Does Your Startup Idea have a Fatal Flaw?
One of the weekly components of the Founder Institute Semester is the “Hot Seat”. Where founders have a chance to pitch their idea/company to the three mentors plus the local Director. During the Hotseat sessions for some Founders in Bogotá Columbia, I was watching as one of the Founders was having a challenge taking feedback
Read MoreWhen is Late to Market Really Too Late to Market?
I recently had the chance to host a group of mentors for office hours @StartupRiot in Seattle – Thanks to Jimmy Kwan at Turnstone for providing the furniture, it was the best the Bar at Showbox Soho has ever looked! We accepted applications from over 41 companies that requested office hours for Founder Institute Mentors.
Read MoreWhat is Fair Market Value for a Startup
Selling a company can be a lot like selling a unique car – it’s only worth what the buyer will pay for it. That also means that your company may not be worth what you want the company to be worth. Here are the approaches to traditional valuation methods. Asset approach Income approach Market approach
Read MoreDo’s and Don’ts of Pitching Your Company?
I was guest Judge for at an event two nights ago for the Northwest Entrepreneur Network NWEN, called Pub Night. There were five companies there at the event and they were provided three minutes for a pitch, plus Q&A from me and the audience. There was a Founder Institute Grad, Cadence MD, formerly Cech Systems.
Read MoreInterviewing a Co-Founder
The success of a startup is highly dependent on the team of people involved. In fact, most investors, both Angels and VCs, place a higher priority on the team then they do on the idea. Why? Well it’s likely that you’re going to pivot your idea away from what you initially expected and into a
Read MoreFacebook IPO Infographic – Can Facebook beat Google?
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Read MoreNavigating the Seattle Startup Ecosystem
Entrepreneurs create their own ecosystem in any city. There are both a good side and a bad side to the ecosystem, individuals, organizations and institutions. If your startup is going to be a success, you need to start networking and you need to do it earlier rather than later. Let’s start with the good side!
Read MoreARGH! What do I do with Conflicting Mentor Feedback!?!
I love it when mentors disagree with other mentors in front of the Founders at Founder Institute! It gives the Founders a chance to see how, or if, the Mentors will deal with the conflicting statements in the moment – or if the mentors just let it pass and let the Founder figure out how
Read MoreB2B Sales Models for Startups
In a past post, I’ve referenced the 13 B2C internet models using Steven Carpenter’s Tech Crunch article, which provides benchmark data for Internet B2C Companies, specifically the benchmark assumptions to get to $10M in revenue for the top 13 consumer internet models. Last week I did the Revenue, Cost and Profit Sessions for the Founder
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