Investor Connect Podcast

In this episode, Hall welcomes Vinod Jose, founder of Konglo Ventures LLP. Konglo Ventures is a seed funding firm based in Cochin, India, with partner offices in Dubai and New York. Since 2013, Konglo Ventures has invested in companies in India ranging from a healthcare platform utilizing acute disease management modules for early diagnosis, to a matchmaking app. Vinod is originally from India, bu...

Hall is joined by investor and advisor Joy Schoffler. Joy has won numerous awards including Women Communicators "Outstanding communicator", CEO Magazine "Entrepreneur of the Year" and Austin's Under-40 award. She served as an officer in the Army Reserves & Texas State Guard. Joy founded, ran and sold Leverage PR, one of the fastest-growing PR firms in America. Currently, she manages a portfolio of...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Before you launch your fundraise campaign, prepare your business, investor documents, and your investor network. For the business, check with your team, board, and investors to gain alignment. Your fundraise launch should not come as a surprise to them. Prepare your documents includ...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. For raising venture funding, first consider if you have a deal that's in the game for venture funding by asking these questions: Is it a high-growth company? Is it scalable? Do you have an experienced team ready to join? Do you have a platform-based business, or is it a single produ...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In considering a fundraise, think about your ultimate goal with the business. Are you building a business that will be your lifestyle business for the next 20 years, or are you building a business that you plan to sell for a sizeable gain? What's the exit plan for my business? How d...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Andrew Coors, CEO and Founder of Steelhead Composites which was founded in 2012. During his career, Andrew has managed a multi-million dollar fund, held an executive position at a Fortune 500 Company and more. Steelhead Composites engineers, designs, manufactures and tests their products in-house in Colorado. They currently export fluid power/hydraulic accumulators,...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. How do you know if you need funding for your startup? First, consider the type of business you are going to build and what it will take to get it up and running. Are you setting up a services business? Or will it be a tech-enabled business? Or will it be a physical product business?...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. In raising funding it's best to break the raise into milestones rather than raising the entire amount of funding in one go. Milestones are typically broken out as follows: Raise $250K from family and friends to build the initial product and stand up the business. Raise $500K seed ro...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Military Veteran, Doug Doan of Hivers and Strivers. Hivers and Strivers is an Angel Investment Group focusing on early-stage investments to support startup companies founded and run by graduates of the U.S. Military Academies. This group of investors is industry and geography-agnostic and they invest exclusively in companies with great leaders. You can find Hivers an...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. I receive many a startup that tells me they've talked to everyone in their area to raise funding but they haven't found all the funding they need. What can they do? When I started angel networks in the 2000s, they were mostly generalists that invested in local deals. Today, they are...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Josh Rasmussen of Monday Motorbikes. Josh is the co-founder and CEO of Monday Motorbikes, an electric motorbike company which is based in California. The story of where Monday Motorbikes was founded is very similar to that of one of the Big Four technology companies in the world. Josh is driven by personal passion and an excitement to solve difficult problems associa...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. To launch your startup identify a large market then target a small segment of that market to attack first. Choose your first segment based on easy to access and a close fit to your initial product. In other words, focus on your most ideal customer and then grow your business from th...

Securities law allows for startups to take investments from family and friends. On this episode of Startup Funding Espresso, Hall speaks about the relevant exemptions.

In this episode, Hall welcomes Gregory Bohlen of Union Grove Venture Partners. Greg Bohlen co-founded Union Grove Venture Partners in 2014. Greg's experience and relationships in the venture capital and investment banking communities have been developed over the past 30 years, and he has invested in over 50 venture-backed companies. Here they speak about Grove's most recent investment strategies a...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Maggie Sprenger of Green Cow Venture Capital. Green Cow Venture Capital is a venture capital firm that backs dynamic founding teams using greenfield technologies to solve big problems around scarcity and inefficiency. Green Cow is sector agnostic, and all of their startups are trying to solve big global market problems around inefficiency and scarcity in their respec...

How much equity should you give up to the investors? Friends & Family Round: Less than 10% most often in the 5-6% Angel Round: It's 20-25% VC Series A Round: 25% to 30% It's important to keep the founders motivated so if too much equity goes to investors, there's little incentive for the founders to keep going. As a startup, you want to see value from the investors in addition to funding. Typicall...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Pieter Dorsman of Angel Forum and E-Fund. Angel Forum is one of the longest-serving angel networks in Canada. They are a non-profit organization and presenting companies have raised over $35 million directly through their forum. Angel Forum also offers workshops to both entrepreneurs and investors. E-Fund was founded to achieve consistently higher returns and more ex...

Are you considering launching a Series A fundraise? For startups not requiring FDA, you will need the following: - A product with revenue, preferably above $500K/year - A growth plan to reach $10M annual revenue - A strong team with growth company experience - A credible funding plan to maintain growth with reasonable burn rates - An updated financial proforma showing your growth plan and use of f...

Luis asks: Why am I being rejected for funding because I am a startup? Investors always ask that I have at least one year in business or more and that my company has revenue. Usually, when you start a business you start from scratch. That is when you need the support to launch and develop new technologies. In my case, there were three reasons that they closed the door on me. I have no revenue. The...

In fundraising as in all business, one should always show a grateful attitude. This applies to both startups and investors. Begin your call or meeting with a thank you. Such as: Thank you for taking time Thank you for meeting with me It sets the proper tone for the discussion. Gratitude shows a thankfulness to the other and recognizes their time. It shows their effort is worth something and won't...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Anurag Ahuja of TakeOut7. Anurag is a serial entrepreneur, founder, and CEO with over 20 years in the SaaS platform, internet marketing, retail, eCommerce, and data & analytics. TakeOut7 is an AI-based platform that handles ordering and traditional/digital marketing for independent restaurants. By using TakeOut7's solutions, restaurants get their online orders direct...

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing. Startups make many of the mistakes. Here are two common ones to avoid: Thinking you must have the perfect product before you talk with anyone - including customers. Many startups go into development mode until they have their first product, and then launch it to the world. Often wit...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Samara Gordon of Hyperplane Venture Capital. Hyperplane Venture Capital is an investment firm focused on exceptional founders building machine intelligence and data companies. They partner with exceptional founders who are leveraging machine intelligence, sensor technology, and cloud computing to solve the world's hardest problems uncovering the underlying structure...

I've talked with numerous startups who has a founder that no longer works with the company and has taken their equity with them. One solution to this problem is called Founder Vesting Many startups choose to structure the founder shares as restricted stock. This reserves some shares which must be "earned back" by the founder over time. The longer the vesting schedule the more shares the founder ea...

In this episode, Hall welcomes back Henry Yoshida Founder and CEO of Rocket Dollar Inc. Rocket Dollar was founded in 2018 with the belief that retirement is changing. They believe that people should not be limited in their investment options as they work towards the retirement they envision for themselves. Rocket Dollar makes it safe, simple, and fast for people to take control of their retirement...