How to turn women philanthropists into tech investors (video)
We all know that tech investment needs more women, and Natalia Oberti Noguera thinks that female philanthropists are ripe for the training.
We recently had Noguera into the VentureBeat office to chat about overarching issues of women and technology. In this video, she discusses what her project, the Pipeline Fellowship, is doing to improve the gender split in the industry and visibility of women leaders and role models in technology.
The Pipeline Fellowship trains women … Continue Reading
It’s time to reinvent the boardroom
Editor’s note: Serial entrepreneur Steve Blank is the author of Four Steps to the Epiphany
As customer and agile development reinvent the Startup, it’s time to ask why startup board governance has not kept up with the pace of innovation. Board meetings that guide startups haven’t changed since the early 1900s.
It’s time.
Reinventing the board meeting may offer venture-backed startups a more efficient, productive way to direct and measure their search for a profitable … Continue Reading
4 essential ways to attract investors
(Editor’s note: Doug Collom is vice dean and an adjunct lecturer on venture capital and entrepreneurship for Wharton | San Francisco. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all formula that can be followed for optimizing the chances of attracting professional investment. Each company is different and faces challenges and issues that can be overcome only through creativity, perseverance and resolve.
There are, however, some elements that are so basic they cannot … Continue Reading
Will the 'series seed' documents help you grow?
(Editor’s note: Scott Edward Walker is the founder and CEO of Walker Corporate Law Group, PLLC, a law firm specializing in the representation of entrepreneurs. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.)
A reader asks: We’ve gotten commitments for a seed investment of $600,000, and the lead investor advised us that to save time and money on legal fees we should use the Series Seed documents, which he said are just fill-in-the-blank forms, with no … Continue Reading
Good heavens! SEC could take aim at super angels
New financial regulations proposed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will fall most heavily on super angels, a lawyer who specializes in the industry told VentureBeat this week.
Angel investors are wealthy individuals who put money in startups, often providing a company’s first funding. Super angels, unlike regular angels, also manage other people’s startup investments — putting them in a different class from regulators’ perspectives.
Jeff Bloom, partner and chair of the venture capital … Continue Reading
The ABCs of pitching investors– Always Be Credible
(Editor’s note: Jeff Bussgang is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners. This column originally appeared on his blog Seeing Both Sides.)
In his best-selling book “Blink,” Malcolm Gladwell made famous the natural human reaction of quickly judging other people. This behavior is especially true of VCs and angel investors. The first few minutes of an interaction are crucial.
The way an entrepreneur starts an investor pitch meeting can actually determine their success in that … Continue Reading
3 ways to raise seed capital if you don’t know any investors
(Editor’s note: Scott Edward Walker is the founder and CEO of Walker Corporate Law Group, PLLC, a law firm specializing in the representation of entrepreneurs. He submitted this column to VentureBeat.)
A reader asks: My co-founder and I recently launched a new web venture, and we’re running out of money. We are trying to raise about $250K, but we don’t have any friends or family who can afford to invest – and we don’t … Continue Reading
Angels and VCs partner up to pump $282M into startups
Angel investors and venture capital firms are teaming up to find the best deals, new data released today shows, with investors paying particular attention to startup companies active in the IT and business technology space
The statistics released by Dow Jones VentureSource showed that during the first three-quarters of 2010, angel and VC co-sponsored deals put $282 million into 68 separate deals.
That’s a significant uptick year-over-year, when the same period in 2009 saw only … Continue Reading
Green with envy: Cleantech wishes it had an angel problem
While consumer Internet companies are getting crowded with newer and wealthier angel and seed funds, cleantech is seeing a drop both in overall investment dollars and early-stage investing. In fact, the overcrowding of angels backing Web startups — perhaps best evidenced by the recent Angelgate debacle in which top investors were accused of “colluding” to discuss startup valuations — is a problem that cleantech wishes it had.
“For the last decade plus, we have been … Continue Reading
Mastering the lost art of communicating with investors
(Editor’s note: Pete Bodine is a managing director at Allegis Capital. He submitted this story to VentureBeat.)
The right level of communication and information flow for a startup changes as it evolves and is always challenging, but it’s imperative to have a communications strategy for shareholders at all stages of a company’s development.
In the earliest stages, communication is pretty easy and straightforward. With just a founder or two and a few angel investors, regular … Continue Reading
How much should you look for in your seed round?
(Editor’s note: Will Herman is an entrepreneur who has founded or held senior roles in several tech companies.This story originally appeared on his blog.)
I often run across early stage companies in a real quandary about how much money to take in their first round of funding. That is, the round just beyond the Ramen noodle eating/avoid starvation round that is usually funded out of their own pocket (or, if you prefer, the round that … Continue Reading
Guidelines for potential angel investors
(Editor’s note: Will Herman is an entrepreneur who has founded or held senior roles in several tech companies.This story originally appeared on his blog.)
I often run across early stage companies in a real quandary about how much money to take in their first round of funding. That is, the round just beyond the Ramen noodle eating/avoid starvation round that is usually funded out of their own pocket (or, if you prefer, the round that … Continue Reading
Angels sing: 'frankly ridiculous' restrictions might 'destroy Silicon Valley'
(Editor’s note: Will Herman is an entrepreneur who has founded or held senior roles in several tech companies.This story originally appeared on his blog.)
I often run across early stage companies in a real quandary about how much money to take in their first round of funding. That is, the round just beyond the Ramen noodle eating/avoid starvation round that is usually funded out of their own pocket (or, if you prefer, the round that … Continue Reading
4 MORE ways to get automatically rejected by an angel investor
(Editor’s note: Will Herman is an entrepreneur who has founded or held senior roles in several tech companies.This story originally appeared on his blog.)
I often run across early stage companies in a real quandary about how much money to take in their first round of funding. That is, the round just beyond the Ramen noodle eating/avoid starvation round that is usually funded out of their own pocket (or, if you prefer, the round that … Continue Reading
4 ways to get automatically rejected by an angel investor
(Editor’s note: Will Herman is an entrepreneur who has founded or held senior roles in several tech companies.This story originally appeared on his blog.)
I often run across early stage companies in a real quandary about how much money to take in their first round of funding. That is, the round just beyond the Ramen noodle eating/avoid starvation round that is usually funded out of their own pocket (or, if you prefer, the round that … Continue Reading
11 things an angel investor will never say
(Editor’s note: Will Herman is an entrepreneur who has founded or held senior roles in several tech companies.This story originally appeared on his blog.)
I often run across early stage companies in a real quandary about how much money to take in their first round of funding. That is, the round just beyond the Ramen noodle eating/avoid starvation round that is usually funded out of their own pocket (or, if you prefer, the round that … Continue Reading
