spotlight Podcast, highlighting the stories and people behind local small businesses.

His competitive nature doesn’t end in the office. On top of playing basketball in college, he transitioned to being a professional beach volleyball player. He also enjoys playing golf and being on Austin’s various lakes, and taking part in many other outdoor activities that Austin’s warm weather allows.

Troy’s goal is to link individuals and families with their real estate aspirations to help build wealth, dreams, and memories.

Troy discusses how he sees the real estate industry evolving and shares some of the challenges persons face when investing in or buying properties.

You can visit Reserve Realty at www.reserverealty.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/reserve-realty. 

Troy can be contacted via email at troy@reserverealty.com, via his website at www.troyschlicker.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/troyschlicker, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/troyschlicker. 

Listen to the Austin Spotlight podcast at www.troyschlicker.com/austin-spotlight-podcast. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Understand Blockchain”, you’ll hear about growth in the Blockchain segment.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The blockchain space has made tremendous progress in setting up substantial networks and meaningful applications.  Blockchain continues to drive change in the tech space in particular fintech. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

David Johnston, Managing Director, Yeoman's Capital, 01:23
Dave Hendricks, CEO and Founder, Vertalo, 04:14
Christian Kameir, Managing Partner, Sustany Capital, 06:55
Jake Ryan, CIO, Tradecraft Capital, 11:40
Rashad Kurbanov, CEO and Co-founder, Iownit Capital and Markets, Inc, 13:30

I hope you enjoy this episode.
_______________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org       

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Elevator pitches can be used in many ways.

The pitch states the problem, the solution, and how to learn more about it.

In addition to fundraising, it can also be used in sales.

Instead of asking for an investment, the ask goes to purchasing the product.

Another type of elevator pitch is the question pitch.

Ask a question that leads the user to the answer which is your company.

“How can a user gain 2X more productivity in their work? They can use the xyz product.”

There’s the intro pitch which you can use to start a conversation or email.

“How you can gain 2X more productivity in just a few minutes.”

There’s the social media version of your pitch.

“2X productivity in your work in just a few minutes.”

Use numbers in your pitch to incite a reaction.

“You can reduce your work by 50%.”

Use metaphors in your pitch to highlight its value.

“Add rocket fuel to your workday.”

Create scarcity in your pitch to generate interest.

“This solution is only available for those in our network.”

Consider how to use the elevator pitch for your next interaction.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The elevator pitch follows a simple format.

Start with the people who have this problem so the listener has context.

Show the cost in time or dollars to demonstrate the size of the problem.

Demonstrate your competitive advantage over the other solutions.

Quantify the benefit with numbers.

Propose the next steps to discuss further.

Close with an action item to connect again. 

Here’s the format you can use to build your pitch:

<Describe people who have the problem> <show cost of the problem in time or dollars>.  Our solution <reduces the cost in time or dollars by x amount>  Unlike other products, our solution <state differentiator> to <state benefit>.  I can <state path to learn more> to tell you more. <Setup next engagement>

Here’s an example use of the template.

Office workers spend 75% of their time searching for files on the network. Our solution reduces that time by 3X. Unlike other products, our solution uses proprietary software to achieve productivity gains. I can send you a link so you can try it out. Here’s my card so you can send me your email address or call me.

Build your elevator pitch with these core concepts.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Gady Nemirovsky, Managing General Partner at Inspiration Ventures. 

Headquartered in Burlingame, California, Inspiration Ventures is an early-stage investment firm that structures its investments in a way that minimizes risk for their limited partners and benefits founders by better aligning the investors’ interests with the founders. Their interests are completely aligned with yours — whether the next step is a follow-on venture investment or a company acquisition — your success is their success.

Gady co-founded Inspiration Ventures with Robert Fanini in 2007 and has over 30 years of experience working within the financial and technology markets as an analyst, engineer, entrepreneur, and investor. Gady’s career started at JP Morgan Investment Management in New York and then moved from Wall Street to C*ATS Software, a Silicon Valley startup providing financial derivatives decision support software for multi-national banks. As employee number 17, Gady was able to participate in the unique experience of joining a startup at a very early stage and contributed to its growth into a successful initial public offering.

Following C*ATs, Gady founded Sonnet Financial, a company that provided an internet-based international funds transfer and foreign exchange service. Sonnet grew from a startup to processing billions of dollars in international payments for over 200 clients including many Fortune 100 companies such as IBM and ADP. Following the implementation of a joint venture in Japan and after over 7 years of operations, the company was successfully acquired by an East Coast foreign exchange provider.

Gady was also an early employee at AlterEgo, a provider of adaptive network services for the wireless internet acquired by Macromedia, and a founder of an online advertising network called Adzaar.

Inspiration Ventures portfolio holdings where Gady holds Board or Advisory positions include UserTesting (https://www.usertesting.com), Buffer (https://buffer.com), DailyPay (https://www.dailypay.com), OneEleven (https://oneeleven.co), and Preciate (https://join.preciate.com/en/preciate-home).

Gady simultaneously earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.S. Economics (major in finance) cum laude from the Wharton School of Business.

Gady discusses his investment thesis and some of the startups he invested in. He also shares what excites him now and advises investors and entrepreneurs.

You can visit Inspiration Ventures at www.inspirationvc.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/8904228/admin. 

Gady can be contacted via email at gady@inspirationvc.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/gady-nemirovsky-804bb33. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In crafting an elevator pitch, the intro is the most important part.

You must grab their attention and make them want to hear more.

Start with a problem and show how big and costly it is.

Generate curiosity in the listener by telling them you have a solution to that problem.

Demonstrate your solution to the problem and the benefits that come out of it.

Use numbers to strengthen your case. Numbers demonstrate your knowledge of the problem itself.

Investors will ask questions so be prepared with short and to-the-point answers.

No need to tell the full story, just give a direct answer.

If they don’t ask a question, then you ask a question to continue the conversation.

The intro is crucial to an elevator pitch.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Karen Contet, Co-Founder & CEO of AngelHub.

AngelHub is Hong Kong’s only SFC-regulated tech investment platform enabling investors to co-invest on a deal-by-deal basis alongside their fund & institutional investors. AngelHub combines a highly selective due diligence process, diverse network of partners, and the WHub start-up ecosystem to empower tech entrepreneurs for success.

Over the past year, AngelHub has vetted over 1,400 companies and made investments in more than 8 different sectors such as edutech, FinTech, foodtech, robotics & AI, healthtech, blockchain, gaming, and fast fashiontech.

