Investor Connect Podcast

How To Show Your Market Size Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The market slide in the startup fundraise pitch shows the total available market opportunity. Here are some key steps in showing your market size. Show the components of your market, including the number of buyers and average selling price. Include the s...

In this episode of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin welcomes Herbert to discuss the pivotal role family offices play within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Herbert highlights the importance of understanding local accelerators, venture capitalists (VCs), and other funding sources in the community during the investment due diligence process. He emphasizes that co-investment requests from family offic...

Best Practices in Telling Your Story Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Storytelling is a key skill in fundraising. Use these best practices in telling your story in the pitch to investors: Declare the problem as the villain in your story. This sets up a conflict. Raise the tension by creating a sense of urgency. Rai...

How Much Funding To Raise Based on Valuation Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In planning the fundraiser, the amount of funding is a key factor to determine. The funding amount should take the company to the next major milestone. It should give the company 18 months of runway at a minimum. Investors expect the valu...

How To Wrap Up a Pitch Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In a pitch to an investor, there's no need for an agenda slide or a summary slide. The investor knows the format of the pitch and what topics will be covered. There's little time for summarization of what was covered. To wrap up a pitch, consider the following...

Basic Mistakes in Fundraising Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In the startup world, there are mistakes founders make in their fundraisers. Avoid these basic mistakes in fundraising Raising less than $250K. In the venture world, $250K is the lowest amount of funding to raise. Below that level, it's not possible to...

Basic Due Diligence Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Investors pursuing an investment in a startup should perform due diligence on the business. The purpose is to evaluate the opportunity and ensure everything relevant is known about it. Here are the basic steps to perform diligence: Market -- this includes the tar...

In this episode of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin talks with Herbert Drayton, a partner at Highmark Capital, about the importance of building capacity before expecting change in the startup ecosystem. They delve into the legwork involved in preparing companies for investor engagement, including managing pitch events, and running marketing campaigns. Herbert shares his insights on the key compone...

Key Slides in Your Pitch Deck Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In the pitch, there are specific slides that are key to the investor. Here's a list of key slides to include in your deck. Problem -- provides the overall context for the startup. It must be a big problem outlined with a few numbers. Solution -- shows t...

Burn Multiple Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Burn rate is the amount of cash spent over and above the revenue received. It's typically calculated on a monthly basis. Burn multiple is a metric that calculates the capital efficiency of a startup. To calculate burn multiple divide the monthly burn rate by the net ne...

Pre Seed Seed Seed+ Seed++ Series A Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In startup funding, the raises come in rounds. The startup can raise a pre-seed round followed by a seed, then a Series A, Series B, and so forth. Many founders view this approach as one step after the other. The reality is there's a large gap bet...

The First Raise Is a Minimum Round Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In startup fundraising, many founders try to raise too much funding in the first round. This causes dilution for the founder as the valuation will be low. In startup fundraising, the first raise is a minimum round. Instead of raising everything you...

Valuation Is the Primary Factor Impacting Returns Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are many terms in a startup fundraising terms sheet. Valuation is the primary factor impacting investor returns. Here's an example showing the impact of valuation on the returns. The pre-money valuation plus the investment yiel...

In this episode of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin chats with Christopher Ezold, partner at Wisler Pearlstine, a Pennsylvania-based law firm specializing in business, employment, and corporate law. Christopher shares insights on emerging legal risks and trends that businesses should prepare for, especially amid economic uncertainties in 2025. Key topics include the importance of securing debt, th...

Consider Dilution in Setting Your Fundraise Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In startup fundraising dilution is a key issue for founders. At each stage of funding investors will demand a certain amount of equity. Here's how much each round will cost a startup in equity: Pre-seed Typically funded by family and frien...

Diligencing AI Startups Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Artificial intelligence or AI brings new capabilities and applications. Many startups launch their business around AI technology. Investors considering an investment in an AI startup should check the following: Source of data. Does the startup have access to...

Medical Device Milestones Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The medical device startup has a well-defined list of milestones to achieve to bring a product to market. Here's a list of key milestones for the medical device startup: Market requirements -- defines the current status of solutions and unmet needs of the m...

Overcoming the Investors' Hesitancy Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In fundraising, there comes a time when the investor must decide to join or pass on the round. Many investors hesitate to join as they try to decide. Here are some steps founders should take to overcome the hesitancy: Start the outreach to investo...

How Private Equity Differs From Venture Capital Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Private equity and venture capital are different types of investment. Here are the key differences: Risk level Private equity takes less risk and thus a lower potential return than venture capital. Private equity investments invest in...

In this episode of Investor Connect, we dive into the world of live entertainment as a service with Jason Seitz of Ticket Rewards. Jason provides an insightful overview of how Ticket Rewards is transforming live entertainment by partnering with brands and venues to offer a seamless, engaging experience for consumers. With a significant inventory of tickets worth half a billion dollars, Ticket Rewa...

The Gap Between Seed and Series A Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In startup funding, we talk about preseed, seed, Series A, Series B, and so forth. It sounds like each stage is just one step after the other. When you finish your pre-seed round you raise your seed. In reality, there's a gap between seed and Series...

The Startups Advantage Over Big Companies Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. While big companies have size, resources, and reach, the startup holds advantages of their own. Here's a list of the startups' advantages: Focus - the startup can focus all its energy and resources on one thing. Big companies have an existin...

Startup Stages Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The startup goes through several stages before it achieves product market fit and then scaling. Here are the key steps that come before: The founder establishes the team. This is often driven by a passion or a business opportunity. The founding team develops a vision...

No NDAs Before the Investor Pitch Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In startup fundraising, the NDA comes near the end of the process, not at the beginning. An NDA stands for Non-Disclosure Agreement and requires the signatory to keep confidential any, and all information disclosed. A founder asking an investor to s...

Fundraising – Important but Not Urgent Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Fundraising can be hard for startups because it falls into the important but not urgent category. The Eisenhower matrix shows four sectors. Important and urgent-- spurs immediate action Not important but urgent -- delegate it Not important and...