Show Me The Money: A Women's Guide to Securing VC Backing. A woman who has raised $200M in VC money offers tough talk – and solid advice – to female founders who are fundraising.
By Carol Realini (Serial Entrepreneur & World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer) The latest VentureSource report for the first quarter of 2014 reports US financing at $10.74 billion, a 44 percent increase from the first quarter of 2013. Women entrepreneurs should be ecstatic about this. But are they?
Not really, and for good reason. Failure Is Not an Option This is bleak. Women entrepreneurs need to say to themselves: failure is not an option. No Woman Is an Island No one, especially no first timer, gets funded without support from others. Her job is to be an evangelist and recruit stakeholders, investors, employees and customers. She must perform like a master sales leader – “be surgical”.
Reprogram Your Internal Monologue If necessary, she must reprogram herself. Why your VC funding is worthless without a plan. For founders, taking funding is about more than adding working capital — it acts as a catalyst for things to come.
It provides a third-party validation that attracts the interest of media, customers, and potential executives you want to hire. Before taking funding, however, you have to know if you’re ready to light that fire. More importantly, founders need to have a specific plan for what to do with all that cash because too often, startups go guns blazing after a Series A just because it’s the logical next step.
Google Deal Machine Ramps Up to Pass Intel in Top Spot. Google Inc.
(GOOG), the company that leads Internet search, has gained a new superlative: top dealmaker. From buying a digital-thermostat developer to selling a mobile-phone business, Google has executed more deals than any company in the world over the past three years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg through January, up from 13th place in the three years prior. Advertising-firm WPP Plc (WPP) was second, followed by chipmaker Intel Corp. (INTC) Since taking over as chief executive officer in 2011, co-founder Larry Page has pushed Google beyond Web advertising. Related: Let's Shake On It -- Tech's Top 10 Dealmakers “It is absolutely starting to feel like a deal machine,” said Maha Ibrahim, a partner at venture firm Canaan Partners in Menlo Park, California, which has co-invested with Google Ventures and Google Capital.
Since taking over as chief executive officer in 2011, co- founder Larry Page has pushed Google beyond Web advertising. Close. Funding regional startups is a different ballgame. Here's how it works. Dino Vendetti a VC at Bay Partners, moved to Bend, Oregon, on a mission to engineer Bend into a regional technology cluster.
Over the years, Dino and I brainstormed about how Lean entrepreneurship would affect regional development. I visited Bend last year and caught up with his progress. Today with every city, state, and country trying to build out a technology cluster, following Dino’s progress can provide others with a roadmap of what’s worked and what has not. Dino’s three-part story on Bend covers: Part 1: Bend — the ecosystem and the entrepreneursPart 2: The rules of funding regional startupsPart 3: Engineering a regional tech cluster Here’s Part 2 of Dino’s story… Tech investing is risky. The cloud: open-source development tools and web 2.0 as a distribution channel have vastly reduced the amount of capital a startup needs at the early stage when the risk is greatest. These four developments, while important to Silicon Valley, are vital to developing regional tech clusters. How Startup Valuation Works - Illustrated. How would you measure the value of a company?
Especially, a company that you started a month ago – how do you determine startup valuation? That is the question you will be asking yourself when you look for money for your company. Create an infographic timeline like this on Adioma Let’s lay down the basics. Valuation is simply the value of a company. Why does startup valuation matter? Valuation matters to entrepreneurs because it determines the share of the company they have to give away to an investor in exchange for money. How do you calculate your valuation at the early stages? Figure out how much money you need to grow to a point where you will show significant growth and raise the next round of investment. A dozen things I’ve learned about venture capital (in 999 words) Editor’s note: This post is part of a series by Tren Griffin, a senior director at Microsoft who previously worked at Craig McCaw’s Eagle River.
Other posts include “A dozen things I’ve learned about business” and “A dozen things I’ve learned about investing.” Photo via Keith Cooper 1. “The problem is that extraordinary performance comes only from correct non-consensus forecasts, but non-consensus forecasts are hard to make, hard to make correctly and hard to act on.” Howard Marks. 2. 3. 4. Bill Gurley. Google Ventures Stresses Science of Deal, Not Art of the Deal.