Karen has been working in Asia for 13 years, starting in Tokyo as JP Morgan’s Exotic Equity Derivatives Trader, to software engineer for an IoT startup, teaching Front-End Web Development before co-founding WHub. She is immersed in the startup scene as a Community Leader for Techstars, a Front-End Web Development Instructor, a mentor for several accelerator programs, a speaker at international conferences like the JS Conference 2015 in Singapore, a French Foreign Trade Advisor, a FrenchTech Ambassador, and Founder of WomenWhoCodeHK. Karen has a double degree engineering diploma (France EPF - Canada ETS) and a Masters in Finance International from HEC Paris.

Karen is also a founding board member of the FinTech Association of Hong Kong.

Karen discusses the current state of angel investing and how she thinks it will evolve, some of the challenges she has faced, AngelHub’s fund, and what excites her right now.

You can visit AngelHub at www.angelhub.io, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/angelhub-limited/?ref=angelhubio. 

Karen can be contacted via email at karen@angelhub.io, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/karencontet/. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

To craft an elevator pitch, start with the end in mind. 

Do you want to pitch an investor? Do you want to sell a product? 

Start the pitch with the problem you solve and what your company does.

There needs to be a hook at the beginning of the pitch to capture attention.

Describe your main value proposition so the audience knows why your company is successful.

Pose a question to engage the audience into the pitch and start a dialog.

Close with a call to action by inviting the audience to learn more.

You can set up a call to show the product or give a pitch to discuss the business further.

It’s important to practice the pitch so it flows and comes across naturally.

Customize the pitch for each person so it resonates better.

The goal of the elevator pitch is not to tell them everything, but to get to the next meeting.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

An elevator pitch is a short version of your fundraise pitch.

Use it when you are engaging investors in situations where the slides are not available and the time is short.

It’s useful for setting up a more formal presentation by giving the investor a reason to take the meeting.

The elevator pitch demonstrates you have a startup that is worth exploring for an investment.

Use it when you are introduced to an investor by a mutual connection or when you meet someone at a networking event.

Online meetings often invite the participants to introduce themselves and say a few words about their company.

The key to a good elevator pitch is to generate interest from the listener such that they want to learn more.

There’s not enough time to tell the listener everything, so focus on two or three key points.

Start with the problem you are solving and how it's a big pain point.

Show how you solve the problem and how it benefits the customer.

Wrap up with a high-level version of your fundraising ask.

Use keywords and phrases to communicate the value propositions you have in your deal.

Don’t rush the pitch, but talk as you normally do.

The elevator pitch is the one pitch you’ll use more than any other.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes James W. Day, Senior Corporate Counsel at EquityZen.

EquityZen is a FinTech platform and online marketplace for investors and shareholders in alternative assets. If you are an accredited investor, EquityZen helps you access ordinarily hard-to-find alternative investments (such as secondary sales of pre-IPO equity). If you are an employee or shareholder of a privately held, venture-backed company, EquityZen helps you sell your shares and unlock some of the value created by your efforts. 

By developing technologies that help to streamline and systematize deals implicated by the complex regulatory framework undergirding the private capital markets in the United States, EquityZen has closed over 20,000 investments serving over 250 companies with a combined market capitalization of over $900 billion. Shares of companies such as Coinbase, Lemonade, and Spotify all traded on EquityZen’s platform prior to their public debuts.

EquityZen was selected by the World Economic Forum as one of the most promising technology pioneers of 2020 and as the recipient of the Innovation in Wealth, Asset and Investment Management award at the FinTech Innovation awards in 2016.

Before joining EquityZen, Jim worked as a corporate attorney in several major law firms and multinational corporations. In those roles his experiences include representing early-stage investors and their portfolio companies from initial funding rounds through the corporate lifecycle. He represented the court-appointed trustee under the Securities Investor Protection Act for the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC and coordinated hundreds of legal proceedings and avoidance actions in multiple foreign jurisdictions. He also represented debtors, creditors, and acquirers in dozens of complex bankruptcies and restructurings and their related asset sales.

Prior to his business and legal career, Jim served as a Naval Officer and military intelligence analyst. He deployed to the Middle East in support of UN trade sanctions and to South America as the Anti-Terrorism and Gunnery Officer onboard a guided missile frigate that performed one of the U.S. Navy’s most successful counter-narcotics operations. He taught graduate students as a Visiting Professor in one of Mozambique's first MBA programs (teaching Finance, Entrepreneurship and Business Planning). He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy (where he was the captain of the golf team) and holds a law degree and an MBA from Georgetown University, where he studied while working as an analyst at the Office of Naval Intelligence and interning at the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also volunteered as an instructor at The First Tee and the Bridge Golf Learning Center of Harlem; these organizations seek to use golf to teach important life lessons to youth in underserved communities. 

Jim shares his thoughts on how he sees the secondary industry evolving and what criteria qualifies somebody to go for a good secondary.

You can visit EquityZen at https://equityzen.com/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/equityzen, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/EquityZen.  

Jim can be contacted via email at jim.day@1998.usna.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jim-day-4141572, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/JimDay98.  

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

There are pros and cons to working with Corporate VCs.

Here are the pros:

They take a long-term point of view giving the startup time to grow and develop.

They bring access to partners, customers, and other resources.

They bring domain knowledge far beyond what most traditional VCs bring.

They can fund major projects much longer than traditional VCs.


Here are the cons:

You must gain commitment all the way to the top of the organization.

Corporations have silos and can be difficult to build consensus or sell ideas across department lines.

Corporations move slowly compared to the startup world which can frustrate the new ventures.

Corporations are competitive and do not always work well with other corporations.

Corporates can shift their attention to other things leaving the startup underfunded.

The startup’s innovation will ultimately be pulled into the corporate structure which dilutes the startup’s brand.

