Feel the Boot

Startup Failure Analysis 🔎 Key Lessons from Abby Sugar   In this episode of Feel the Boot, host Lance Cottrell delves into the startup journey of Abby Sugar, the impressive founder of PlayOut Apparel, a gender-equal apparel brand. Despite the brand's promising concept and innovative approach, it ultimately failed. Abby bravely shares her experiences and the unique challenges she faced, provi...

🚀 Why Startups Fail: Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid 🚀 🎥 In this podcast, I dive into the common pitfalls that cause most startups to fail within their first few years. Based on my decades of experience in the startup ecosystem, I share invaluable insights and practical tips to help you navigate these challenges effectively. 👉 What You'll Learn: Market Needs : Understand how to validate the real dema...

In this episode of 'Feel the Boot,' Lance Cottrell shares essential advice on crafting an effective elevator pitch to capture the interest of potential investors or partners quickly, stressing the importance of brevity, clarity, and engaging storytelling. He emphasizes that the goal of an elevator pitch is to spark interest for further conversation, not immediate commitment. Drawing from his exper...

This podcast is tailored for startup founders looking to enhance their negotiation skills. It emphasizes the importance of negotiation in various aspects of running a business, including dealing with investors, vendors, customers, employees, and co-founders. I know that many founders may lack experience or feel conflict-averse, so here I share practical advice and strategies to turn negotiations f...

In this episode of Feel the Boot, host Lance Cottrell delves into the significance of understanding and presenting your startup's market size to investors through the concepts of Total Addressable Market (TAM), Serviceable Available Market (SAM), and Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM). He emphasizes the importance of achieving a plausible market opportunity, critiquing the TAM, SAM, SOM methodolo...

Testing Startup Ideas and Assumptions ⚖️ John Li of PickFu Interview   In this interview, John Li, the co-founder of startup PickFu, discusses the innovative concept of his company as a digital focus group for businesses. He walks us through their transition from a physical product to a software solution after observing a growing need for unbiased design feedback. John also shares interesting...

In this discussion, Michael Regnier, founder of Sales Design & Delivery, shares vital insights into sales strategy tailored for startup founders, particularly those with a technical background. He explains that a company's sales strategy must encompass every aspect of the go-to-market message, including the target audience and the route to reach them. Smith articulates the importance of defini...

In this milestone episode, host Lance Cottrell dives deep into several critical topics inspired by his recent heart attack. First, he compares a heart attack with a financial crisis in a startup, emphasizing the need for recognizing early warning signs and taking immediate actions. He discusses how to identify critical situations where your venture is at risk and how to handle them effectively whi...

The 10x rule 🌟 Why better is not enough Having a superior solution is not good enough. The special barriers startups face force you to build at least ten times better products.   Why Your Startup Needs to Be 10x Better   In this episode of 'Feel the Boot', host Lance Cottrell breaks down why startups need to be substantially better than their competition, particularly in the B2B context...

Startup Fundraising Facilitators 🐍 Surviving the Pit of Serpents! You might want to ask for help when you need to raise capital. Take care, most of those people are useless or actively harmful.     Quoth the AI describing this episode: In this episode, Lance Cottrell, an experienced startup advisor, shares insights on the challenges of fundraising, focusing on the role of fundraising fa...

🤯 Exposing the top reasons for fast angel investment rejections Investors only take a few seconds to decide if a startup is worth a serious look. These eight factors lead to most of the fast NOs ☠️   In this episode, I discuss the screening process for companies seeking funding from angels and VC. Out of over a hundred applicants to my angel group, we only select about 20 for detailed consid...

Startup Privacy Policies 🥷 What you need to know about GDPR, CCPA and beyond! In this interview, Sabir Ibrahim, an attorney and entrepreneur, provides valuable insights on the implications of privacy and privacy policies for startups. He emphasizes the importance of privacy laws, particularly highlighting the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)...

You’re delivering your pitch deck ask slide wrong! What you should say instead. Learn the right and wrong thing to ask for. How to handle hard questions during your ask.   I was listening to several founders deliver their pitches. Most of them did their “ask” wrong and seriously damaged their chances of success. In this episode, look at their mistakes and how they could improve this critical...

