Investor Connect Podcast

In raising funding, valuation is a key number the CEO and investor must come to agree with. As a startup you must determine your target valuation. There are several methods. One method is called Step up Valuation It uses ten factors. Each factor adds $250K to the valuation To calculate your total pre-money valuation add $ 250,000 for each: - Total market size over $500M - Business model scales wel...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Vik Sasi of Dreamers VC. Dreamers VC, founded by Will Smith and Keisuke Honda is a venture capital fund bridging established Japanese corporate investors with early-stage, US-based companies. The company was conceived from their shared passion to improve the world. They invest in innovative companies, alongside top-tier lead investors, to improve lives through the ap...

In raising funding, valuation is a key number the CEO and investor must come to agree on. As a startup you must determine your target valuation. There are several methods. The first method is called Market Comp. In short, you look at other companies of a similar sector, stage and revenue and determine how you compare. The steps for creating a market comp valuation are as follows: 1. Create a short...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Amrit Robbins of Axiom Exergy. Axiom Exergy's cloud-based platform provides active power management services for buildings with large thermal loads. Today, 60-70% of a typical building's electricity bill is driven by w it consumes power, and 28% of all electricity consumed by US commercial and industrial buildings is used for thermal services ($56 billion/year and gr...

The startup pitch is a key step in raising funding. You must be able to talk about your company in a compelling, coherent, and comprehensive manner in a short amount of time. Your pitch should contain the following: The Attention Getter: Lead with the most compelling reason why you have a great business. State the Problem you are solving: It must be big enough to warrant customers to pay for it. S...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Vinay Singh of Fireside Ventures. Fireside Ventures is an early-stage investment platform focused on consumer brands. From prototyping and consumer testing to a longer initial gestation period, and a greater need for mentorship, they understand the highly specific needs of a consumer startup. Vinay spent his early career at Hindustan Unilever as a marketing manager f...

Some wonder what causes the failure rate for startups to be so high. Is it because they are doing new, unproven things? Was it because the market changed or the customer preferences shift? Or was it because they didn't have funding or access to key accounts. The cause of startup failure comes back to one ultimate source: the team. Just about every failed startup comes down to the team not being ab...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Sergio Paluch of Beta Boom. Beta Boom is a pre-seed fund focusing on startups in emerging tech hubs around the world. They believe that tech innovation has no boundaries and that founders from underserved groups present one of the biggest opportunities of this era for both investors and society. Beta Boom invests in and supports all founders in emerging tech hubs, an...

I had a startup the other day approach me about investing. In the discussion it came up that one of the founders recently left and took half the equity with him. It appears there was no vesting on the founders equity. Vesting means one has to earn the equity by continuing to work in the business over a period of time. Founders think they don't have to vest their equity since they founded the compa...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Yigit Ihlamur of Vela Partners. Vela Partners is an investment firm, composed of five partners supported by technology, commercial and legal advisors. Their main focus is software companies, with investments spanning from angel to VC stages. Before Vela, Yigit Ihlamur worked in Google's Cloud division, at the company's headquarters in Mountain View, on product strate...

Who should have access to the cap table in a startup? The Cap Table which shows the ownership of each investor and those from the company is reserved for investors, board members, the CFO, and the corporate attorneys. For employees, you want to create a culture of openness. Employees and other shareholders get visibility into their ownership but in general they cannot see the ownership of others....

In this episode, Hall welcomes Greg Baker of Alumni Ventures Group. Alumni Ventures Group (AVG) is a different type of venture capital firm. Designed for individual investors, AVG makes this key asset class available to millions of individuals who previously haven't had access to a high-quality, diversified venture portfolio. Greg started his career with an MBA as a mechanical engineer and then mo...

One common misconception about fundraising is that you must know an investor before you can approach for funding. It's best to have some validation from your own group before approaching those outside of your core. Start with your current network and work out from there. Identify the right type of investor for your deal based on risk and return. Angels wants three to five times their investment. V...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Geraldo Melzer of A.B.Seed Ventures. A.B.Seed Ventures focuses on investing in startups that seek seed investment, with a SaaS B2B business model. Their proposal goes beyond capital and network. They support entrepreneurs with the best SaaS marketing and sales practices in areas such as inbound marketing, inside sales, channels and customer success. In this episode,...

In looking at cap tables, there are several red flags to watch out for. Look for shares that are actually issued and not just verbally promised. Is the cap table up to date with cancellations and repurchases? Many startups consider their cap table to be a work in progress so don't be surprised if it contains "what ifs" and other "redos." The cap table is typically available in three versions: Firs...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Atin Batra of Twenty Seven Ventures, a VC firm focusing on education and the future of work technology. Atin is a serial entrepreneur and began his investing career with a corporate accelerator before starting his firm. Atin explains how he came to focus on the Education Technology and Future of Work sectors. Atin provides valuable advice for both investors and start...

I was approached by a listener the other day who was contemplating investing in a friend's business. He was the first money in and was trying to figure out how much equity his investment bought. There's an equation for determining equity ownership. There are three terms in the equation. Pre-money valuation - how much the company is worth before investing. The investment amount, and post money valu...

In this episode, Hall is joined by Brian Phillips of The Pearl Fund, an early-stage VC fund specializing in Opportunity Zone (OZ) investments. Brian's background in computer science led to numerous jobs with tech startups. Through these experiences, he developed an interest in entrepreneurship non-profits. Ultimately, he ended up starting a fund to take advantage of the Opportunity Zone laws that...

Many investors look for traction in a startup to gauge their progress. Traction stated as a single number on a pitch deck can be hard to judge as sufficient for an investment. Many investors tell the startup "nice traction, but we'd like to see more." Instead of traction look for momentum. Momentum demonstrates things are continuing to progress and move forward. Sales, team, product, fundraise are...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Laura Baldwin, Managing Director of Golden Seeds. Golden Seeds is an investment firm dedicated to pursuing market returns through the empowerment of women entrepreneurs and the people who invest in them. The group was founded in 2005 and is headquartered in New York City, with active chapters in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Houston, and Silicon Valley – and active member...

Many enterprise software programs come from service businesses solving a problem for their clients. In searching for a solution on the market, they find none, so they build their own. Later, other clients come ready to buy it. I call this contractor funding, and it's one of the most overlooked forms of funding in the startup space. In this method, you sell a customized version of what you want to...

In this episode, Hall welcomes Jyri Engestrom of Yes VC, a small seed-stage fund focusing on community-driven startups. Jyri started out as an entrepreneur and uses his experiences with successful startup exits to inform his investing philosophy. Jyri advises investors to look for startups that are part of a larger social movement. Startups that can turn a small community into a global movement ar...

It's best to play nice with others in the startup community. While it may seem diverse and diffused, I've found word travels fast. The startup world is transparent and highly viral. So much of what happens regarding deal-flow and investing is based on reputation and trust. It takes a long time to build but can be destroyed in seconds. While some play the rough game, it's not the norm. Those who do...

In this episode, Hall welcomes GreenBar founder Larry Cynkin. Larry ​is a serial entrepreneur who has been CTO or VP Engineering at five startups, with experience in industries ranging from health care to personalized e-commerce to ed-tech. Larry started his career as a software developer, with a degree in Computer Science from Brown University. He eventually moved into software management and has...

Before the fundraise, startups should spend time with the investor first. It's less about the amount of face time and more about the number of interactions over the phone, email, in person, and otherwise. It's best to connect with investors before you start your fundraise so you have a basic relationship established. You can use the approach "I'm not raising funding now, but I will be in six month...