Funding Your Startup
Raising Money from Venture Capitalists, Angels, Family, Friends, Banks, and Other Sources
(Sprache: Englisch)
You've got a great idea for a business, or maybe you're even close to having a finished product. But you need money--for a prototype, marketing, salaries, web development, hardware, legal help, office space, or all these things and more. Whom do you ask?...
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You've got a great idea for a business, or maybe you're even close to having a finished product. But you need money--for a prototype, marketing, salaries, web development, hardware, legal help, office space, or all these things and more. Whom do you ask? How do you ask? How much do you ask for? How do you improve the chances you'll get the funds you need?That's what Funding Your Startup: Raising Money from Venture Capitalists, Angels, Family, Friends, Banks, and Other Sourcesis all about. In a how-to format, it delivers the basics of raising capital: identifying sources of funds, understanding what investors are looking for in early-stage companies, asking for funding effectively, using the pitch to maximize your chances of success, and ensuring you retain control of the business. Among other things, this book:
Walks you through the essentials of attracting potential investors
Shows you how to define the fundamentals and prospects of your business idea in a way that excites investors
Teaches you how to articulate your business "out loud" and deliver a pitch with the power to sway even the most tightfisted angels and VCs Author McAdory Lipscomb, Jr., known in the startup world as "the Pitch Doctor," has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs fund their businesses. In Funding Your Startup , you'll not only learn to navigate the fundraising maze, but how to present your business as a rare opportunity for investors: how it will work, how it will make money, how you will attract customers and topnotch employees, and how you will take the business to the billion dollar mark and beyond.
The template Lipscomb provides will help you pass the all-important "CEO audition" and get the money you need to start and grow the business of your dreams.
You've got a great idea for a business, or maybe you're even close to having a finished product. But you need money-for a prototype, marketing, salaries, web development, hardware, legal help, office space, or all these things and more. Whom do you ask? How do you ask? How much do you ask for? How do you improve the chances you'll get the funds you need?
That's what Funding Your Startup: Raising Money from Family, Friends, Angels, and Venture Capitalists is all about. In a how-to format, it delivers the basics of raising capital: identifying sources of funds, understanding what investors are looking for in early-stage companies, asking for funding effectively, using the pitch to maximize your chances of success, and ensuring you retain control of the business. Among other things, this book:
Walks you through the essentials of attracting potential investors Shows you how to define the fundamentals and prospects of your business idea in a way that excites investors Teaches you how to articulate your business 'out loud' and deliver a pitch with the power to sway even the most tightfisted angels and VCs Author McAdory Lipscomb, Jr., known in the startup world as 'the Pitch Doctor,' has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs fund their businesses. In Funding Your Startup, you'll not only learn to navigate the fundraising maze, but how to present your business as a rare opportunity for investors: how it will work, how it will make money, how you will attract customers and topnotch employees, and how you will take the business to the billion dollar mark and beyond. The template Lipscomb provides will help you pass the all-important 'CEO audition' and get the money you need to start and grow the business of your dreams.
That's what Funding Your Startup: Raising Money from Family, Friends, Angels, and Venture Capitalists is all about. In a how-to format, it delivers the basics of raising capital: identifying sources of funds, understanding what investors are looking for in early-stage companies, asking for funding effectively, using the pitch to maximize your chances of success, and ensuring you retain control of the business. Among other things, this book:
Walks you through the essentials of attracting potential investors Shows you how to define the fundamentals and prospects of your business idea in a way that excites investors Teaches you how to articulate your business 'out loud' and deliver a pitch with the power to sway even the most tightfisted angels and VCs Author McAdory Lipscomb, Jr., known in the startup world as 'the Pitch Doctor,' has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs fund their businesses. In Funding Your Startup, you'll not only learn to navigate the fundraising maze, but how to present your business as a rare opportunity for investors: how it will work, how it will make money, how you will attract customers and topnotch employees, and how you will take the business to the billion dollar mark and beyond. The template Lipscomb provides will help you pass the all-important 'CEO audition' and get the money you need to start and grow the business of your dreams.