Consider these points in determining your participation with a corporate VC.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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This is Investor Perspectives, I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Solve the Cannabis Problem”, you’ll hear about changes expected in the coming 12 months and our guests’ final thoughts.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The cannabis space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift back to a normal way of life. Every state is reviewing its regulations and accelerating legalization across the board. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

William Muecke, Co-founder & Managing Director, Artemis Growth Partners, 00:56
Codie Sanchez, Managing Director, Entourage Effect Capital, 07:00
Michael Boniello, Managing Director, Poseidon Asset Management, 08:59
Sherri Haskell, Founder & CEO, Canna Angels LLC, 20:45

I hope you enjoy this episode.
________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org       

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In working with corporate VCs, follow these best practices:

1. Consider access to the R&D departments of the corporate VC and how much value that will add to your startup.
2. Document your work and innovation in great detail as corporate VCs will want to understand the technology and the ecosystem in greater detail than traditional VCs.
3. Proactively educate the corporate VC on your technology and what value it can bring.
4. Adjust the amount of funding you take from the corporate VC so as to control the amount of influence they have over the startup.
5. Understand the timeframe of the corporate VC engagement. In many cases, it’s much longer than the traditional VC.
6. Know your exit strategy and what comes after the relationship with the corporate VC ends or reaches a steady state.
7. Leverage the relationship with the corporate VC for partnerships.
8. Utilize the brand of the corporate VC to help gain access to customers. 
9. Expand your domain knowledge through the resources of the corporate VC such as attending conferences, collaborating on white papers, and working on research projects.
10. Use the corporate VC funding to gain access to additional funding outside the corporate world.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 

For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Brandon C. White, Host and Editor of Build a Business Success Secrets podcast and playbook.

Headquartered in Half Moon Bay, California, Build a Business Success Secrets is a monthly print playbook revealing the inner game about how to build a business. Readers get monthly articles on how to perfect their mind, tune their body, investing tips, information on new and undiscovered products and services that have been tested and shown to increase sales and profits, and ultimately how to build a successful business.

The newsletter also sponsors a podcast called Build a Business Success Secrets that provides straight talk for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Brandon is an entrepreneur with two exits under his belt (so far). One, the largest social networking/e-commerce/membership site for sport fishing, and the other, a government software engineering service business. Brandon is also an angel investor, worked for two prominent venture capital firms, and served in management with a Fortune 500 company (AOL Time Warner).

Brandon started his professional career in technology as a pioneer on the Internet in 1996 as the Founder/CEO of Worldwide Angler, Inc. Worldwide Angler was recognized as an early technology innovator and as the number-one social networking and e-commerce site for sport fisherman on the internet. He bought the company back from the investors and led it to a successful exit to a large media company.

Brandon has his M.B.A from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School where he studied internationally at five leading business schools. He also has a Masters and BA in Psychology from Washington College where he was President of the Psi Chi National Honor Society.

Brandon gives detailed advice to investors and startups and shares how he sees the startup industry evolving.  

You can visit Build a Business Success Secrets at https://BuildaBusiness.io, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com. 

Brandon can be contacted via email at b@brandoncwhite.com, via his website at https://BrandonCWhite.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/brandonwhite/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrandonCWhite.   

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Corporate VCs can leverage their position in the industry to sign up good startups with an investment.

The corporate VC brings a network of partners, distribution channels, a brand, an existing product line, and more. 

An investment can leverage their research dollars and achieve more than if they build it themselves.

The pharmaceutical industry recognized this advantage years ago and now primarily invest in funding successful biotech startups rather than doing all the research and development themselves.

This model works well where R&D is expensive and there are many potential avenues to take. 

There is a cost of setting up a corporate VC arm, but this investment can be spread across many startups.

If used extensively, it can become a core competence for the company.

To be successful at this, start with a clearly defined set of goals.

Gain commitment from the corporation.

Align the compensation of the corporate team to that of the performance of the investment.

Those companies whose growth has stalled for some time may be more open to committing to it.

Those facing a new wave of technologies may find this a better way to engage.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes John Dalton, Managing Partner at Industrial Device Investments (IDI).

Headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, IDI invests in manufacturers of industrial devices, sensors, machinery, and instruments. More specifically, they prefer specialty product companies that have $5 - $50 million in revenue, $1 - $6 million in earnings, strong technical features such that "use expertise" is value-added, the opportunity to improve by stronger strategic focus and strong operational execution, but not turnarounds, and segments where technology and innovation can drive sustainable advantage.

John is a three-decade industrial products veteran with experience in all company functions and as a private equity investor with SouthPointe Ventures in Atlanta. John’s past experience began with General Electric and Black & Decker and includes senior leadership and ownership positions with smaller organizations focused on unique technologies within basic industries. He holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University and an M.B.A. degree from the University of North Carolina. Dalton and his wife Sandy live in Knoxville, with their five children: Mark, Chris, Ari, Connor, and Krystin, and are active attendees at Two Rivers Church.

John mentions some good opportunities for investors to pursue. He also shares his investment thesis and some of the challenges entrepreneurs face.

You can visit Industrial Device Investments at www.idinvest.net, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/industrial-device-investments/about/. 

John can be contacted via email at john@idinvest.net, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/john-dalton-32996730. 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Companies setting up a corporate VC arm often make the following mistakes:

Treating the corporate VC arm as purely an acquisition pipeline.

There are several other ways to gain value from a corporate VC structure than just recruiting target acquisitions.

Not taking enough risk in selecting startups to pursue.

The startup world has a higher level of risk involved than what most large companies find normal.

Not accepting the fact that there will be failures and planning for it.

Most companies want to succeed at everything. In the startup world, there is a high failure rate and there must be a program to manage those failures.

Not giving the startups enough time to develop and mature.

Startups can take several years to develop a meaningful product.

Most VC funds are set up for a ten-year cycle. 

Make sure your company is committed to at least that time frame for running a corporate VC program.

Treating the corporate VC arm as a business development unit.

The VC arm should be working on next-generation technologies and not just the current generation.

Requiring a majority stake which can be difficult to negotiate and support. Minority stakes are a better fit as it brings other investors into the process.

Low balling the budget.  

True innovation is not cheap or easy.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Patricia (Trish) Costello, CEO & Founder of Portfolia.

Trish is internationally recognized for her pioneering work in preparing venture capital investment partners through the prestigious Kauffman Fellows Program, which she launched in 1994 with the Kauffman Foundation, and continues as CEO Emeritus. At Kauffman Fellows, she created the first training program for venture capital partners and launched the careers of many VC leaders, including numerous women VCs. She realized there was a culture around the VC industry that did not reflect how women like to operate. Traditional VCs were not funding the types of founders, products, and solutions that women wanted in the world, and adding 1-2 women to an existing venture firm was not shifting the equation.

Trish saw an opportunity to create a best-in-class community and culture that united and empowered women to invest in innovative companies that have outsized potential for returns and impact -- and Portfolia was born.

At Portfolia, their global network of top VCs source best-in-class companies and high-value deals and bring deep experience to each fund. They have 10 funds in market and invest in 8-12 companies per fund. The performance of their first two funds placed them in the top quartile of venture funds launched in 2016 and 2017.

