financial projections

How Investors Look at Startup Forecasts

By Tim Berry

Investors look at startup forecasts for concepts, not accuracy. When investors look at your projections, they are looking not for just the numbers, but essential insight into the knowledge, experience, and goals of the founders. Important: you need to forecast to manage your business. Hard as it is to forecast, it’s much harder to run... Read More »

How to Pitch a Startup Idea by Email.

By Tim Berry

How to pitch a startup idea by email? I scoffed a bit when I saw the question, on Quora. Nobody invests in ideas, I mumbled to myself. And pitching by email? Fat chance. But then I read the answer here, written by Brett Fox, former CEO of Touchstone Semiconductor, and now a CEO coach. Here... Read More »

How to Raise Money and Succeed Long Term (Video)

By Tim Berry

Jess Lee (Partner at Sequoia Capital) and Aaron Harris (Partner at YC) discuss raising money as an early stage company, and how to think about the fundraising process. Ali Rowghani (CEO of YC Continuity, previously CFO, COO @ Twitter, CFO @ Pixar) shares his thoughts on how to be a great leader and succeed long-term.... Read More »

Video: Startup Funding. Bootstrap. Then “Be So Good They Can’t Ignore You.”

By Tim Berry

I stumbled on this brilliant video of an after-hours startup funding event at the Stanford business school, a panel discussion putting two of the best-known, most influential, and most successful investors (Marc Andreessen and Ron Conway) together with another successful entrepreneur (Parker Conrad, founder of Zenefits), a moderator, and a group of interested entrepreneurs. The... Read More »

Infographic – $20 Billion a Year in VC Investment

By Tim Berry

My thanks to Angel Investment Network Blog for this Infographic – US Venture Capital Trends by State and Industry: Read More »

Do You Have What Investors Want?

By Tim Berry

What do investors want? I’ve read more than 100 business plans in the last two months. Entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly predictable on this point. Investors want disruptive. Investors want game changing. But not just saying it. Being able to believe it. Two of every three plans says it. Only a very few make it actually believable.... Read More »

Is Venture Capital Gone Forever

By Tim Berry

I completely agree with Steve King of Small Business Labs, in Is the Venture Capital Industry Broken? He says: The news here isn’t that the VC industry is broken. This has been actively discussed for years. The news is who’s saying it’s broken. Which is, in the flap this month, the Kauffman Foundation. The Kauffman Foundation has long... Read More »

Disrupt Education … Please!

By Tim Berry

I wonder if we as a society are ever going to figure out how technology can disrupt our antiquated systems for educating our children. Think about what’s happened to information, social interaction, research, and business over the web — not to mention mobile technology — and then think about education. Preschool, K-12, and higher education.... Read More »