Self-Assessment: Will Your Startup Get Angel Investment?

Is your startup a good candidate for angel investment? If you can’t answer “yes” to the four questions here, then it probably isn’t. Angel investors are as hard to predict as any other group of individuals, all operating in their own self-interest. There are about a quarter of a million angel investors in the U.S.,…

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7 Seed-Stage Funding Sources to Finance Your Startup

Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between “seed-stage” and “early-stage” financing. Yet, knowing this distinction is important. Remember, you have only one…

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Angels and VCs: Don’t Be Greedy Even if You Can

Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event for the early investors, including the entrepreneur or the founders. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists or angels have put in substantial money, and the sales price is not enough to give them a reasonable return for the time and money invested,…

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10 Ways for Entrepreneurs to Meet Cash Flow Peaks

The “valley of death” is a common term in the startup world, referring to the difficulty of covering the negative cash flow in the early stages of a startup, before their new product or service is bringing in revenue from real customers. I often get asked about the real alternatives to bridge this valley, and…

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