Showing Traction at the Seed Level

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

At the seed stage, the product is just going into the market.

The customer engagement is beginning.

Here are some steps to show traction at the seed level:

Show signs of repeatability.

This can come in several forms as follows:

Customers are using the product repeatedly.

Show daily, weekly, and monthly active uses.

Customers are buying the product repeatedly.

Show the number of customers making repeat purchases.

Show a repeatable process for acquiring new customers.

This could be a sales funnel with a repeatable process for acquiring and closing.

Show partners providing leads repeatedly.

Show qualified leads coming from the sales funnel repeatedly.

Also, virality is a good measure at the seed level.

Show how many customers are referrals from existing customers.

This demonstrates that customers are happy with the product and tell others about it.

In short, the startup has business processes in place for acquiring and retaining customers, and it’s working.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

In this episode of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin welcomes Brian to discuss emerging opportunities in deep tech spaces. Brian emphasizes life sciences and healthcare technologies, highlighting investments needed to innovate and control costs. He points out the inefficiencies in the current healthcare system and the potential for AI-driven remote patient monitoring to shift care from hospitals to homes. Additionally, Brian identifies robotics, automation, and energy management technologies as other promising areas for deep tech advancements. The conversation also touches upon the commercialization of university innovations and proprietary IP management, shedding light on how startups can navigate these aspects effectively.

The discussion wraps up with Brian's views on the future of alternative energy, particularly the significant role nuclear technology might play amidst growing global energy demands. In the second part, we transition to Chris, who presents on ATE Technology, a FinTech company focused on collections and recovery software. Chris delves into the company's journey, market strategy, and future plans, emphasizing their growth and innovative solutions. ATE Technology has demonstrated strong revenue growth and proven products that address the needs of banks and credit unions. Chris explains how their SaaS-based solutions provide compliance and efficiency in managing disputes and collections, touching on the company's impressive client base and strategic partnerships.

The presentation also highlights the management team's extensive experience in the FinTech industry and outlines their plans for leveraging AI to further enhance their offerings. An engaging Q&A session follows, providing deeper insights into ATE Technology's business model, investment opportunities, and potential exits. The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to reach out for further discussions and explore potential collaborations.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

The MicroVC Pitchdeck

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

MicroVCs need to raise funding to invest in startups, just as startups need to raise funding for their own business.

For MicroVCs raising funding, consider these points in building the pitch deck:

Call out two to three trends in the market.

Highlight the insights to be gleaned from those trends.

State the investment thesis to show the criteria for investing in a startup.

Show the strength of the team and their ability to execute on the investment thesis.

Show the community the team has and how it helps them source deals.

Call out the resources the team has for vetting deals.

Demonstrate the competitive advantage the team has in winning the best startups.

Finally, show the track record from past investments by the team.

It helps to show a portfolio company as an example.

Include how the team found the deal and why the fund invested.

Call out why the startup chose to take funding from the MicroVC.

End with the value the team provided to the startup.

Investors care little about the general record of similar funds.

Each fund is unique, so the investor wants to know how this fund will be successful.

Include these elements in your MicroVC pitch deck.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Investor Access to Customers

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In the diligence process, investors may want to talk with the startups' customers.

Their goal is to determine how well the product works and how committed they are to the startup's solution.

This can be a sensitive topic for founders as their customer relationships are highly confidential and often kept close to the chest.

It’s best to have a few customers who will talk with investors and give them a positive review of the product and the company.

This can be accomplished by providing great service and, in some cases, an additional discount.

This can be a negotiated point between the founder and the customer.

The customer often asks for a discount, so the founder counters with an additional ask, such as taking interviews from prospective investors.

Keep the more sensitive customers off the list.

Also, make the customer interviews the last step in the diligence process.

The founder should continue the negotiations with the investor by indicating that if the customer passes the investor’s test, then the investor commits to funding.

This prevents too many investors from contacting the same customers with only a potential investment on the table.