Trish was Founding President of CVE Capital Corp, the holding company of a $1.7 billion Fund of Funds founded to endow the Kauffman program. Trish was on the startup team of the Kauffman Foundation’s entrepreneurship center, where she played a leading role nationally in increasing equity investments in women’s businesses and in funding initiatives supporting high-growth women entrepreneurs, as well as equity programs for all high-potential entrepreneurs. Trish led the National Science Foundation SBIR Sub-Committee on Commercialization and was the Director of the Arthur M. Blank Center of Entrepreneurship at Babson College. She led and exited venture-backed companies in the pediatric market earlier in her career.

Trish is on the Board of Directors of the Motley Fool Foundation. Entrepreneur Magazine named her to its 2020 inaugural 100 Most Innovative Women Entrepreneurs in the World, and Portfolia won the 2019 Golden Stevie Award for the Year’s Most Innovative Company Run by Women. Fast Company awarded Portfolia as one of the 10 Most Innovative Finance Companies in the World in 2020, along with unicorns Brex and Carta.

Trish discusses her investment thesis, advises startups and investors, and shares some of the challenges they face. 

You can visit Portfolia at www.portfolia.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/portfolia/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/Portfolia1. 

Trish can be contacted via email at tcostello@portfolia.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/trishcostello1.

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In setting up a corporate VC fund in your organization, consider the following:

Start with the legal structure. You can either create an LLC legal entity for the fund or move the fund inside the corporate structure.

Next, establish your investment thesis in alignment with your corporate strategic objectives.  

Build an investment structure with a team for managing deal flow, diligence, portfolio management, and other activities in running a fund.

Use traditional VC programs as a benchmark for this process.

Establish a pipeline of deals to review by setting up partnerships with funds, accelerators, and other groups launching startups that fit your thesis.

Set up syndicate partnerships with traditional VCs to fund deals they’ve completed.

Make sure you create internal communication programs to update the corporation on status and progress.

Create an external communications program to promote the fund and attract startups as well as syndicate partners.

Startups sign up to gain access to corporate partners, customers, brands, and more, so create support programs for the invested companies.  

Establish metrics to capture the results of the work. 

Traditional VCs typically use exits on funded startups.

Corporate VCs should focus on meaningful collaborations with corporate departments and partners.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Greg Shepard, Founder of BOSS Capital Partners.

Headquartered in San Diego, California, BOSS Capital Partners is a boutique consulting firm dedicated to working with technology businesses that need operational expertise and guidance to achieve capital-efficient and rewarding outcomes. By utilizing the BOSS - Business Operating Support System - the BCP team assists portfolio companies with tactical challenges they face in product management, engineering, sales, marketing, pricing, legal, and finance. 

BOSS Capital Partners is focused on applying the battle-tested BOSS Startup Science methodology to assist companies that have found product-market fit, yet need additional operational assistance to achieve a reasonable financial exit.

Consistently and efficiently applied, BOSS allows BCP to transform the day-to-day operations of portfolio companies and significantly increase the quality of potential exit outcomes. 

Greg is a 20-year startup veteran and serial entrepreneur with 14 liquidity events under his belt, two of which were sold as part of a $925M transaction that won 4 PE awards for transactions between $250M-$1B. He is a ForbesBooks author and has written over 100 articles published in 25 national and international publications. Greg is a TEDx speaker and keynote speaker for universities, associations, and conferences worldwide. He is the host of a Forbes Radio show and has been featured as a guest on over 25 popular podcasts as well as numerous network TV and radio shows. Greg Co-Founded BOSSStartupScience a learning center that is based on Greg’s Business Operating Support System (BOSS) - an open-source methodology developed to empower entrepreneurs while increasing the startup success rate.

Greg shares what excites him now in the sector and gives detailed advice to both investors and entrepreneurs. He discusses some of the changes we may see in the startup space in the next five years and he speaks about his investment thesis.

You can visit BOSS Capital Partners at www.bosscapitalpartners.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/bosscapitalpartners, and via Twitter at https://twitter.com/bosscappartners.

Greg can be contacted via email at greg@bosscapitalpartners.com, via his website at www.gregoryshepard.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/gregshepard, and via Twitter at https://twitter.com/gregshepard_. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

This is Investor Perspectives, I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Solve the Cannabis Problem”, you’ll hear about participation in the cannabis sector and what investors look for.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The cannabis space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift back to a normal way of life. Every state is reviewing its regulations and accelerating legalization across the board. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

William Muecke, Co-founder & Managing Director, Artemis Growth Partners, 00:56
Codie Sanchez, Managing Director, Entourage Effect Capital, 04:32 
Michael Boniello, Managing Director, Poseidon Asset Management, 07:55
Sherri Haskell, Founder & CEO, Canna Angels LLC, 19:30

I hope you enjoy this episode.
_______________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org       

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

While traditional venture funds increase their fund size over time, corporate VCs should keep their fund size low.

Traditional VCs seek higher compensation and can do so by increasing the size of the fund which increases their management fee.

Corporate VCs are often compensated as employees of the company with some upside on successful outcomes which are not necessarily financial exits.

Collaboration, partnerships, and pilots are the most often used metrics for funded companies in a corporate VC fund.

Therefore it is important to keep the costs low especially at the start and then grow it over time as you prove out the program.

It will be easier to provide a positive return on investment for a $25M fund rather than a $200M fund.

This will reduce the dollar investment into each startup but there again, it’s best to start small and increase the investment per company over time.

A large fund may also draw criticism from other departments in the corporation who want that budget for their purposes.

A large fund can create a culture of “contracted labor” rather than a culture of collaboration.

The final outcome is not a financial return, but successful collaborations and pilots.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

There are several approaches corporate VCs can take in setting up their venture program:

For finding innovations for current challenges the corporate VC can use collaborative innovation tools such as coding sprints, hackathons, or Xprize competitions.

For generating new business concepts, utilize accelerators by either bringing in an existing program or creating your own.

For creating new businesses, set up an incubator program either by joining an existing incubator in the area or by creating your own.

For solving specific problems, set up partnerships with entrepreneurs or venture capital firms using the joint venture model.

For investing in startups for future collaborations and projects, set up a fund and look at crowdfunding platforms, incubators, and venture capital channel partners. 

There are several tools one can use to foster the collaboration.

The venture studio model can be used for building startups from the ground up.

Crowdsourcing can provide additional tools for finding developers, technology, or business models.

