Venture Capital and Angel Investors

How to Secure Funding for Your Startup (with INFOGRAPHIC)

Why do so many businesses fail? According to a recent Forbes article, at the surface level, they simply run out of cash. It’s easy to get things wrong when you’re starting out and the article points out that 8 out of every 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months.


angel investors

How to Impress Angel Investors and Make It Into “Startup Heaven”

Ever wanted to ask an angel for advice? Now you can. Apart from a collection of tips direct from angel investors themselves, we're opening up our comment stream within this post.


Got “Founder Fit”? If You Want Venture Capital, You Need It

A few weeks ago I spoke with Boris Wertz, founder of JustBooks, COO of AbeBooks and founding-partner of Version One Ventures. In as much as a scheduled interview with an angel investor can be, talking with Boris about what it takes to spark the interest of a venture capital firm was a coincidence. I’d reached out...


What Startups Need to Know About Exit Strategies

  Startups looking for angel investors or venture capital (VC) absolutely need an exit strategy because investors require it. The exit is what gives them a return. Exit strategies related to startup funding are quite often misunderstood: The “exit” in exit strategy is for the money, not the startup founders or small business owners. The...


What I learned from appearing on Shark Tank

What I Learned From My Appearance on Shark Tank

It’s not everyday that a television producer handpicks you to appear on ABC’s hit show “Shark Tank,” but that’s what happened to entrepreneur Kelly Costello. Costello is the founder of Puppy Cake, a company that sells boxed cake mix for dogs. It’s a lot like the do-it-yourself Betty Crocker cake mix, except the ingredients are changed...


How to Avoid Taking “Dumb Money” in Your Startup

You may think that when someone offers you money to fund your startup, you should find a way to take their money. But even more important than landing an investment offer is knowing when to say yes to investors and when to say, “Thanks, but no thanks.” Just because someone has money doesn’t mean they have...


How I Got My First Round of Seed Funding

Fundraising is hard work. It’s a simple truth that every entrepreneur knows: Getting the capital to start or grow your business is often harder than running the business itself. Or at least, it can seem that way when you’re in the fundraising cycle, with the endless meetings, pitches, and negotiations. In my experience, the most...


Looking for Money? These 4 Things Will Scare Investors Away

Whether you’re trying to borrow money from a colleague or land the financial backing of a venture capitalist, there are certain traits that can scare even the hardiest of investors away. Finding startup funds may be one of the toughest things you’ll do as an entrepreneur, so if you have an interested investor you should...


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 9 10