Inhaltsverzeichnis zu „Funding Your Startup “
Introduction (10 pages)Being able to start a company is one of the great promises of the American dream. As a coach and start up strategist as well as a veteran of large, extremely bureaucratic large corporations, I've experienced the best and worst of planning, developing, and communicating business ideas. I can tell you that most CEOs-especially startup leaders-have trouble zeroing in on what makes their company a good bet for investors.
In this book, I explain how startups are funded, who the funders are and how to find them, how they want to be asked for money, and how to come up with a pitch script that will sway even the most skeptical funders. I walk you through different ways of building the best script possible based on market research, customer reactions, vision, and many other factors. I will use stories that relate to critical communications observations I've made, and that will help you communicate an idea, understand the target you are approaching, and get the result you're seeking.
Chapter 1
Who the Funding Sources Are (25 pages)
This chapter covers the various sources of money: bootstrapping, friends and family, seed, angel, and venture funding. I cover the who/what/when/where/how of each type of funder. I also analyze the markets for money using research from the National Venture Capital Association, Angel Venture Association, and the Kauffman Foundation.
Chapter 2
What Investors Are Looking For (20 pages)
The classic first question asked by investors is, "What problem are you solving?" But that is actually more of a reaction to how they are being approached for investment. With so many product and business descriptions presented to them, investors must figure out if there is a business buried in the product demo. Entrepreneurs can avoid that question if they can show right off they've
... mehr
identified a real business opportunity that requires investor money to develop. Consultants solve problems; "fundable" entrepreneurs identify business opportunities and show they are willing to take the risk to build and execute on that opportunity.
This chapter covers the 5 key items investors are looking for: sound business vision, growing markets, ability to scale, shared funding risk, and talented management that can execute. You will learn how to show investors they will make money.
Chapter 3
When to Approach Investors: The Launch Lifecycle (20 pages)
Where you are in your development cycle dictates when you should approach investors. If you have a technology-driven business, is the platform development 80% completed? 60%? 20%? Or is it just an idea that you'd like someone to pay you to build? Have you launched any test cases, beta trials, customers and generated revenue? Have you done a full review of the data from your beta tests so you can make educated estimates about performance when you actually roll out the product to the market? As this chapter will show, these are all key milestones that improve your chances of getting funded by helping you determine when and to whom to make your pitch.
Chapter 4:
How Much to Ask Investors For (15 pages)
A friend might be able to lend or buy into your concept for $4,000. Angels might be good for $40,000. And full-blown VCs can write a check for $400,000--or $4 million. How much you ask for depends on where you are in the lifecycle, and it also depends on the nature of the business and how much, ultimately, you'll need. There are lots of considerations here and we'll work through them one by one.
Chapter 5
Where to Approach Investors-or Have Them Approach You (25 pages)
You have a Minimally Viable Product (MVP) ready to go. How do you find the folks with the money? There are many paths to connect with investors, but we've all heard the frustrating story that "investors will not call me back or answer my emails." This chapter shows how to get a meeting or a more informal opportunity to pitch your idea.
First, who is doing something similar to you? Are those companies venture or angel backed? Who backed them? This chapter also covers alternative strategies for finding investors: attending angel investor demo days, hack-a-thons, events where your target investors are speaking, venture accelerator programs, industry events, pitch events, and pitch crawls; following competitors and their funders; and more. You can also attract investors to you through social media, visibility outreach, press mentions, contest wins, hiring an outside PR firm or fundraiser, and publishing thought leadership pieces.
Chapter 6
How to Approach Investors (15 pages)
There is lots of activity in the "deal flow." Yet being in a position to approach investors is more and more difficult every day. You have a lot of competition. So you will learn why you need pitches of various lengths based on same foundation. You also need to develop, in advance, talking points, decks, phone scripts, and elevator pitches. I'll offer a checklist of key items and cover what could go wrong and how to recover. You'll learn to rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse; use video; talk to the camera; and talk to the friends, family, and coworkers around you about your business. I encourage you to engage a mentor that has been in your industry vertical in previous businesses.