Entrepreneur-in-residence programs match the startup with an existing business to provide a solution in-house.

Embedding corporate employees in a startup can also be used. 

Determine your objectives and then build your program around it.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Adam Hull, Partner at Redbud Advisors.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Redbud Advisors is the fulcrum to your wealth. They serve as wealth strategists and focus on winning relationships in all forms. Their ideal client makes a multitude of financial decisions in a day, week, and throughout the year. Redbud brings them the strategies needed to achieve their goals and serves as a thought partner, advocate, expert, advisor, and facilitator to ensure every decision is in support of the strategy. Like the fulcrum moves to keep things balanced, Redbud moves to ensure their client has constant balance.

Adam is no ordinary person, let alone an advisor in the financial world. In high school, he was a stand leader and got all the fans in home team cheering mode. He's the father of 4 and found a new appreciation for life when going through the humbling experience of losing his first child as an infant; today, his 3 vibrant children and loving wife add wind to his sails. He brings heart to everything he does.

In his profession with Redbud Advisors, and 11 years under his belt, Adam is a Wealth Strategist; the guy that sits beside the wealthy helping them make critical decisions. Clients say Adam, and Redbud, have more intimate knowledge of their financial situation than any other family member, let alone professional on their team. From 'should I tell my kids about their inheritance' to, 'do I invest in this business or not', to, 'is it better to do X or Y', and 'what's the best estate plan', along with all the things in between, he is committed to helping clients have the best wealth strategy through winning relationships.

Adam explains how Redbud Advisors help startup and growth companies and discusses some of the challenges startups face.

You can visit Redbud Advisors at www.redbudadvisorsatx.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/redbud-advisors/about/.  

Adam can be contacted via email at hull@redbudadvisorsatx.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/adamhull. 

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Corporate VC funding continues to grow as companies look for innovation and startups look for funding opportunities.

There are several types of corporate VC funds. Here are three:

1. Traditional investment fund 

• This fund looks and acts like a traditional VC fund. 
• They’ve set up a fund for the program and source and diligence deals similar to a traditional VC fund.
• They invest for financial reasons and can provide primarily management support.

2. Strategic investment fund

• They invest off the balance sheet and for strategic purposes.
• They don’t look for a financial return but rather collaborations.
• The team is small but works full time on the fund.
• They invest not only financial resources, but also strategic ones such as partnerships and sales channel access.

3. Opportunity investment fund

• They often invest off the balance sheet and invest solely for specific projects.
• The team is not full-time and consists of members from various departments.
• They are typically product-focused and seek the investment to fill a product need.
• They provide limited strategic and financial support. 

Make sure the type of corporate VC matches the needs of your startup.


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Hubert Vaz-Nayak, Co-Founder and President of the Chicago Booth Angels Network of Texas.

The Chicago Booth Angels Network (CBAN) of Texas was formed by Booth alumni in Texas who came together to identify and invest smartly in startups. They focus on early-stage companies that are looking for a diverse, high caliber of investors who can leverage their capital, expertise, and global networks to the advantage of the companies they invest in. As part of the global CBAN organization, they also have access to the broader CBAN investor network.  

CBAN Texas is an inclusive organization that encourages all accredited investors to consider participating in their investment opportunities and events. They consider investing in businesses from anywhere in the United States and invest in a broad range of industries.  

Hubert began his career in India working on the launch of Pepsi and 7Up across the country. After graduating from the University of Chicago Booth Business School, he worked with large technology companies including Motorola, BMC Software, and AT&T Wireless where he pioneered several wireless services we all use today. As a management consultant with Accenture and KPMG, he advised the management teams of several Fortune 100 companies.  

Hubert also has a strong start-up track record. He came up with the idea and wrote the original business plan for Convergys, which grew into a $3B public company. He then went on to co-found Eclipse Networks, which went from 2 to 400+ employees in less than 12 months. He led the turnaround and repositioning of Dynamicsoft that was acquired by Cisco Systems. Moving to Houston, he was initially Director of the Tech startups at the Houston Technology Center, where he advised over 30 startup companies.

Hubert is a board member of TIE Houston and TIE Houston Angels, the world’s largest entrepreneurship organization. He is also currently the CFO of a rapidly-growing social media startup called Aapoon, which is focused on the Indian market. Hubert is an active angel investor investing in multiple startups around the country and remains an advisor to many of them.  

Hubert discusses the state of startup investing and his investment thesis. He advises investors and entrepreneurs and discusses some of the challenges they face.

You can visit the Chicago Booth Angels Network of Texas at www.boothangelstexas.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/chicago-booth-angels-network-of-texas/. 

Hubert can be contacted via email at vaznayak@hotmail.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/hubert-vaz-nayak-8ab1b1/. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

There are several tools for the corporate VC to use in a venturing program.

Here’s a list to consider:

• Hackathon - invite those in the industry or area to participate in a coding challenge to solve a particular problem.
• Shared resources - provide the community with a set of tools and data sets and invite open community collaboration.
• Challenge prize - offer a cash prize for the winner of a competition.
• Corporate venture capital - offer investments into startups that meet specific criteria.
• Commercial incubators - set up a partnership with incubators to provide support in exchange for access to deal flow.
• Internal incubators - set up an internal incubator and invite employees and partners to participate.
• Strategic partnership - set up partner programs with accelerators, venture capitalists, and other groups to provide deal flow.
• M&A program - set up a program for acquiring companies and onboarding into the corporation.

Consider augmenting your corporate venture fund with these tools and activities. 


Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes David Meltzer, CEO of David Meltzer Enterprises.

David is the Co-Founder of Sports 1 Marketing and formerly served as CEO of the renowned Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment agency, which was the inspiration for the movie Jerry Maguire. Considered one of the top esports entrepreneurs and investors, David is also a three-time international best-selling author, a Top 100 Business Coach, and host of the top entrepreneur podcast, The Playbook.   

David is the Executive Producer of the Bloomberg and Amazon television series 2 Minute Drill and also is the executive producer of Entrepreneur’s #1 digital business show, Elevator Pitch. David is featured in many books, movies, and TV shows such as World’s Greatest Motivators, Think and Grow Rich: The Legacy and Beyond the Secret, airing on Netflix. Additionally, he has been recognized by Variety Magazine as their Sports Humanitarian of the Year and awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.  

His life’s mission is to empower OVER 1 BILLION people to be happy! This simple yet powerful mission has led him on an incredible journey to provide one thing…VALUE. In all his content, and communication that’s exactly what you’ll receive. For the past 20 years, David has been providing free weekly trainings to empower others to be happy. 

