Lesson1
THE FOUNDATIONAL
KNOWLEDGE OF VENTURE FINANCE
The first video is about understanding the foundational knowledge of venture finance: the different kinds of options available to create value and build your business.
Without sufficient resources, your business cannot attract, retain and motivate the best people to work for or with you. More money will allow you to invest in the things that make a business valuable: innovation, product and service design, sales and marketing, customer service and even general and administrative.
- Become well versed in how to get access to the resources you need.
- Learn whether you should offer common stock or if it's better to offer convertible debt for investors.
- Know which securities options are the most attractive to the kind of investors that you seek to attract.
- Know the difference between a SAFE and a SAFT and how it can change your future investments.
- See examples of when you should raise money by offering a revenue-backed note.
- Be equipped with knowledge about the three basic forms of equity financing for fast deal closing.
- Know different types of securities and instruments that you can offer to prospective investors
- Learn how to negotiate the key economic terms with bigger-ticket investors, which will work for your startup long-term.
- Learn how can you incentivize and compensate employees, contractors and advisors through equity compensation plans.
The First Lesson Explains it All
Lesson 22
PUT YOUR STARTUP'S
"HOUSE IN ORDER"
Learn the essentials of preparing your business properly for investment, including business, financial and legal due diligence matters.
Asking third parties to invest in your business is a bit like inviting someone to come stay in your home. It’s important to make sure you have things neat and tidy – that there’s no piles of dirty laundry, or broken glass on the floor, or, God forbid, unflushed toilets. Ugh…
If you are successful at convincing a prospective investor that your venture is an attractive opportunity, that is only the first step: you still need to get through the due diligence stage.
- Discover 3 ways exactly how to do due diligence.
- Get examples of exactly what investors are looking for in legal, financial, and business matters.
- Learn from real startup examples what can go wrong so you can avoid it.
The second video gives you the essential information on getting your house in order.
Lesson3
VENTURE FINANCE OFFER(S)
Learn what an investor-centric offer looks like to get your next investment round.
Most startup founders are familiar with the concept of “product/market fit” and it’s the same concept matching your business to an investor.
- Learn what finance source(s) will be best suited to your startup (e.g., FFF, crowdfunding, state sponsored entrepreneur funds, accelerators and incubators, angels, micro-VC, corporate venture capital, or traditional VC firms). Choosing the wrong source could complicate future finance rounds.
- Discover which geographic region you should choose (e.g. Silicon Valley, London, Berlin, Singapore, Shanghai) and why this matters to your investors.
- Prepare yourself to pitch to different types of investors in different circumstances. There's no "one size fits all."
Positioning your venture for success means understanding the motivations, investment methodologies and performance metrics for each type of investor. This video will show you how.
Lesson4
MARKET THE OFFER(S)
Learn the contents of the essential toolkit to help you find, approach and close your tech venture finance offering(s).
- You will find out where the fish (investors) are.
- Learn is it a good idea to employ a “fish finder?”
- Discover if you have professional advisors that are experienced in the art and if they can help you to move forward on this journey.
- Why and how to form an advisory board.
- Find out the fastest way to approach investors.
- Learn how to navigate the corporate and securities laws that regulate how and where you may go hunting and fishing for investors.
- Learn how you can attract any particular investor in the world if you know who he or she is.
All these topics and more are covered in the fourth video.
