Investor Connect Podcast

In this episode, Hall welcomes Luke Hohmann, CEO & Founder of FirstRoot. Headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, FirstRoot teaches financial literacy and budgeting - through a process known as Participatory Budgeting - and civics, as kids decide how to invest real money in their school. Participatory Budgeting (PB) is a democratic process in which a group of students determines how to invest a sha...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. So how do you know when to pull the trigger and invest in a startup? After applying the investment thesis, check for the following: There's a strong team with integrity, industry knowledge, and business experience. They have product validation and market validation - the product wor...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Carl Grant III, EVP of Global Business Development at Cooley. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, Cooley is a law practice where clients partner with them on transformative deals, complex IP, regulatory matters, and high-stakes litigation, where innovation meets the law. Carl leads Cooley's business development team firm-wide, which assists clients in connecting...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. While there's a great number of startups looking for funding, the startup investor needs to set up deal-flow sources. Your personal network is a good place to start. Contact not only investors in your network but also attorneys and accountants who may see deals seeking funding. You...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Reyn Aubrey, CEO of PocketChange. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, PocketChange is a social media platform created to reverse the chaos created by social media 1.0. They do many things differently, including paying for a donation to charity every time someone posts, likes, or comments on something on the platform. They have reworked content moderation, policy, and...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In analyzing potential investments, it's important to understand their business model and how well it meets the venture investors' requirements. The business model consists of unit and customer acquisition economics as well as market and business economics. Unit economics is the cos...

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 Understand Blockchain", you'll hear about primary trends and what makes for a successful company in this segment. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The blockchain space has made tremendo...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The elevator pitch can do more for you than just give you a short-form pitch. It boils down your pitch to the bare essence. This helps you focus on your core value proposition. It helps you think through your pitch so you can prioritize the most important points. It gives you messag...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Jonathan Staenberg, Founder and CEO of Staenberg Venture Partners. Staenberg Venture Partners is a Seattle-based venture capital firm focused on the technology industry mostly between San Francisco and Seattle. Early in his career, Jon established several marketing groups at Microsoft. He then joined the senior management team of Virtual i-O, a venture-backed startup...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The elevator pitch is one of the most important pitches you can give. Here are some key points to remember in delivering your elevator pitch: Keep it around thirty seconds. Practice it to get the timing right. Use the rest of your time to engage with your audience in questions and a...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Bharat Kanodia, Founder and Chief Appraiser at Veristrat. Veristrat is a professional services company, headquartered in Pleasanton, California. They provide various valuation and advisory services. Veristrat provides services to value various tangible, intangible, and financial assets for the purposes of financial and tax reporting purposes, fairness opinions, purch...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Today we'll talk about a rolling close. Closing a fundraising round can be challenging given the schedules of the investors. A rolling close is used in a deal that is open to investors who can sign the documents and send in their money on their own schedule. This allows the startup...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Gayatri Sarkar, Founder of She-VC and General Partner at Advaita Capital. She-VC is a media platform that featured $100B+ combined capital of institutional investors championing the diversity, equity, and inclusion for VCs/PE investors. Advaita Capital is a growth activist tech fund focussed on DEI-ESG metrics in venture asset class. Gayatri was awarded the Global Le...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In pitching your startup for funding, you'll find many opportunities to engage investors. Not all opportunities will provide substantial time and attention to investors. Develop an elevator pitch for those times when you have only a few moments to capture the investors' interest. He...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Troy Schlicker, Owner, Broker, and Real Estate Advisor at Reserve Realty, and Host of the Austin Spotlight podcast. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Reserve Realty is an Austin real estate company specializing in residential buying and selling for homeowners and buyers. Started in 2014, they have helped clients navigate hundreds of real estate transactions, emphasizin...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The elevator pitch is a key tool in your fundraise. Here are some best practices to make your elevator pitch a success: Before delivering your pitch, learn something about your audience. What are their careabouts? What motivates them? Customize your pitch for your audience. Don't tr...

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 Understand Blockchain", you'll hear about growth in the Blockchain segment. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The blockchain space has made tremendous progress in setting up substantial...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Elevator pitches can be used in many ways. The pitch states the problem, the solution, and how to learn more about it. In addition to fundraising, it can also be used in sales. Instead of asking for an investment, the ask goes to purchasing the product. Another type of elevator pitc...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Gady Nemirovsky, Managing General Partner at Inspiration Ventures. Headquartered in Burlingame, California, Inspiration Ventures is an early-stage investment firm that structures its investments in a way that minimizes risk for their limited partners and benefits founders by better aligning the investors' interests with the founders. Their interests are completely al...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The elevator pitch follows a simple format. Start with the people who have this problem so the listener has context. Show the cost in time or dollars to demonstrate the size of the problem. Demonstrate your competitive advantage over the other solutions. Quantify the benefit with nu...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Karen Contet, Co-Founder & CEO of AngelHub. AngelHub is Hong Kong's only SFC-regulated tech investment platform enabling investors to co-invest on a deal-by-deal basis alongside their fund & institutional investors. AngelHub combines a highly selective due diligence process, diverse network of partners, and the WHub start-up ecosystem to empower tech entrepreneurs fo...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In crafting an elevator pitch, the intro is the most important part. You must grab their attention and make them want to hear more. Start with a problem and show how big and costly it is. Generate curiosity in the listener by telling them you have a solution to that problem. Demonst...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. To craft an elevator pitch, start with the end in mind. Do you want to pitch an investor? Do you want to sell a product? Start the pitch with the problem you solve and what your company does. There needs to be a hook at the beginning of the pitch to capture attention. Describe your...

In this episode, Hall welcomes James W. Day, Senior Corporate Counsel at EquityZen. EquityZen is a FinTech platform and online marketplace for investors and shareholders in alternative assets. If you are an accredited investor, EquityZen helps you access ordinarily hard-to-find alternative investments (such as secondary sales of pre-IPO equity). If you are an employee or shareholder of a privately...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. An elevator pitch is a short version of your fundraise pitch. Use it when you are engaging investors in situations where the slides are not available and the time is short. It's useful for setting up a more formal presentation by giving the investor a reason to take the meeting. The...