David shares what led him to start working in the eSports space, what excites him now, and he advises both investors and startups. He discusses some of the challenges startups face and how he sees the industry evolving.

You can visit David at www.dmeltzer.com, www.free.dmeltzer.com/training, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/david-meltzer-enterprises-dme/about/, www.linkedin.com/in/davidmeltzer2, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/davidmeltzer. 

David can be contacted via email at david@dmeltzer.com.

Music courtesy of Bensound. 

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Founders looking to raise funding from corporate VCs should avoid the following mistakes:

1. Not matching the corporate VC to the needs of the startup - corporate VCs bring not only money but strategic value.
2. Not understanding the corporate VC investment strategy - some corporate VCs invest for a financial return while others invest for a strategic partnership.
3. Not building a strong relationship with the corporate VC team - it’s best to forge a good working relationship upfront as it will bring value later.
4. Not doing diligence on the corporate VC -  the founder should be doing as much diligence on the corporate VC as the VC is doing on the startup.
5. Not knowing what you want from the corporate VC - it’s best to identify the needs of the company first and then choose a VC based on that.
6. Not preparing for the product and technical diligence a corporate VC will put on your startup - a corporate VC comes from the large company world with higher standards for product and technical work.
7. Not getting the corporate VC to waive audit rights - audits are a major cost in time and dollars.
8. Not preparing for regulatory issues especially in the financial space - not preparing for corporate team transitions. 
   
   

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Ben Rifkin, CEO at Ten Eighty Capital.

Ten Eighty is a single-family office and diversified private investment firm with three primary focus areas. Ten Eighty Trading develops proprietary technical trading strategies for the public markets. Ten Eighty Capital invests time, capital, and expertise into operating companies ranging from concepts incubated in-house to late-stage growth rounds and even full buyouts, alternative funds, and other investment vehicles. Ten Eighty Land invests in discrete residential and commercial properties as well as broader development projects.

Ben is the co-founder and board director of AcceleratUM, a privately funded collaborative that advances consensus solutions for the unmanned mobility industry. He devotes significant time to public education and youth development organizations as board chair of the Park City Education Foundation and board director of Live Like Sam Foundation.

Prior to Ten Eighty, Ben served as President of Royal Street Investment & Innovation Center, leading strategic investment and business decisions and advising on Royal Street’s sale of Deer Valley Resort and Solitude Resort to Alterra Mountain Company. He was also a founding Venture Partner of Royal Street Ventures. In these roles, Ben worked closely with private and public companies in the hospitality, virtual reality, consumer products, consumer internet, and enterprise software industries. Ben also managed the Park City Angels as Executive Director leading membership, deal sourcing, and diligence efforts. He helped open Park City’s first co-working space and incubator, PandoLabs, and also served as co-chair and emcee of Thin Air, a business leadership and innovation conference underwritten by the Park City Chamber of Commerce.

Ben began his professional career in media, working his way up at Time Warner and Bonnier Corporation from intern to eventually become the youngest-ever Publisher of the SKI and Skiing brands while also serving as associate publisher of Saveur and Garden Design. He left media to pursue a career in finance via sports and entertainment, first as SVP Marketing and Operations at Consumer Capital Partners and world-class cycling stage race the US Pro Challenge, and later as President and General Manager of the Denver Cutthroats, the AA-affiliate of the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.

Ben grew up in Maine, graduated from Hebron Academy, and went on to the alpine ski race at Dartmouth College, where he majored in creative writing and was involved in various academic and social organizations.

Ben discusses his investment thesis, some of the startups he has invested in, and some of their challenges.

You can visit Ten Eighty Capital at www.teneighty.us, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/ten-eighty-capital/about/.  

Ben can be contacted via email at brifkin@teneighty.us, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/benrifkin/. 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startups looking to take corporate VC funding should be aware of the requirements put on founders.

Here’s a list to consider:

• Corporate VCs may seek consent rights on contracts the startup enters with competitors.
• They may seek higher levels of compliance on the part of the startup.
• They may require additional rights over an exit, given they are in the deal for a longer time.
• They may limit the information made available to competitors and the market in general.
• They may expect right-of-first-refusal on any shares offered.
• They may put a call option on the company for a future buyout.
• They may put a put option on the company which must buy back the shares in the future.
• They may take a board observer role which absolves them of any fiduciary responsibility.
• They may require the startup to comply with ESG, environmental, social, and governance compliance.

There’s a cost of working in the large company world, so it’s important to understand the requirements that come with the funding.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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This is Investor Perspectives, I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Solve the Cannabis Problem”, you’ll hear about primary trends and what makes for a successful company in the segment.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The cannabis space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift back to a normal way of life. Every state is reviewing its regulations and accelerating legalization across the board. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

William Muecke, Co-founder & Managing Director, Artemis Growth Partners, 00:56
Codie Sanchez, Managing Director, Entourage Effect Capital, 04:34
Michael Boniello, Managing Director, Poseidon Asset Management, 06:44
Sherri Haskell, Founder & CEO, Canna Angels LLC, 12:09

I hope you enjoy this episode.
________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org       

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Chris Fronda, CEO of Logictry.

Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Logictry, the first-ever Logic Management system, is a no-code, low-code application platform that allows anyone to build business Logic Apps that combine learning and productivity for instant expertise.

Logictry helps businesses systematize their processes and institutional knowledge into interactive, actionable content. The result is that businesses can onboard new hires faster, senior members can delegate more with less risk, teams can unlock untapped efficiencies, and overall, businesses can protect against knowledge loss.

Chris is a serial tech entrepreneur and a 15-year software architect. He is well known for his ability to deliver the benefits of complex technologies in efficient ways. His endeavors have included launching a cryptocurrency (ICO) as well as building blockchain dApps, trading algorithms, scalable cloud architectures, and consumer mobile apps.

He has also owned and operated a technical systems integration firm working with clients such as SwRI, Metso, Pfizer, and NASA. His firm built automated production test systems for verification and validation, solar power quality monitoring systems, plant asset condition monitoring systems, and automated cell secretion analysis systems for the research and treatment of Type 1 diabetes.

Chris brings nearly 20 years of experience in delivering productivity through technology. Prior to founding his systems integration firm, he served as a top applications engineer for National Instruments (NI) where he guided clients in bringing complex automation systems online. At NI, he was tapped as a top instructor for NI’s top and senior client base. Chris was promoted to Product Manager for NI’s $25M Sound and Vibration product line overseeing and coordinating sales, marketing, R&D, and manufacturing. In this role, he was often tapped to close large sales opportunities and for global speaking engagements promoting the product line.

