Author name: startup_admin

In the startup world, everyone talks a big game and investors are looking for those who can do it. I love startup stories. In the startup world everyone has a grand idea and big plans to make it happen. It’s the venture world so you better have an idea that can be big. The talk around the ideas is large and full of hyperbole. The future is going to be so bright that you find yourself reaching for your shades. But then the startup has to actually build it and show the growth story in progress. Scott Adams once wrote- “Losers have goals. Winners have systems.” If the startup has some revenue traction then you probably have some systems behind it that you can grow. But what if they don’t have any meaningful revenue yet? One technique is to ask questions that go to the systems they will put in place such as: Tell me about your system for generating leads. Exactly how will it work? Tell me about your sales process.   Exactly how do you find the right prospect and close them? In other words, the startup needs to do more than just tell you their goals in your PowerPoint slide deck. They need to describe the systems they can put into place to do so. If the answers are vague and fuzzy, then it’s going to be a long, slow climb. If the answers show expertise and experience around it, then this one has potential for investment. Read more: https://staging.startupfundingespresso.com/education/ Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network.TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

TEN Capital is ten years old now. We’ve picked up a few lessons along the way in helping startups raise funding and helping investors fund those startups. Here are some key principles for startups raising funding. Key Principles Launching a startup and growing a business is hard. It’s supposed to be hard. Funding is an enabler. Don’t think funding is going to solve all your problems. Entrepreneurs think investors want big revenue, but what they really want is predictable and repeatable revenue. In an early stage company the revenue is never large, but if it’s predictable based on recurring revenue, repeat revenue or known lead generation funnels that generate consistent revenue, then you have a growth story to tell the investor. Build and test your funnel so you know it works and can tell the growth story versus telling the “we’ll be big someday” story – which nobody buys. Sweat equity is table stakes- not valuation metrics. You need a complete team to start a business- someone building it and someone selling it. No fair, everyone on the team is building it and no one is selling it. Being all-in on your startup is step one. Part-timers need not apply. Sell it first, build it second. If you can’t sell it in the first place, there’s no need to build it in the second place. Most startups over invest in their tech and then they search for someone to buy it. A better strategy is to sell it and then build it out with the customer’s input. Startups who purposefully avoid revenue generation and call it a strategic decision are going to find out what hard living is all about. It’s best to generate enough revenue to prove your model and business rather than keep it at zero and play the “it’s going to be big” game on valuations. If all you do is take, take, take – don’t be surprised to find your startup ecosystem to be small. Pay it forward. Hall T. Martin is the founder of TEN Capital and a builder of entrepreneur ecosystems by startup funding through angel networks, funding portals, syndicates, and more. Connect with him about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies

As the business world moves to a service economy, everything becomes a service – even fundraising. Traditionally, those who start a business must raise their own funding. At later stages of the company, service firms provide investor relations programs but the cost is high and their services are targeted at investors in publicly traded stocks for the most part. The startup CEO, more than anyone needs support in finding investors, introducing the deal, and keeping the investor up to date with the progress. Closing the round is yet another challenge in chasing investors for signatures and checks. Brokers are often used at the Series B stage and later but rarely at the Seed and Series A stage as investors expect the startup CEO to lead the raise rather than outsource it entirely. TEN Capital innovates by providing “Funding as a Service” to early stage companies. We help the CEO raise funding by sourcing investors, making introductions, tracking interest, and following up with updates and investor documents. More specifically, TEN Capital provides: Warm introductions to investors Consistent update campaign to the prospective investors Coaching on terms sheets and due diligence documents Assistance in closing the investment – including chasing the investors for signatures and checks Tools including a data room Online and phone support for the duration of the campaign All for one monthly fee with no long term contract or backend fee. The CEO leads the fundraise but now has support for the difficult parts of the fundraise process – finding investors, making contact, following up, and closing the round.