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Tag: #AngelInvestors

Entrepreneurial Gigolos and B Teams

Entrepreneurial Gigolos and B Teams

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Photo by Sander Sammy @Unsplash

 It’s September. The investors are back from the end of summer break and paying attention again. There are funds to be deployed, and meeting to take, the holidays will be here again before you know it and they’ll once again disappear, so it’s a good time to get that investor deck out and those meetings lined up.

 

We work with founders all the time, helping them to refine/write their decks, since, as we’ve said before, all founders think the 10-15 slide construct is written in stone in terms of the order of the slides, and often bury the lead. Or are so in love with the tech they’ve created, they didn’t bother to include the lead at all. And do keep in mind that your deck is a teaser. Purpose: to get you to that meeting with investors. Read More...

Investors in the Hot Seat

Investors in the Hot Seat

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Image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

We work with and/or coach entrepreneurs all the time, and recently realized that many founders have no idea how the VC model works, meaning how and why VCs deploy funds – and make decisions – the way they do. So we’re going to shift the perspective to help you to better understand the process.

You go to investors because you need capital in order to get your company to the next level. Time to think about VC firms as companies as well, because they are. Some of them are large companies, re have a bigger war chest of funds to deploy, but truth be told, the majority are more akin to SMBs. Where does the money come from for the funds? Family offices, high net worth individuals, strategics (eg companies/corporations aligned with the investment vertical or thesis of the fund) or institutional investors (pension funds, university endowment funds, sovereign wealth funds, etc), and the funds manage their investments. The fund’s investors invest in specific funds for various reasons: the expertise of the team, the fund’s track record, their spidey sense, alignment of focus, etc.

Like the VCs who invest in your company, those LPs expect a return on their investments. If the fund fails to do that, well, they’re going to have a harder time attracting investors themselves when they go to raise their next fund, or to put it into startup terms, their Series A, B, whatever. Read More...