“Should I raise money from your customers or big strategic investors?” Hard to say without taking a closer look. But having raised over $500M of venture capital, I know what you SHOULDN’T do IF you decide to raise. These mistakes will cost you time, resources, money, and most importantly…drain the passion from you like a dehydrated vampire. These are the
This week’s Growth Stacking Show features my conversation with Michael Neef… Founder of Pre-Approve Me – a mortgage approval software that’s hoping to hit 1.2M ARR by the end of the year. You might be thinking… “Mortgage pre-approvals? That’s not my niche… who cares?” Here’s why our conversation is worthwhile for YOU to watch:
“If you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late” – Reed Hoffman, LinkedIn Dropbox started with just a demo video… Jeff Bezos manually shipped books every time he received an online order… Airbnb started in the founders’ apartment. They didn’t wait to build the perfect product. MVPs are supposed to be embarrassing.
As a business owner, you’ve likely sailed through “company killing storms”… No new customers for weeks. A key team member abandons ship when you need them the most. Mass ‘customer exodus’. You name it. But some of the worst storms happen during the early stages.
“Rich people are selfish”. “Just be happy with what you have.” “Why is it always about the money?” If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard this crap, I’d trip over the irony. I’m sure you’re tired of hearing these things too. I personally know a ton of generous entrepreneurs…
Don’t let anyone tell you it’s too late to change your direction. Emily Walsh went from being a ballet dancer… to a lead investor at Georgian, a VC firm that has raised $1.2B across 4 funds and recently added another $850M in early 2020.
Let me demystify this complex, confusing strategy they call: Startup Funding Rounds. Yeah, you’ve heard the words thrown around before. “We’re raising our series B”, and “I’m looking for a pre-seed angel investor” or “We’re gearing up for an IPO”… They may as well be talking another language, right?
“Talent is everywhere, opportunity is not”. This is a quote from my latest Escape Velocity Podcast guest, Marvin Liao, formerly a partner at 500 Startups. 500 Startups is a venture capital fund that runs an accelerator in San Francisco and invests in seed rounds for tech startups.
How are angel investors different from venture capitalists? Both invest in businesses. Both can write you big checks. Both have the power to help your business growth with a cash injection you otherwise would never get. Are they the same? Heck no. I found this out the hard way…
Years ago the so-called “secret” to B2B company growth was getting leads. If you got enough email addresses or phone numbers that you could give to your sales team, you were going to make BANK. Not any more. Everyone is on LinkedIn, social media accounts are 1-click away, and business emails get scraped and sold daily. It sucks… but it’s
