Investor Connect Podcast

What Is a Certified Fraud Examiner Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. A certified fraud examiner (CFE) is a professional with credentials in fraud detection, deterrence, and prevention. A CFE performs fraud examinations and reviews compliance. They gather evidence, capture statements from the persons involved, genera...

How To Recover From a Bad Investment Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. If you invest long enough you'll make a bad investment. Here are some causes for a bad investment: Overpaying for the startup through too high a valuation. Making a snap decision on just a few factors such as the team or the market. Failing to pe...

How To Manage Retaliation Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Retaliation is when a manager takes adverse actions against a whistleblower. This could be in the form of termination, reduction in salary or loss of benefits. Retaliation laws make it illegal for a manager to retaliate against an employee who blew the whis...

How To Keep Your Job After Whistleblowing Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Keeping your job after whistleblowing can be a challenge. Consider these steps to protect yourself: Retain an attorney to advise on the legal ramifications. Keep notes about calls, meetings, actions, and any retaliations from managers. Keep...

Best Practices for Whistleblowers Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many people have become whistleblowers. Here's a list of best practices based on their experience: Find a lawyer before you become a whistleblower. Choose one carefully after proper research and one that works on a contingency basis. Maintain anonym...

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Malkiat Judge, CEO and Founder of Roots Funding Inc, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Malkiat Judge leads Roots Funding Inc with over 20 years of experience in the financial and technology industry. His team at Roots Funding offers financial services at RBC Wealth Management, utilizing cutting-edge technology to assist High Net Worth clients in...

What You Should Know About Whistleblowing Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Whistleblowers provide information to the authorities to help stop fraud. Here's what you need to know about whistleblowing: There are multiple laws around whistleblowing so you should know the relevant laws for your situation. Whistleblower...

How To Report Fraud Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Fraud sometimes arises in the startup world. Here's how to report fraud should it happen to you. If you discover fraud don't pay any more money into it. Collect the relevant information and documents. This includes names of the suspected perpetrators and their co...

How Do Whistleblower Laws Protect You Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Whistleblower laws protect those who report fraud, waste, and abuse to the authorities. Here's a list of cases of protections provided to federal employees: Disclosures made to those engaging in bad acts. Employees motive for reporting the bad a...

Filing a Complaint With the SEC Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC oversees the securities industry in the US. Here's a list of sources of fraud related to securities: Ponzi and pyramid schemes in which funds collected from one investor are paid to another investor with n...

Claiming Whistleblower Status Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are three Whistleblower programs, False Claims, SEC Whistleblower, and IRS Whistleblower. One can file multiple claims under each of the programs. One must file within a time limit of the act of fraud which in most cases is 10 years. Some IRS and...

On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Gale Wilkinson, Managing Partner at VITALIZE Venture Capital located in Chicago, IL. VITALIZE is an early-stage VC firm founded in 2018 by Gale Wilkinson. Fund 1, with a total capital of $16.3M, is fully deployed with 26 portfolio companies, including notable names like The Mom Project, Elevate K-12, and Placer.ai. Presently, VITALIZE invests out...

Team by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. At each stage of funding the startup will need a team to accomplish the goals. Here's the team configuration at each stage: PreSeed - Founder and technical cofounder. The early-stage team needs someone building it and someone selling it. Seed -- Founder and...

Success Rate by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The success rate of startups declines as one moves from seed to Series A and so forth. Success is defined as a successful exit for the investors through an acquisition of the company. Here's the rate of success of startups at each stage of funding. S...

Primary Work by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. At each stage of funding the startup team takes on a new set of tasks. Here's the primary work at each stage: PreSeed -- Define the market and identify the target customer. The early-stage team researches the market and talks with potential customers...

Investors by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Each stage of funding brings a different set of investors. Here's a list of investors to pursue by stage. Pre-Seed -- Founders fund their initial startup research and market development. It's too soon to take outside funding for what is not yet a formed...

Boards and Advisors by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Each stage of funding brings a different set of advisors and board members. Here's a list of advisors and board members to pursue by stage. Pre-Seed -- Informal advisors and board members. They provide domain knowledge about target industries....

In this episode, Hall T. Martin engages with Cheryl from Torgan to explore effective fundraising strategies for startups. Torgan, part of the Keiretsu program, specializes in investor relations and introductions, with a focus on the life sciences sector. Cheryl sheds light on Torgan's unique approach to fundraising, emphasizing the increasing interest in the biotech and AI markets. The discussion...

Financial Work by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Each stage of funding requires financial work to be done by the startup. Here's a list of financial goals to consider for your startups fundraise: Pre-seed -- identify locked value in a customer segment. The output of this stage is a target market...

Valuations by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. At each stage of funding there's a valuation range for the startup. This changes over time with fluctuations in the market and by sector. Here's a list of ranges to consider for your startups fundraise: Pre-seed -- $50K to $100K The output of this stag...

Fundraise Amount by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. At each stage of funding there's a standard amount to raise. Here are the fundraise amounts by stage: Pre-seed -- $250K to $500K This funding sets up the business and launches the customer discovery and product development process. Seed -- $500K...

Product Work by Stage of Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The founder works on the product throughout the life of the business. Here's the product work to be done at each stage of funding: Pre-seed -- research the market to identify the customer careabouts and product features. Check the competition for the...

Purpose of Family and Friends Funding Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Family and friend's funding is often used to start a business. Here are some key uses of funding at this stage: File the legal entity paperwork for an LLC, not a Delaware C corporation. You can file for a Delaware C later if the business takes r...

In this episode of Investor Connect: How to Raise Funding, Hall T. Martin explores the mission of Juggle Apps with founder John, tackling the pressing issue of social isolation. Juggle Apps aims to combat this challenge by fostering connections in a world influenced by social media and the effects of COVID-19. John discusses the bootstrap approach and the decision to raise funds a year ago at a $1...

Stages of Funding for Startups Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Startups go through a series of stages from launch to growth to scale. Each stage brings funding to the startup that serves the needs of its stage. Here's a list of stages for startup funding: Pre-seed -- this funding helps develop an idea, research th...