I had a delightful chat with Rob Wiltbank (Professor of Strategy at Willamette University, Partner with Montlake Capital) where I learned about some of the truly interesting innovations going on in royalty financing. Royalty financing is (source)… Revenue Capital (RC) is business financing based primarily on the sale or exchange of revenue streams. RC includes [...]
When I go to venture fairs, <10% were smart enough to have "leave behinds." The really smart ones had slick executive summaries to offer. Smooth move – entrepreneur’s biz card had his elevator pitch on the back so I can’t forget what his biz does. So few companies at a venture fair actually know how [...]
One of the Angel Capital Association’s core initiatives this year is the creation of sector-based angel syndication (aka co-investing) networks. Here in the northeast we’ve worked out excellent best practices for syndication between groups physically close to one another. Now we are exploring how to apply those concept to bringing groups of similar sector/domain interests [...]
One negative voice in a "closed door session" after an investor pitch can kill the deal unless you have a champion. Incentives matter – find a way to share the upside with investors, employees, and partners as this motivates everyone to do the Right Thing. Communication skills are paramount. I’ve watched numerous deals that looked [...]
Entrepreneurs with "low" pre-money valuations get much more attention, excitement, and momentum from investors. Everyone knows that Angels and VCs invest "close to home." YET, most will invest in ANY team with a personal connection to the investor Of all the factors influencing who gets investment, by far the most important (and usually unlisted) is [...]
When entrepreneurs pitch without a champion in the room, one strong negative perspective from an investor kills the deal. Get a champion 1st Executive summaries are better than simple slide decks. But NARRATED slide deck videos are better than executive summaries. Creating a slide deck? I highly recommend @sethgodins REALLY BAD POWERPOINT http://is.gd/33k1T
Common problem I see: a company that already has sales and/or deep knowledge of the target market draws up a presentation that they think is for investors… it even may follow a standard format for investor presentations… but the whole pitch has an unchallenged assumption that potential investors have the same domain expertise and incentives [...]
Bill Payne summarized and points to some great resources comparing the relative merits and demerits of convertible debt vs equity as funding instruments for startups. For those unfamiliar with these terms: Offering equity means making the investor a co-owner (not necessarily equal owner)of the venture with the founders. This means you have to agree on [...]
My angel group completed its first “medium risk/reward” deal, one that has a much lower (we hope) risk profile than a traditional startup, but therefore likely has a much lower upside as well. Here is a copy of our announcement: RVI invests in Springfield-based DX Urgent Care Gary Martinelli leads RVI’s investment RVI Deal [...]
