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Crowd Funding and Job Creation

There seem to be two motivations behind the current buoyant enthusiasm in Congress over crowd funding for entrepreneurs:  1) the democratization of funding for startup companies (no longer requiring such investors be wealthy) and 2) the job creation that is expected to result from creating more startup ventures.  In my earlier post, Crowd Funding – A […]
Bill Payne
Bill Payne , Angel Investor , Frontier Angel Fund
7 Dec 2011

The Funding Gap

The resources required to start a company vary significantly, depending on the type of company and growth rate anticipated by the entrepreneur. An experienced software engineer, for example, can develop a new mobile app with his or her own resources and market the product on the web with very little capital. A medical device company, […]
Bill Payne
Bill Payne , Angel Investor , Frontier Angel Fund
6 Dec 2011

Don’t Confuse Optimism with Business Potential

Overheard: I love your optimism. What I don’t like is the complete lack of experience that’s causing it. Ideally, a business pitch is exciting because the business potential is exciting. Optimism ought to be a combination of potential market, product-market fit, scalability, defensibility, and management experience. Better yet, early sales, initial growth rates, proof of concept […]
Tim Berry
Tim Berry , Founder , Palo Alto Software
6 Dec 2011

Investors Fund Solutions Rather Than Technology

Too many entrepreneurs develop a new product without regard for market demand, then build an entire strategy based on creating a need, rather than acting on an existing market need. Investors characterize this approach as a “solution looking for a problem.” These don’t get funded. The best startups find a way to drive the market with […]
Martin Zwilling
Martin Zwilling , Founder and CEO , Startup Professionals
5 Dec 2011

The Care and Feeding of Advisory Boards

Sure, you want investors.  But sometimes the outsiders most capable of helping your business are those who invest time, not money.  And I don’t mean because they lend a credible name to an investor pitch: way too many entrepreneurs look at names on Advisory Board as just a way to expedite a raise.  If that’s all […]
Bob Rice
Bob Rice , MANAGING PARTNER , Tangent Capital
3 Dec 2011
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