Sagacious Think

I recently attended a panel on start-up funding, and while this information is mostly common sense, its always good to be reminded.  So here’s a quick summary of my notes along with my own commentary thrown in.
Prepare, prepare, prepare
Be ready for the pitch, and remember you are making a sale, but at the end of [...]

KISS plays an important role (Keep It Simple Stupid)
You do not need many slides and they should be to the point.  These slides will probably not fall into place but result from a lot of sweat and tears to get them down to their core message.  This may be challenging as everyone is excited about [...]

I attended ASTIA’s Doing It Right last week in the role of advisor.  One panel, I sat in on featured several Angel Investors, and I wanted to pass along their advise and comments.
The panel included

Sam Angus: Fenwick & West (Moderator)
JoAnne Miller – Golden Seeds
Ann Nigam – Sand Hill Angles
Sue Preston – Clean Energy, CalCef Angle [...]

When preparing for outside financing, its important to understand that investors are investing as much in the team as the product.  So it behoves the team to understand where they stand in that dynamic.  Too often the focus is on the product.
I prepared this model, that I use with the companies I work with as [...]

Anita Campbell recently posted this piece in Small Business Trends – great website.  The write up appears to be based on input from Mark Cuban. I have nothing to add, its sage advice from people who have been in the trenches of start ups.  I thought it was worth sharing.
“You’re not spending enough money.”  That is [...]

The Income Statement, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow Statement are the trifecta of a company’s financial reports and should be reviewed frequently with key employees who impact the results.  Everyone should be familiar with these reports and should not rely on the CFO to interpret.  I know it seems like yet more reports to pile [...]

At a recent conference, representatives from various federal and local agencies spoke on the state of the economy, suggestions for contracting with the government.  In the event that you were not sitting next to me, I wanted to pass along the great information that I learned.
Most of the money that has been earmarked as stimulus [...]

In the Valley, Silicon Valley that is, finance for start-ups is often assumed to begin and end with VCs (Venture Capitalists).  That is certainly not always the case, and in fact in these financially challenging times, searching out alternative funding is a necessity.  One alternative available, depending on the type of start-up is to look [...]