Chapter 7
How to Get Investors to Fund You (25 pages)
As this chapter shows, you should always be closing. Find a lead investor. If you are getting feedback that "We like your idea but will not invest until someone else takes the lead role," you're getting a polite "No thanks." You'll learn to deal with objections like this one and others like, "I don't invest in that sector any more" or "I'm not sure this makes sense because you have not proven the business model." Remember that investors in this high risk area are trying to reduce their downside as much as possible. That means that if you can get two or three to go together, the Lemming effect kicks in. I also explain why you shouldn't spend too much time on a potential investor that just doesn't want to come to a decision.
Chapter 8
The Art of the Pitch: Getting Past the 4th Slide! (40 pages)
Most investor presentations never make it past slide #4. With only 20 minutes (or less), investors have lost patience with rambling product demonstrations that make few, if any, business points. This chapter will help you get way past slide #4 and show how to maximize the presentation deck so it is very easy for an investor to understand the business and have confidence in you, the prospective CEO or senior manager. You'll learn how to structure the presentation, stay in control, communicate all the top-level business points, and get to a business discussion with potential investors. Using the deck template to articulate a "Business Strategy Out Loud!" establishes a foundational element on getting your business funded.
This chapter also forces you to step out of your coding comfort zone and define your business, go-to-market strategy, revenue streams, and other key investor decision concerns. The template (script) presented has helped many CEOs to say and hear (out loud for their own ears) what their business is and how it will work. Just as a Broadway star goes on stage after 6 weeks of rehearsal off Broadway and pre-opening previews, a solid script must be developed and evolve based on skills of the CEO/Performer. This chapter will use a before-and-after comparison of what doesn't work and how to transform the deck into a working tool that effectively and simply cuts through all product noise and defines a business ready for investor funding.
Chapter 9
What You Are Giving Up in Exchange for Money (15 pages)
You don't want to give away the store before you get started. But savvy investors want something significant in return for their money--they know most of their investments will end up worthless. So you need to know how far you'll go, how to retain control, what kind of investment makes the most sense from your point of view, the specific terms, and more.
Chapter 10
The CEO Coach's Advice (20 pages)
I advise startup CEOs for a living. This chapter contains some of the typical advice I provide founders when seeking and using other people's money.
Appendix (30 pages)
Term Sheets
Sample Successful Pitches
Lists of Events, etc., Where Funders Congregate
This chapter covers the 5 key items investors are looking for: sound business vision, growing markets, ability to scale, shared funding risk, and talented management that can execute. You will learn how to show investors they will make money.
Chapter 3
When to Approach Investors: The Launch Lifecycle (20 pages)
Where you are in your development cycle dictates when you should approach investors. If you have a technology-driven business, is the platform development 80% completed? 60%? 20%? Or is it just an idea that you'd like someone to pay you to build? Have you launched any test cases, beta trials, customers and generated revenue? Have you done a full review of the data from your beta tests so you can make educated estimates about performance when you actually roll out the product to the market? As this chapter will show, these are all key milestones that improve your chances of getting funded by helping you determine when and to whom to make your pitch.
Chapter 4:
How Much to Ask Investors For (15 pages)
A friend might be able to lend or buy into your concept for $4,000. Angels might be good for $40,000. And full-blown VCs can write a check for $400,000--or $4 million. How much you ask for depends on where you are in the lifecycle, and it also depends on the nature of the business and how much, ultimately, you'll need. There are lots of considerations here and we'll work through them one by one.
Chapter 5
Where to Approach Investors-or Have Them Approach You (25 pages)
You have a Minimally Viable Product (MVP) ready to go. How do you find the folks with the money? There are many paths to connect with investors, but we've all heard the frustrating story that "investors will not call me back or answer my emails." This chapter shows how to get a meeting or a more informal opportunity to pitch your idea.
First, who is doing something similar to you? Are those companies venture or angel backed? Who backed them? This chapter also covers alternative strategies for finding investors: attending angel investor demo days, hack-a-thons, events where your target investors are speaking, venture accelerator programs, industry events, pitch events, and pitch crawls; following competitors and their funders; and more. You can also attract investors to you through social media, visibility outreach, press mentions, contest wins, hiring an outside PR firm or fundraiser, and publishing thought leadership pieces.
