Investor Connect Podcast

In this episode, Hall welcomes Steve Hoffman, Chairman, Founder & CEO of Founders Space. 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 incubator, tours, and seminars. Steve is an angel investor, limited partner...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing So how do Venture Capitalists raise funding? VCs raise funding from limited partners which include family offices, high-net-worth individuals, foundations, pension funds, and other sources. Institutional investors such as pension funds require a track record so first time VCs focus o...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. You can now start your own VC fund. Venture capital, angel investing, crowdfunding, and most forms of startup funding are best done through a fund model for when deal flow volume reaches scale. A fund structure also provides diversification. If you have experience finding and screen...

Investor Connect is proud to introduce a brand new Podcast series: Investor Perspectives. Over the next month, we will be discussing the Impact of the COVID-19 Economy on Startup Funding with experienced investors from the TEN Capital network. In today's installment, we're looking to the other side when the economy will reopen. Today's episode features insights from: Evan Cohen of HealthboxRodolfo...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Sharon Vosmek, CEO of Astia. Located in San Francisco, Astia was founded in Silicon Valley in 1999 as a non-profit organization dedicated to identifying and promoting best-in-class, high-growth ventures that include women leaders. Astia levels the investment playing field by cultivating a trusted global ecosystem of engaged male and female investors and advisors, who...

In this episode, Hall welcomes David Wadler angel investor and CEO of Vendorful, Inc. Located in New York, Vendorful is a standalone SaaS product delivered via public or private cloud. In addition, it can be integrated into existing procurement software stacks, allowing organizations to drive more return on their existing investment. Vendorful saves time and money while driving increased value for...

Welcome back to Investor Connect for the second show in our new series Investor Perspectives. This month we will be discussing with investors in our network the following topic: The Impact of the COVID-19 Economy on Startup Funding. In this installment, we ask the following investors to give us their views: Christian Kameir of Sustany Capital Peter Adams of Rockies Venture Club/Rockies Venture Fun...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In calculating returns the timing of the return is a key factor. There are two metrics for measuring return. ROI is return on investment without respect to time, and IRR which is Internal Rate of Return, is ROI WITH respect to time. If I invest $50K and receive $150K back in three y...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In angel investing the two basic approaches are generalist and specialist. The generalist funds across all sectors but with certain criteria focused on growth rates, team composition, or monetization models such as recurring revenue. The second is a specialist who narrows the focus...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. You'll need to gather your basic company documents for investors to review. In preparing a due diligence box also called a dataroom, there are basic documents to include: Income Statement and Balance Sheet Three to five year financial forecast Cap Table including shares outstanding...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In diligencing a startup, the team is the most critical factor in the process. Since the startup has only a nascent product and perhaps some intellectual property, the team is the only thing that you can really dig into. For diligencing the team, first review the resumes of those wh...

Welcome back to Investor Connect for the first show in our new series Investor Perspectives. This month we will be discussing with investors in our network the following topic: The Impact of the COVID-19 Economy on Startup Funding. In this installment, we ask the following investors to give us their views: Ash KaluarachchiCharles SidmanBrett NoyesDaniel IbriLydia KinkadeNathan McDonald We hope you...

In this episode, Hall welcomes back Vic Pascucci, Managing Partner of Energy Capital Ventures. Located in Chicago, Energy Capital Ventures is a strategic venture capital firm serving the needs of the power and utility industry. They invest at Series A through C in technologies that provide clean, intelligent, mobile and distributed solutions. Vic has over 20 years of experience in venture capital...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Soraya Darabi, General Partner of Trail Mix Ventures (TMV). TMV is an early-stage venture firm investing in the future of living well. TMV backs start-up companies focused on ideas that will reshape industries or inspire new ones. Fund I and Fund II investments focus on: frontier health organizations, marketplaces and design-driven technologies. Soraya began her care...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising funding you will hear "no" from investors a lot. When I say a lot, I mean it's more than most entrepreneurs think. I know one entrepreneur who made 50 investor pitches before he received his first "yes". For some startups they perceive this as a negative and after a while...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Charlie Banks, Co-Founder & Managing Director of VentureSouth. VentureSouth based in Greenville, South Carolina, is one of the largest angel investment infrastructures in the US. The firm develops and manages angel investment groups and funds comprised of 300+ accredited investors and has invested $50M+ in over 70 early-stage companies throughout the Southeast. Charl...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. So many entrepreneurs think the most important moment in the investor engagement is the pitch. In fact, the pitch is the second most important. The most important moment is the follow-up after the pitch. The pitch establishes the relationship and sets the context. It's a foundation...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In running a fundraise campaign you'll need to set up calls and meetings with investors who are busy and may struggle to find time to give you. Of course you can have a mutual contact make an introduction and depending on the strength of their relationship you'll get a meeting. Also...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Gary Trauner, Executive Director of Silicon Couloir. Silicon Couloir, based in Jackson, Wyoming, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that strives to be the hub connecting local entrepreneurs to all resources needed to succeed. Gary is an accomplished senior-level leader with extensive financial, operational and managerial experience across a wide array of industrie...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. So how do VCs make a decision to invest? Venture Capital investors make investment decisions as a group. As an associate, partner, or otherwise, you must convince the team to move forward with it. Even if you could make the decision alone you want buy in and support from the others...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In pitching you can position your startup in more than one way. You could pitch for the sector it is in -- such as Edtech. Many investors focus on a sector. In this case you talk about the metrics that investors look for in tech companies, such as CAC LTV ratios. You could also pitc...

In this episode, Hall is joined by Randy Myer, Managing Director at Carolina Angel Network. Established in 2016, the Carolina Angel Network (CAN) brings together the UNC-Chapel Hill entrepreneurial community, University alumni network and innovative private companies to support the Carolina entrepreneurial community with an angel investing platform and co-investment fund (the Carolina Growth Fund)...

In this episode, Hall welcomes back Maggie Sprenger, Managing Director at Green Cow Venture Capital (GCVC). GCVC is an early-stage venture fund based in San Francisco and New York City. They invest at the Seed and Series A stages into dynamic founders that combine unparalleled drive, talent, and diverse perspectives to solve problems around scarcity and inefficiency in global markets. They like co...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. So, how do investors decide to commit to a startup investment? Entrepreneurs look at the opportunity in the deal. Investors look at the risk. There are two factors that help the investor decide to invest or not. The first is the worst-case scenario approach. They ask, "What is the w...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. At each stage of funding, investors bring not only funding, but also some level of support. From crowdfunding you receive not only the investment (or prepayment, if you are running a rewards campaign), but you are also lining up customers. From angel investors you receive customer i...