Bootstrapping is the best way to go if you can find the right mix of opportunities to run your business. The best way to fund your startup is to find a grant or win a startup contest or crowdfund it. Let me list a few good options (grants up to $50k and above) for entrepreneurs to rope in some equity …
Read More »Fund raising
How you can benefit from Government of Karnataka’s startup policy 2016
It’s prime time for startups with the many funding programs and incubation centres aiming to benefit small, new companies with low revenues and high potential for growth. The Government of Karnataka (GoK) is behind many of these schemes and benefits in their startup policy for 2015-2020. (The entire policy is available at the bottom of the page) Their vision is to create …
Read More »What is Convertible Debt & Why do startup raise money through convertible notes? Advantages
To understand convertible bond in startup context, we need to first understand it in the general sense. And in general sense these bonds are issued by big companies to reduce their debt burden. Recently more startups are raising seed money as convertible bond to reduce the hassle and to escape from the nitty gritties of issuing equity. What is bond …
Read More »5 Brutal Points to Take Care off while Raising Investment
Before we proceed we would like you to Check out our new tool to calculate the investor and Founder payout and equity sharing based on the investment made by each entity here http://gizmo.startupfreak.com/ Aakash Saxena (changed name), a former technical head of a very famous travelling website, quits a 1 Cr package for a startup which he feels worth millions. …
Read More »Top Lies – What investors say and What they mean
Serial Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist Guy Kawasaki came up with a list of lies investors tell to string along entrepreneurs (keep them hanging) in case something miraculous happens to make them look better. To rescue entrepreneurs from the heartburn and pain of wasted time below is the list of the lies investors tell and Guy Kawasaki who himself is one …
Read More »How is Startup valuated during fundraising
The first thing you need to think when you are planning to raise money from investors is “What is my startup worth?” Its like until you put a price on something you cannot sell it and as you are planning to sell equity in your startup in return of investment, it becomes necessary that you determine your company’s worth. How …
Read More »Investment Termsheet Elements explained – 10 Things to watch out on your Termsheet
You would have worked really hard to get that termsheet in your hands which comes after pitching your idea to various investors and finally getting it liked by some investors and getting the termsheet from them. But not always all the termsheets are acceptable as they may include terms which can ruin your business. And to understand the termsheet, you …
Read More »What is Termsheet
Depending on what stage your startup is in like seed, growth, scale stage etc… you will be looking for specific funds (seed/Angel/venture capital/IPO etc) and pitching your ideas to the investors to get the funding in return of partnership or equity in your startup. And if the investors likes your idea then they will like to have an agreement with …
Read More »What does Series-A, Series-B, Series-C funding mean in Startups
Startups go through a series of funding from venture capital firms. Capital is raised in multiple rounds of financing as the valuation of a company may increase when the startup demonstrates: Increased probability of success Proof of concept Growth in customer base, etc. In each round of financing, valuation is done independently. Investors who invest in early rounds prefer to …
Read More »How to Pitch – 20 Tips
Before you start breathing fast imagining yourself in an elevator and pitching to the prospect let me tell you that we will just talk about pitch without going into all that elevator action. According to the facts 1 in 1 million get stuck in an elevator with the prospective investors or a customer. Most of the other meet during an event, or …
Read More »