Chapter 6
How to Approach Investors (15 pages)
There is lots of activity in the "deal flow." Yet being in a position to approach investors is more and more difficult every day. You have a lot of competition. So you will learn why you need pitches of various lengths based on same foundation. You also need to develop, in advance, talking points, decks, phone scripts, and elevator pitches. I'll offer a checklist of key items and cover what could go wrong and how to recover. You'll learn to rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse; use video; talk to the camera; and talk to the friends, family, and coworkers around you about your business. I encourage you to engage a mentor that has been in your industry vertical in previous businesses.
Chapter 7
How to Get Investors to Fund You (25 pages)
As this chapter shows, you should always be closing. Find a lead investor. If you are getting feedback that "We like your idea but will not invest until someone else takes the lead role," you're getting a polite "No thanks." You'll learn to deal with objections like this one and others like, "I don't invest in that sector any more" or "I'm not sure this makes sense because you have not proven the business model." Remember that investors in this high risk area are trying to reduce their downside as much as possible. That means that if you can get two or three to go together, the Lemming effect kicks in. I also explain why you shouldn't spend too much time on a potential investor that just doesn't want to come to a decision.
Chapter 8
The Art of the Pitch: Getting Past the 4th Slide! (40 pages)
Most investor presentations never make it past slide #4. With only 20 minutes (or less), investors have lost patience with rambling product demonstrations that make few, if any, business points. This chapter will help you get way past slide #4 and show how to maximize the presentation deck so it is very easy for an investor to understand the business and have confidence in you, the prospective CEO or senior manager. You'll learn how to structure the presentation, stay in control, communicate all the top-level business points, and get to a business discussion with potential investors. Using the deck template to articulate a "Business Strategy Out Loud!" establishes a foundational element on getting your business funded.
This chapter also forces you to step out of your coding comfort zone and define your business, go-to-market strategy, revenue streams, and other key investor decision concerns. The template (script) presented has helped many CEOs to say and hear (out loud for their own ears) what their business is and how it will work. Just as a Broadway star goes on stage after 6 weeks of rehearsal off Broadway and pre-opening previews, a solid script must be developed and evolve based on skills of the CEO/Performer. This chapter will use a before-and-after comparison of what doesn't work and how to transform the deck into a working tool that effectively and simply cuts through all product noise and defines a business ready for investor funding.
Chapter 9
What You Are Giving Up in Exchange for Money (15 pages)
You don't want to give away the store before you get started. But savvy investors want something significant in return for their money--they know most of their investments will end up worthless. So you need to know how far you'll go, how to retain control, what kind of investment makes the most sense from your point of view, the specific terms, and more.
Chapter 10
The CEO Coach's Advice (20 pages)
I advise startup CEOs for a living. This chapter contains some of the typical advice I provide founders when seeking and using other people's money.
Appendix (30 pages)
Term Sheets
Sample Successful Pitches
Lists of Events, etc., Where Funders Congregate
... weniger
Autoren-Porträt von McAdory Lipscomb
McAdory Lipscomb, Jr., known worldwide as the Pitch Doctor, is a strategist for startup CEOs working in the angel and venture world both here in the USA and internationally. He has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs gain startup capital. A management consultant to executives in private and public companies, he is a former operating partner at RRE Ventures, and a mentor and coach for NY Angels, IBM Global Smart Camp, ASTIA, UltraLights NYC, and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator. Previously, he has had global leadership positions as an Accenture partner, an executive vice president at Showtime Television and WorldSpace global direct radio, former CEO of Political Channel, and senior marketing and communication roles in two national presidential campaigns. Lipscomb holds a BA (University of Maryland, College Park), an MA (Auburn University), and an MBA (University of Colorado-Boulder).
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: McAdory Lipscomb
- 2016, 1st ed., 275 Seiten, Maße: 15,2 x 22,9 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Verlag: APress
- ISBN-10: 143025842X
- ISBN-13: 9781430258421
- Erscheinungsdatum: 11.01.2016
Sprache:
Englisch
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