Blog

Learn how to start and run your company like a seasoned entrepreneur

Ready to launch your startup?

can help.

We have everything you need to build a successful, high-growth company—the right way.

LEARN MORE
Subscribe to the Founder's Guide Six Weeks to a Smarter Startup
Read the FAQs
Successful Startup Founders Invest In Their Own Ventures 0742d64fd6a698c3cfa409e71c3cc4e5620a7e7299f434f1380bb4cde9bc488a (1)

How We Do the Due Diligence for Our Angel Investment Group

Bill Payne had an excellent post here a few weeks ago, Raising Your Hand as Due Diligence Lead for Angel Groups, which starts with a this: Through Rob Wiltbank’s ground-breaking study in 2007, angels in groups learned that collective due diligence on new deals really pays off.  The 538 angels included in this study enjoyed 2.6X […]
Tim Berry
Tim Berry , Founder , Palo Alto Software
26 Mar 2013

Convertible Debt is Bad For Angels

A couple of years ago, Paul Graham (Y Combinator) tweeted “Convertible notes have won. Every investment so far in this YC batch (and there have been a lot) has been done on a convertible note.” The truth is convertible debt has not won.  Many sophisticated angel investors and angel groups refuse to invest in convertible debt […]
Bill Payne
Bill Payne , Angel Investor , Frontier Angel Fund
26 Mar 2013
10 Early Mistakes Startup Founders Should Avoid D9aa1adbb0aeeeb61a9800d1df81c1460d99acecba203b7d0f9d21e61e965e1f

10 Entrepreneur Comments That Kill Investor Deals

Lack of confidence in your self, your product, and your startup is a surefire recipe for disaster. At the other extreme, too much confidence or arrogance can kill you just as fast. It’s always painful when a startup fails, but as a mentor to founders, I would hope that you can learn from these failings […]
Martin Zwilling
Martin Zwilling , Founder and CEO , Startup Professionals
24 Mar 2013
What Are Contracts 445793d0c238315dfbb0ef2084ad3e07d48488b1f03a8df2f6092f7f229c495d

Due Diligence Is A Two-Way Street

Investors regularly confuse entrepreneurs with their various approaches to validating deals prior to investment (a process called “due diligence”).   A few seed stage investors (angels, super angels or seed stage VCs) have coffee with an entrepreneur and quickly learn enough to write checks.  Other investors or groups of investors study deals for months before investing.  […]
Bill Payne
Bill Payne , Angel Investor , Frontier Angel Fund
21 Mar 2013
Why Startup Delaware C Corporation Hero 8ba161ebd894660df325ddbbe6907dc8c2c10f170311d9461d15b71110280c47

7 Worst Entrepreneurial Perceptions From Engineers

Every engineer who has invented some new technology, or is adept at creating solutions, believes that is the hard part, and it should be a short step to take that solution to market as an entrepreneur. In reality, that short business step embodies far more risk, and a poor technology solution is not near the […]
Martin Zwilling
Martin Zwilling , Founder and CEO , Startup Professionals
18 Mar 2013
1 … 82 83 84 85 86 … 135