Investor Connect Podcast

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Even in the early days of the startup, the CEO must keep in mind the exit. The investors funded with the anticipation of a return. While the vision of an exit may seem like a distant future, the decisions taken at the beginning often impact the exit at the end. Selection of business...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Professor Ariel Evans, CEO and Founder of Cyber Innovative Technologies. Cyber Innovative Technologies is a technology innovator that provides an integrated cyber risk management platform that allows organizations, governments, regulators and their third-parties to become more cyber resilient. 85% of a business is a digital asset. The VRisk platform quantifies digita...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Startup investors look for an exit in the 5-7 year range. As a startup, you need to consider the exit from the beginning as the exit strategy can inform your decisions around funding, hiring, and more. Here are several exit options to consider: Mergers and acquisitions - most compan...

In this episode, Hall welcomes back Steven Hoffman, Chairman and CEO of Founders Space, and author of several award-winning books to include "Surviving a Startup". Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, Founders Space has created an international network of incubators, entrepreneurs, and investors, with over 50 partners in 22 countries. They offer corporate innovation programs, an online startup i...

In this episode, Hall welcomes best-selling author Arie Brish, Founder & CEO of cxo360, and author of "Lay an Egg and Make Chicken Soup". cxo360™ is a leadership advisory firm with an unparalleled network and numerous measurable success stories. The main purpose of "Lay an Egg and Make Chicken Soup" is to introduce the multifaceted new products or services process to those executives who need a br...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Here are some key steps to take in planning the exit for your company: - Understand why you are exiting the business. - Is this exit going to be seller motivated or buyer motivated?- Explore the options. Consider who would be the best acquirer or which company would be best to merge...

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 Fintech Problem", you'll hear about participation in the segment and what investors look for when investing. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The fintech space is now undergoi...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. There are many reasons to exit the business. Here are some key ones to consider: The company is ready to go IPO. By taking the company public, new ownership comes into place The market has changed dramatically putting the future of the business into question The business failed and...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Anupama Pansare, founder of Volyx Consulting. Located in Sugar Land, Texas, Volyx is a consulting firm focused on digital transformation using cutting-edge technologies from their portfolio of service providers and startups. Their solutions focus on leveraging operations data to optimizing business processes. They help build data models and analytics to enable data c...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. For every business, there comes a time to sell it. Ask these questions to find if now is the right time to sell your business. Do you still want to run the business? You may want to move on to new projects and opportunities and the current business may no longer be fulfilling. Do yo...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Lane Kawaoka, real estate investor and creator of SimplePassiveCashflow.com. Lane's passion project SimplePassiveCashflow.com, is a Top-50 Investing podcast and free resource for passive real estate investing. Working as a high-paid professional in corporate America and frustrated by the traditional wealth-building dogma, Lane was compelled to inspire and mentor othe...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Startups have a high failure rate. What percentage fails? Out of 100 startups/investments:-75 will fail or turn into a lifestyle business within 2 years -25 will remain on the venture track after 2 years Of those 25: -half will die or turn into a lifestyle business between years 2-4...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Art Smith, CEO of Digerati Technologies, Inc. Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Digerati Technologies, Inc. (OTCQB: DTGI) is a provider of cloud services specializing in Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) solutions for the business market. Through its subsidiaries T3 Communications (www. T3com.com) and Nexogy, Inc. (www.nexogy.com), the Company is meeting...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Running a fundraise with investors is similar to running a sales funnel with prospects. You must take the investor through the stages of awareness, interest, desire, and commitment. Here are the steps you need to take: Stage 1: Awareness – identify and contact an initial list of inv...

In this our 500th episode, Hall welcomes back Christian Kameir, Managing Partner at Sustany Capital. Sustany Capital is a venture capital firm investing in blockchain and decentralized finance solutions. In this in-depth interview, Christian speaks about Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and answers many questions to include the stated objectives, different concepts that are being discussed...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. After you've had an introduction and talked with the investor either in person or on the phone, it's important to follow up with the investor to answer questions, update about progress, and walk through diligence. Investors are not interested in spending time to hear about your fore...

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 Fintech Problem", today you'll hear about the primary trends and what makes for a successful company in this segment. As the COVID pandemic passes, we emerge into a new world. The fintech space is now...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In startups, cash is king. It's the key financial metric to watch. Growth may be going straight up. Customer traction may be better than ever, but if cash runs out then it all comes crashing down. Cash management is a daily exercise. The first step is to understand every inflow and...

In this episode, Hall welcomes JR Guerrieri, CEO & Co-Founder at NYNJA. Headquartered in Lavallette, New Jersey, NYNJA is a unified communications platform for remote work (Enterprises and SMBs) that solves the problem of fragmented communications, combining the best features of Zoom (voice and video conferencing), Slack (team collaboration), and YouSendIt/Hightail (large file transfers). NYNJA is...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Platform products facilitate two-sided marketplaces that match buyers to sellers. The most common metrics used in platform products are buyer/seller metrics, inventory metrics, and transaction metrics. Buyer/seller metrics include the number of buyers and sellers on the platform. Al...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Christopher Ladd, Partner at NewRoad Capital Partners. NewRoad Capital Partners, LLC, headquartered in Northwest Arkansas, is an SEC-registered investment firm investing in growth equity and growth buyout opportunities in select U.S. supply chain & logistics and retail & consumer packaged goods sectors in the lower middle market. As experienced entrepreneurs and oper...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Many startups use SAFE notes and Convertible Notes for their early-stage investments. So what's the difference? A convertible note is a debt instrument that converts into equity later upon an event such as raising an equity round or reaching a maturity date. A SAFE is a Simple Agree...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Julien Coulon, Directeur Général at Crédit Mutuel Innovation. Headquartered in Paris, Ile-de-France, Crédit Mutuel Innovation is the evergreen venture capital entity of Crédit Mutuel Equity (€3.5 billion in capital). They invest €1-20M in life science, digital and deeptech companies from seed to growth stages. Today, the 350 companies in which they have invested gene...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Storytelling is a key skill for any startup raising funding. In the early days of a startup, the product and team aren't fully developed and customers are typically not fully engaged. The investors look to the founders to understand the potential of the business. The founder who can...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Carolyn Jenkins, CSO & Head of the Product Division at EPSoft Technologies. EPSoft Technologies is a global software company founded in 2015 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas. They are the creators behind the EPSoft Intelligent Automation Platform, an end-to-end solution for business process management and intelligent automation. The platform supports both front off...