Escape the Startup Paradox 😬 MVP Without VC Can’t Build Your Product Without Funding But Can’t Get Funding Without a Product   In the newest episode of Feel the Boot , we're diving headfirst into the world of product development sans angel investment. I provide strategies for startups to navigate the challenges of raising funding pre-MVP. Consider the paradox that most startups face: they ne...

Branding is far more than just a logo and color scheme. Learn how to leverage both positioning and branding in your startup buisiness   In today's fiercely competitive business landscape, effective branding and positioning strategies are crucial for startups to stand out from the crowd. However, many founders underestimate the true scope and importance of these concepts. In this interview, we...

How to create an angel investment portfolio for maximum returns. Learn what drives the returns for your angel investments.   Read this as an article: https://ftb.bz/92B Watch the Video: https://ftb.bz/92V Subscribe to BootPrints: https://ftb.bz/Join Angel Investing 101 series: https://ftb.bz/angel     In episode, I delve into the economics of angel investing, emphasizing the need fo...

Non-monetary Startup Rewards and Recognitions. Eight employee incentives that work better than cash.   In this episode of "Feel the Boot: The Science of Startups," I, discuss seven highly effective motivators and rewards for employees that founders can use to attract and retain top talent. These motivators include having a strong vision, giving employees equity, providing public recognition,...

How to quickly eliminate the losers, and identify companies worthy of further due diligence.   As an angel investor, you will need to look at many startups. This guide provides a framework for quickly analyzing deals to see if digging deeper is worth your time.   This is part of a series on Angel Investing https://ftb.bz/Angel Subscribe to Boot Prints and access office hours https://ftb....

Non-Dilutive Fundraising 💰 SBIR Grants for Innovation Get cash for your startup without giving up ownership. Government grants can fund your development from idea to MVP and beyond.   Read the transcript: https://ftb.bz/89B Watch the Video: https://ftb.bz/89V Subscribe to Boot Prints: https://ftb.bz/Join Get FTB Merch: https://ftb.bz/merch Join the Founders Alliance: https://ftb.bz/Alliance...

Your earliest investors are probably unsophisticated. You must help them understand how startup investing works.   When you are at the idea stage, almost no angel or VC investors will back you, but people who know and care about you might. Unfortunately, this is usually all new and very confusing to them. You must ensure they understand what they are doing and paint a realistic picture of the...

💸Get Angel Investor Dealflow You need to look at a lot of startups to find good investments Learn several ways to uncover quality startups     Our Angel Investing 101 series teaches new Angel Investors how to invest in startups. This episode focuses on Angel Investor dealflow. You need to source a lot of potential deals to identify those few worthy of investment.   Where to list yo...

Who decides what between the board and shareholders? How to handle the BoD and Shareholder meetings as a founder.   Read the blog: https://ftb.bz/86B Watch the Video: https://ftb.bz/86V Get access to office hours and Boot Prints: https://ftb.bz/Join   In this episode, I explain the board of directors and shareholders roles and responsibilities. Some votes require both groups to approve....

VCs destroy more startups than they make unicorns Learn how to identify and avoid that trap   The reason is the “marginal dollar problem” Understanding that will help you choose whether to accept venture capital investment with open eyes.   Read the blog: https://ftb.bz/85B Watch the video: https://ftb.bz/85V Join Boot Prints for access to free office hours: https://ftb.bz/Join Meet othe...

How to Start Angel Investing 💰 What you need to know to start investing in early-stage startup companies Best practices for new angel investors   This is the second in a series of videos on angel investing. It explains the best way to begin as a new angel investor, and some critical pitfalls to avoid.   Read the blog: https://ftb.bz/84B Watch the Video https://ftb.bz/84V   Subscrib...

Angel Investing 101 💰 What is angel investing? How to invest in pre-IPO companies   Angel investors put their own money into early-stage startup companies. This is the first in a series of episodes on becoming an effective angel investor / venture capitalist   Read the article: https://ftb.bz/83B Watch the Video: https://ftb.bz/83V Signup for the mailing list and office hours: https://f...