Consider these steps in handling the investor interaction with the startups' customers.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

The CEO Leads the Fundraise

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In a fundraiser, the CEO should lead it by setting the strategy and engaging investors.

This doesn’t mean the CEO must do everything by themselves.

It does mean that the CEO does the pitching and investor follow-up.

CTOs and CFOs can be helpful, but not by pitching the investor.

The investor wants to hear from the CEO as they want to know more about them.

Can they communicate well?

Do they have a clear vision?

Do they know their business well enough to cite the growth numbers?

What is their story?

Do they have all the key elements lined up to be successful, such as a great team, a solid product, and a large target market?

Others can help in building the pitch deck, researching the investors, and lining up investor pitches.

Advisors and investors can help by making warm introductions to other investors.

They can coach on fundraising strategies.

They can also help make decisions around oversubscribing fundraising rounds and other key points.

Make sure the CEO is signed up to lead the fundraising round, but line up additional support throughout the process.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Non-Dilutive Funding Options

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup funding comes in two forms: dilutive and non-dilutive.

Equity funding is dilutive in that the fundraising reduces the ownership of the founders.

Debt is non-dilutive in that the fundraise doesn’t change the founders’ ownership.

Here’s a list of non-dilutive funding options.

Loans -- these tend to be short-term loans from a bank.

Grants -- these are most often acquired from government agencies that make grants to startups to foster innovation.

Rewards/prepay crowdfunding -- this generates funding for startups in the form of prepayment for a product to be delivered later.

Licensing -- funding comes in the form of licensing the technology to other companies who use the technology in their product.

Tax credits -- funding comes in the form of tax breaks, such as an angel tax credit offered by many states.

Factoring -- funding comes in the form of short-term loans for manufacturing the product.

Venture debt -- a form of loan that uses the startups' raised capital as collateral.

Subscription-based financing -- loans to startups with recurring revenue that use the subscription revenue as collateral.

Consider these non-dilutive funding options for your startup.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

When To Consider Venture Debt

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In startup funding, there is venture capital and venture debt.

Venture capital takes an equity stake in a startup in return for funding.

Venture debt makes a loan to the startup for that funding.

Both have their place in the startup ecosystem.

Venture capital comes in at the early stage of the business as the startup needs funding but has no revenue to pay it back.

Venture debt comes in at the later stage of the startup because the business has revenue with which to repay the funding.

Venture capital launches the business, but venture debt continues the growth.

As the startup grows from the early stage to the later stage, equity becomes worth a great deal more.

At the later stages, the founders calculate the value of their equity and compare that to the cost of a loan.

Dilution in the form of equity funding becomes expensive to the founders.

Founders turn to venture debt when the dilution from the funding costs more than the loan repayment.

Consider the use of venture debt in replacement of equity funding from venture capital for your fundraising.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

In this episode of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin, CEO of 10 Capital, introduces co-host Kat DeLillo and special guest Brian Wood of Wave Ventures. Brian delves into the innovative approach of Wave Ventures in partnering with universities to commercialize intellectual property. He shares the backstory of Wave Ventures' collaboration with Baylor University and how this partnership successfully accelerated the university's research status to R1 in record time. Brian outlines their unique model which allows Wave Ventures to hold over 80% equity in their startups, and how they strategically place business experts to guide these deep tech innovations from conception to market.

The discussion covers various successful projects, including advances in digital display technology, novel ventilator systems, and significant improvements in propeller design for drones and aircraft, all sourced from university partnerships. Brian also shares personal anecdotes about his unexpected journey into the venture capital space, highlighting his background in medicine and previous success in the entrepreneurial world.

This episode provides a comprehensive view of how Wave Ventures is not only financing the next generation of deep tech startups but also de-risking these investments to secure substantial returns. For more information on Wave Ventures' projects and their innovative investment strategies, stay tuned to Investor Connect. To engage with Wave Ventures and learn more about their upcoming initiatives, please visit their website and explore their wide range of high-potential startups transforming deep tech landscapes.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let’s go startup something today.

________________________________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.