Chris has parlayed his high-level achievements in math and physics, his love of strategy and chess, and his desire to unlock the benefits of advanced technology for the masses, into tools that leverage technology to unlock front-line innovation and untapped efficiencies for businesses and clients. Chris is also deeply passionate about learning complex topics and simplifying them to empower others. He aims to help grow awareness of the Socratic Method, formal logic, and systems thinking, and to help anyone think like an expert.

His mission is to optimize the way we structure information and intelligence for better decision-making and his vision is to help keep humans relevant and innovating in this age of acceleration.

Chris discusses the growth rate of the sector and some of the challenges startups face. He explains what his target customer looks like, and the future of Logictry.

You can visit Logictry at www.logictry.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/logictry, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/logictry.  

Chris can be contacted via email at chris@logictry.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/chrisfronda. 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

The corporate VC must set up and run a program.

Here’s a list of core functions the corporate VC must cover:

Planning out the portfolio - this includes estimating the size of each investment as well as the type of company to invest in. There needs to be a target valuation and percentage ownership for each investment.

Searching for startups that meet the plan - startups must be able to grow rapidly and scale to higher levels with limited capital.

Convincing startups to take the investment - this includes connecting the startup to other investors and providing resources to facilitate growth.

Diligencing startups - this includes researching the startup, in particular the team, to understand their skills and ability to accomplish the goal.

Tracking and supporting existing investments - this includes attending board meetings, supporting the startup, and updating the limited partners of the status. Some startups will require more attention than others and limited partners will look for in-depth reports.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

With the growing number of startups seeking funding, it’s easy to increase your corporate VC fund to capture more deals.

Fund sizes in many corporate VCs increase almost every year.

For many startups, too much funding can bring unexpected problems.

It’s best to start small and grow the fund organically.

The corporate VC also needs to build out the program to provide the strategic and forecasted results.

Many startups that pursue corporate VC need substantial support.

Most corporate VC funds are started when their strategic initiatives come up short.

The corporate VC must consider the needs of the fund as well as the needs of the startup.

Start with a small investment up front, then start looking for a connection with the corporate group with meaningful interactions.

Too much funding will create the impression that the funding was the end-game when collaboration should be the outcome.

Measure each step that leads to a productive collaboration.

The startup should feel like a successful part of the company and not a hired contractor.

In the end, you must find a good fit and build a strong collaboration process.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Jim Stallings, CEO of PS27 Ventures.

Based in Jacksonville, Florida, PS27 Ventures is a veteran-owned venture capital firm that invests in early-stage companies that are driving dramatic changes in high-growth markets. Their investments focus on healthtech, e-commerce, fintech, SaaS, and sustainability companies. 

They work with a diverse group of founders to provide the tools, resources, and expertise they need to succeed. They use a hands-on approach and require their companies to attend weekly sales calls, peer-to-peer events, and annual programs. They also work alongside them to assist with cash flow management. PS27 has a proven success rate for graduated portfolio companies who have gone on successfully to build their companies.

Jim is an internationally recognized business leader, entrepreneur, and investor who specializes in launching and scaling early-stage companies in areas of technology and e-commerce. Jim has been involved in starting dozens of new ventures in fintech, healthtech, and Software as a Service. He believes innovation should be viewed as the core offensive strategy of any company, "either disrupt or be disrupted". Jim's career spans over 30 years as IBM General Manager of several major lines of business including the company's $7B Linux software business, its intellectual property division with 39,000 patents, and its $21B global hardware sales group. He started his business career as a data analyst in the Space Division at GE. Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the US Naval Academy and served as a Captain in the US Marine Corps. He is on the Board of Directors at Fidelity National Informations Systems (FIS), UGI Corporation (UGI), and Cannae Holdings, Inc (CNNE). He also serves as a Trustee on the Folded Flag Foundation which provides scholarships to descendants of fallen warriors in the US Military.

Jim advises investors and entrepreneurs and shares his investment thesis. He discusses the state of startup investing and what he thinks will be the biggest change we will see in five years.

You can visit PS27 Ventures at www.ps27ventures.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/ps27-ventures, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/PS27Ventures.   

Jim can be contacted via email at jbs@ps27ventures.com, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/jimps27, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/JimPS27. 

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Corporate venture capital is venture funding from a company, rather than a fund raised from limited partners.

Most corporate venture capital invests for strategic reasons rather than financial ones.

Reasons for corporations to invest in startups include the following:

- Gain market insight through their startup portfolio companies - many companies want a front-row seat on how an emerging market is developing. 

- Access to new research and business models - this can support research and development as well as business development.

- Provide a flow of new customers for the corporate investor - investing in companies gives the corporate VC leverage for selling their products.

- Identify new talent for future projects in the space - as the market matures, the corporate VC may want to enter the market with their own products, and having the talent to build and sell those products can be quite valuable. 

- Build a relationship with potential acquisition targets - some corporations use M&A to gain access to a market and investing in early-stage companies is one path to acquisition.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes JC Otero, COO & Co-Founder of Change4Change.

Headquartered in Austin, TX, Change4Change’s mission is to democratize the political fundraising process by broadening the donor base, making fundraising more accessible to all, while combating the influence of big money in politics. It is this monumental challenge that compelled JC to join forces with Nik Kulkarni to start Change4Change in the Fall of 2018.

Through their mobile apps, politically active donors can round up their everyday debit and credit card transactions to the nearest dollar, and donate that spare "change"​ to political candidates and causes they support.

JC's career has spanned roles in sales, operations, marketing, and management with large companies such as Informatica, a world-leading data management company, Dell (prior to going private), and Wells Fargo, while also being an early employee with tech startups such as nDivision, which went public in 2018, and BestFit Mobile, which was acquired by Software Paradigm International in 2015. JC also co-founded one of Austin's first green cleaning companies and sold his stake in 2009.

Outside of being an early-stage startup employee, JC has also been involved with more mature startups in FinTech, Buzz Points who raised over $25M since its founding in 2009, and in the Cryptocurrency space, Cointerra who generated over $35M in revenue its first year manufacturing ASIC machines for bitcoin mining in 2013 where he helped launched one of the world's first cloud-based mining services in 2014.

Outside of work, JC is very involved in the community, both locally and internationally, is an avid reader with an insatiable appetite to learn, and loves traveling the world. To date, JC has been to 29 countries across 4 continents.

