Investor Connect Podcast

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The deal screening process is a key program for an angel group. The process needs to capture all available deals in one place for review. For each deal, sufficient information must be provided by the startup including their revenue, sector, product stage, and fundraise sought. The s...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Sam Silvershein, Associate at Alpha Partners. Headquartered in New York, New York, Alpha Partners is a next-generation growth equity firm that focuses on accelerating private technology companies. To these companies and their investors, they offer an option to quickly fill out a growth or expansion stage financing round in a friendly and rational manner. Alpha Partne...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In running an angel network, consider using online events for the program. Here are some key tools for creating successful online events: A website. This keeps track of scheduled events with information about each one including name of the event, description, who should attend, and...

In this episode, Hall welcomes back Carolyn Lowe, Founder of ROI Swift, and Author of "Business Growth Do's and Absolute Don'ts". What is "Business Growth Do's and Absolute Don'ts"? Markets fluctuate and trends come and go, but some principles of the business world are here to stay. Founders and leaders need to know—and cannot ignore—the vital differences between success and failure. Carolyn has w...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Warrants give the holder a number of shares to be exercised over a specified period to buy the company's stock. Warrants play a key part in venture debt. Companies offer warrants in exchange for a lower interest rate on the debt. Investors offering venture debt use warrants to gain...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Dr. Raymond Levitt, Operating Partner at Blackhorn Ventures LP. Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Blackhorn Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in companies using breakthroughs in engineering and science, coupled with the infrastructure of the information revolution, to redefine resource productivity. They have three funds: an early-stage s...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Litigation funding provides investments to businesses seeking to litigate a lawsuit. Lawsuits come from businesses suing other businesses, tenants suing landlords, startups defending their intellectual property claims, and more. The one pressing the lawsuit needs funds to carry it t...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Mike Audi, Co-Founder and CEO of TIKI Inc. Tiki was founded by Mike Audi and Brian Gagnon at the beginning of 2020 to address fundamental issues in how user data is stored, consumed, and monetized. With decades of experience building massive-scale data-driven solutions, Tiki began with research into the thousands of companies and governments that have tried to regula...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Revenue-based funding makes a startup investment and pays back the investor at the rate of top-line revenue. This aligns the investor and founder to the same goal, to create a business and grow sales. The higher the sales, the faster the payback to the investors and the higher the c...

In this episode, Hall welcomes angel investor Richard Teideman. Richard is the Commercial Director and an investor with a private family office based in the UK. He has owned 7 companies, with one trade sale and one IPO on the London Stock Exchange. He has been personally investing since 2008 and currently has six investments including wastewater engineering, railroad engineering, digital assets cu...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Salary-based funding makes a startup investment and pays back the investor at the rate of compensation the founders take. This aligns the investor and founder on the same goal, to create a business that can sustain itself and pay the team. The investors receive an agreed-upon percen...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Davron Karimov, CEO of FunderHunt. Funderhunt specializes in getting capital to business owners across America who are doing $5,000 and above in monthly revenue. If you take a look at their website, there is no application in order to get a business loan, there is no printing, or faxing, or scanning required. There is a short 3-5-question questionnaire asking you abo...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. As your company grows and the equity becomes worth more, there comes a time to switch over to debt funding. There are several forms of debt to consider. Each one is used for a different application. The primary options are as follows: Traditional bank loan - requires a personal guar...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Ross Darwin, Principal at Owl Ventures. Founded in 2014, Owl Ventures is the largest venture capital firm in the world focused on the education technology market with over $1.3 billion in assets under management. The Silicon Valley-based firm was purposely built to partner with and help scale the world's leading education companies across the education spectrum inclu...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Growth startups can raise not only funding for equity but also funding for debt called venture debt. Venture debt doesn't dilute the founders and provides capital to continue the growth. Here are some key terms and conditions to know when looking for venture debt: There are term loa...

Thank you for joining us today for our TEN Capital Fundraise Launch Program. In this program, we help startups prepare for a fundraise. We provide templates, tools, eGuides, and advice to founders who are working towards raising funding. We'll kick off the session with a short overview on a fundraising topic, then we'll answer questions from the founders. I hope you enjoy this episode. ___________...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Nikita Demidov, Venture Associate at the Houston Angel Network. The Houston Angel Network (HAN) is the oldest angel network in Texas and the most active angel network in the USA. HAN is also a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the innovation ecosystem in Houston, Texas by supporting founders and startups with financial resources and mentorship. HAN's me...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Venture debt is not for every startup or for all fundraises. It is best used in conjunction with an equity raise. The equity funding provides ongoing working capital that doesn't need to be paid back. It works well between equity raises from institutional investors. The business mus...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Neil Senturia, CEO at Blackbird Ventures. Blackbird Ventures is a California-based principal investment firm specialized in funding technology and real estate companies. Their mission is to work with high-tech entrepreneurs who are passionate about the relentless pursuit of their dreams. With over 30 years of diverse entrepreneurial endeavors, Neil brings a unique pe...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Venture debt can reduce dilution and give your startup more runway. Here are a few pointers to see if venture debt is a good fit for your fundraise: It's often used with equity funding for purchasing equipment, making acquisitions, or making up for funding not acquired through the e...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Ron Thompson, CEO of CAIL. Headquartered in Winnetka, Illinois, CAIL successfully enables organizations to leverage the considerable investment in current systems and services with solutions that provide an evolutionary strategy to evolve and improve information services. This approach provides clients with immediate and important advantages with products having exte...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Venture debt is on the rise in the startup world as more startups find it a useful part of their fundraise strategy. It's a form of debt financing for venture-backed companies that lack the assets for traditional debt funding. Venture debt has been around for as long as venture capi...

This is Investor Perspectives. I'm the host of Investor Connect, Hall T Martin, where we connect startups and investors for funding. In our new Investor Perspectives series entitled "How to Solve the Biotech/Life Sciences Problem", you'll hear about changes expected in the Biotech/Life Sciences sector in the coming 12 months. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The biotech sp...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There's an old saying in the angel world: If you want money, ask for advice. If you want advice, ask for money. In raising funding, most founders spend their time selling the idea to the investor. An alternative approach is to collaborate with the investor. The selling approach uses...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Bradley Aelicks, Co-founder and President at Pyfera Growth Capital Corp. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, Pyfera Growth Capital Corp. is an investment corp specializing in investing in private technology companies with a near-term objective of accessing the public markets. The Pyfera Capital team is comprised of investors, operators, and proven entrepren...