Investor Connect Podcast

In this episode, Hall welcomes Tom Byrnes, Founder and CEO of ThreatSTOP. Headquartered in Carlsbad, California, ThreatSTOP uses real-time curated threat intelligence to block threats at firewalls, routers and DNS servers, which isn't new, but until now has required large security teams, expensive threat intel feeds, and significant manual effort. ThreatSTOP's cloud platform uses security automati...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. It's important for investors to see your cap table in its fully diluted form. The total number of shares issued or outstanding will determine the value of each share from which the shareholder can determine their percent ownership. For startups, issued shares and outstanding shares...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Jeremy Carter, Managing Partner at Soterra Capital. With offices in Austin, Texas, and Louisville, Kentucky, Soterra Capital invests in small to mid-size private companies with capable management teams and fundamentally strong operations. They are seeking businesses with enterprise values from $5 to $30 million with the capacity to underwrite larger transactions unde...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. If you have too many former founders with stock who no longer work at the startup, then you may need to clean up your cap table. Due to a lack of a vesting schedule, those founders took substantial tranches of stock without staying long enough to build meaningful value. If this stoc...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Francisco Jardim, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at SP Ventures. Founded in 2007, SP Ventures is one of the most traditional Venture Capital managers in Brazil. They temporarily acquire equity interests in small or medium-sized companies with innovative technologies and a high potential for non-mid-term growth. They are an early-stage fund investing in tech-powered...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. So, who gets access to the cap table? In general, the CEO, CFO, the board of directors, and investors with information rights get access on an ongoing basis. Attorneys, auditors, and other financial professionals may get access to the cap table for specific projects. Employees gener...

In this episode, Hall welcomes George Ferris, Founder and Managing Member at Bilgola Capital LLC. Bilgola Capital invests in small dynamic companies with fundamentally strong business models that are led by ambitious and professional management teams. Bilgola provides long-term patient capital and seeks to build companies with sustainable enterprise value. Bilgola Capital invests in two types of c...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The cap table stands for capitalization table and tracks the equity ownership in a company. It's important to be able to read a cap table and understand what it says. The key terms to know include the following: Pre-money -- the value of the shares before the investment. Post-money...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Term sheets tend to favor the founder over the investor or the other way around. Here is how to tell if you have a founder-friendly term sheet: Valuation skews to the higher end of the market in favor of the founders. There's no liquidation preference for the investors. The option p...

In this episode, Hall welcomes David Hornik, Founder and General Partner at Lobby Capital. Lobby Capital is a venture capital firm headquartered in San Francisco, California. They join forces to collectively fund, advise, support, and mentor the next great innovators. Seven colleagues, confidants and friends have been building, advising, and funding startups for a collective 175 years and counting...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. The cap table tracks the ownership in the company. In applying the company's equity to the business there are several mistakes to avoid: One - Not vesting the equity over time. It's important to set up a vesting schedule for the equity to vest over the duration of the project. If th...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Harlan T. Beverly, Ph. D., Ambassador and Advisor at Disruptive Labs, and author of "Lean Startings: A novel about creating a lean startup and life's interruptions" and "Navigating Your Way to Startup Success". Headquartered in Santa Monica, California, Disruptive Labs is a new startup studio making investments in startups by building MVPs and setting up automated sa...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. As the startup grows it will add new entries to the cap table including new hires, option pools, advisors, as well as new investors. Here's a list of potential changes to the cap table to watch for: New hires and options pools must be added. Employees who leave before all options ar...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Isidoros Sideridis, CEO and co-Founder at Pobuca. Pobuca offers a go-to-market platform for brands and retailers that helps them boost their customer experiences. With Pobuca you can engage your customers and empower your people in sales, marketing, and customer service. Pobuca offers a state of the art AI-based software and a broad range of services like consulting,...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Cap Table stands for Capitalization Table and tracks the equity ownership in the company. This includes the number of shares each one owns and what percentage of the company it represents. It also lists the total number of shares issued as well as the number of authorized shares by...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Bradford Shepherd, Managing Partner at Sugarhouse Investments. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Sugarhouse Investments is a real estate private equity firm that provides investors with passive investment opportunities in institutional-quality commercial real estate and they help fund cash-flowing commercial real estate projects to move them forward. Together they buil...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. An advisory board is a group of three to five people who provide advice on how to grow your startup. They bring experience, contacts, and domain expertise. Advisory boards help the company grow and succeed. In recruiting for your advisory board, consider the following: Recruit diver...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Donna Hamlin, CEO, & Nola Masterson, Partner at Boardwise. Boardwise provides companies and executives with the highest quality solutions, tools, education, independent evaluations, research, breaking news, and advisory support in corporate governance and management available for governance needs around the globe. They work with all forms of companies and organizatio...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Once you've found an advisor you want to bring on board, consider the compensation. It's important to pay the advisor something for their time and experience. Real work requires real pay. Not all advisors bring the same level of support to the startup. Also consider that equity incr...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Don Rainey, General Partner at Grotech Ventures. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, Grotech Ventures is a team committed to helping creative and driven entrepreneurs build technology companies that last. Their strategy is simple: early investors in high-potential technology companies. They initially invest from $500,000 to $5 million and look to continue investing...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In recruiting an advisor, check to see if they have what it takes to be a good one: Have they been through the wringer? Those who have been tested, such as nearing bankruptcy or going bankrupt will have a deeper understanding of the challenges in running a startup. Will their work w...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Christian Czernich, CEO/Founder/Managing Partner at Round2 Capital Partners. Round2 Capital Partners is a financing partner for European scale-ups with digital and sustainable business models. In the scale-up phase, outstanding entrepreneurs manage to transform their business from a successful venture into a real company. Round2 offers the innovative funding instrume...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Here are some warning signs you may be talking to the wrong advisor: Their primary business-building experience came two tech generations ago. They have business experience but only in one area such as sales or marketing. They can relate their experience but have difficulty understa...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Elio Assuncao, Founder and Director at Venture Capital World Summit. Venture Capital World Summit is a global community for investors and investees where they help businesses get more capital and expertise as they need to scale up and grow internationally with the support, if required, from their trusted network. Their message to international businesses and entrepre...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Once you decide you need an advisor, you'll need to find and select one. Here are some key points to consider: Start with your network and expand out from there. Hold several conversations with the candidate advisor before making a decision. If you need to raise awareness for your s...