Community accomplishments JC is most proud of are in helping build the largest deaf empowerment NGO in Kenya, being an early catalyst and champion for at-risk youth, entrepreneurship efforts in Central Texas, and his Emzingo NexGen fellowship in Peru with the National Red Cross.

JC discusses how he sees the industry evolving, and how Change4Change fits into the landscape.

You can visit Change4Change at www.change4change.co/, via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/change4change/about/, and via Twitter at www.twitter.com/change4changeco.

JC can be contacted via email at jc.otero.atx@gmail.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/juancarlosotero/.  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Corporate VCs follow the startup cycle with many launching their programs at the peak of the cycle.

Most Corporate VCs last about 4 to 6 years, at which point the economic cycle creates a challenging environment for the company.

To be successful at running a corporate VC, you’ll need to do the following:

Set goals that are aligned with the corporation.

Are you doing research, learning from the market trends, or driving acquisitions? Are you pursuing a financial return or a strategic one? If pursuing a strategic one, determine the KPIs you'll use to measure success.

Decide what stage company you want to pursue as there's a big difference between early and late-stage companies with respect to sourcing the deals and controlling the outcome.

Startup investing is typically a long-term investment with a 7 to 10-year horizon.

You'll need to make sure the management team and company can commit to that timeframe.

Understand the cultural differences between a multi-decade old company and a six-month-old startup.

Sourcing deals can be a challenge if you don't have connections in the startup world.

Managing a startup is different from managing a business unit in the company. The needs of a startup are entrepreneurial and don't necessarily fit into the company's current support set. Make sure you incentivize the management team properly for the fund as they can find more lucrative jobs in the VC space.

Finally, set up a dedicated fund for the process so you can support the portfolio with follow on rounds. Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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In this episode, Hall welcomes Caroline Lewis, Partner at Rogue Venture Partners and Managing Partner of Rogue’s Women’s Fund.

Rogue Venture Partners is a venture capital firm specializing in investments in startups. It seeks to invest in new and growing businesses in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. The company invests in entrepreneurs that reject the status quo, and who are driven by market traction. Rogue values ingenuity, insight and intelligence, and accelerates entrepreneurial success with resources, values and vision. Rogue is committed to increasing Oregon's entrepreneurial footprint through committed, sustainable investment in new businesses and growing enterprises.

Rogue optimizes its fund to ensure alignment between investors and founders generating outsized venture returns on market-based exits and are actively investing out of Fund IV and the Rogue Women’s Fund. Rogue focuses on Consumer Health/Tech and B2B SaaS and enterprise in E-Commerce, and Aging/Care tech.

Caroline identifies new investment opportunities for Rogue and leverages her previous experience to assist portfolio companies with growth. She is a Kauffman Fellow and is a board observer for Stix, Source, All Voices, Edify, Caregiven, and EnviralTech. Prior to Rogue, Caroline was Senior Director in Strategy and Operations for Global Design, Product, and Merchandising at Nike where she managed a portfolio of strategic programs focused on consumer experience, digitization, and big data. Prior to being recruited to work for Nike, Caroline was a technology consultant for Propeller and Hitachi Consulting, working with Fortune 100 companies on enterprise technology implementations and organizational restructuring. Her love for start-ups comes from her early career experience as a founder for an e-commerce business and as a leader at a consumer health product company.

Caroline graduated as a Division 1 Field Hockey player with an MS in Psychology from Davidson College. She then received an MBA with a focus on entrepreneurship from Portland State University.

Caroline discusses her investment thesis and some of the startups that fit the thesis. She advises entrepreneurs and investors and shares some of the challenges she sees startups facing these days.

You can visit Rogue Venture Partners at www.roguevp.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/rogue-venture-partners/about/. You can visit Rogue’s Women’s Fund at www.oguewmn.com. 

Caroline can be contacted via email at caroline@roguevp.com, and via LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/carolinejlewis/.  

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Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Overall, corporate VCs invest more than traditional VCs by about 2%.

Corporate VCs operate the same as traditional VCs with some exceptions:

• Corporate VCs seek a strategic advantage rather than a financial return
• Many don’t lead funding rounds but only follow them
• They bring strategic support to the startup such as sales channels and industry partnerships
• They focus on early to mid-stage companies primarily and avoid seed-stage startups
• They invest based on the current strength of the corporation and don’t follow the traditional raise-a-fund-and-deploy-it cycle
• They don’t exert substantial control over the company, compared to traditional VCs who seek a financial return in a specific timeframe
• They don’t look for a strong financial return as the only exit option
• Corporate VCs are measured by the impact of the investment into the startup, such as number of pilots and programs rather than startup sales growth
• They don’t limit their investment horizon to the 10-ear fund cycle as a traditional VC does
• Corporate VCs access deals primarily through their partnerships rather than the general market

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group  

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This is Investor Perspectives. I’m the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding.

In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled “How to Solve the Cannabis Problem”, you’ll hear about growth in the cannabis segment.

As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The cannabis space is now undergoing tremendous change as we shift back to a normal way of life. Every state is reviewing its regulations and accelerating legalization across the board. We have investors and startup founders describe the changes coming up.

Our guests are:

William Muecke, Co-founder & Managing Director, Artemis Growth Partners, 01:17
Codie Sanchez, Managing Director, Entourage Effect Capital, 03:51
Michael Boniello, Managing Director, Poseidon Asset Management, 05:25
Sherri Haskell, Founder & CEO, Canna Angels LLC, 08:19

I hope you enjoy this episode.
_______________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org       

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/  
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/  
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/  
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/    

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group 

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Corporate venture capital is an existing business utilizing venture funding to further the company’s strategic objectives.

The firm takes an equity stake in startups either through an internal fund or off the corporate balance sheet. 

Unlike traditional venture capital, corporate VCs look to gain a competitive advantage for the company and not a financial return.

The firm seeks to grow their business and uses an investment into a startup to gain knowledge of an emerging market, identify key players in the industry, and potentially use the results to grow sales. 

These initial investments often lead to a buyout of the startup.

The investment is a useful tool for diligencing a startup and influencing its direction.

There are some corporate VCs investing for a return on investment rather than strategic initiatives, but this is rare.

Most corporate VCs make investments with the goal of winning more business for their current product and services.

It’s a useful method for exploring new markets without committing substantial resources from the corporation.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.
___________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org 

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/ 
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/ 
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/ 
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/ 
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/ 

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

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