Our latest cohort received our new and improved FounderFuel deal: $50K for 9% equity. What did we hope they’d do with those extra resources? Move faster. Grow faster. We wanted our teams to have the resources to bring people on board to help them make it all happen, faster than ever before. And they have been.
How to hire the best talent out there? OnlineMBA had a few tips on how successful startups hire–check out their short video and start taking notes!
Anyone who’s walked around Notman can tell that it’s taken a bootstrapped approach to décor. Most of our furniture is second hand, which we combine with a touch of colour thanks to IKEA. What’s important is that we’ve created a great Notman culture with our décor—it just wouldn’t be the same without the old-meets-new feel in the café.
Decorating an office can be pricey, but there are many options for making your startup’s office easy on the eyes and, most of all, something for your whole team to take part in and be proud of.
Mashable came up with some really cool ideas on how to decorate your startup office space (and we added a few of our own!)
Paint a mural. After visiting Shopify’s new office space, we saw how much a mural can vamp up a space. Their events room has several murals in it and in the hallways leading up to it and they really add colour and personality. Find a local artist or art student to paint a mural in your office!
Get your name up. Putting your company’s name in a window where outsiders can see it will increase both your visibility and your street cred. People will walk by and look you up; they might even stop in to ask you what you’re all about. What better way to get to know your customers?
Posters are a great way to add colour to your walls. Buy some at a local art store or print some photos (maybe you have a closet photographer on your team?) and slap ‘em on the walls. Photos of your team are cool too, as they give a sense of being a part of a family.
Wall of fame. Get a handprint on canvas or in clay from your investors or mentors. This will be a constant reminder that people believe in you and that you have an amazing support system. And it’s a fun excuse to hang out with your investors or mentors (make an event out of it if you’d like—like Fu Man Chu’s walk of fame!).
Have an employee art day—and then showcase it! Whether it’s fingerpainting, water balloon painting, or having the team blindly sketch different parts of your building or city, team art can bring lots of laughs and add some character to your offices.
Blackboard paint is a fun alternative to whiteboards—paint a wall with blackboard paint and set up a schedule for team members to craft their masterpieces on it every couple of weeks. This will let them get their creative juices flowing and add a touch of personality to your space!
Today we are ONE MONTH away from Demo Day.
On Thursday, July 11th, the 9 teams of the Summer 2013 Cohort will pitch at the historic Rialto Theatre.
Tickets are on sale, but you’d better act fast because they’re selling quickly! Hurry up and register here.
*Proceeds from ticket sales will go towards buying a new projection system for Notman House.
Startups are popping up on the horizon at the rate that boy bands are making a comeback. Unfortunately, investments aren’t popping up at the same rate. The reality of the matter is, investors will say “no” more than they will say “yes” to companies looking to get funded. In his TechChrunch article on “The Anatomy Of A Pass, A Quantitative Analysis On Why A VC Passes,” Jay Jamison, a partner at Blue Run Ventures, looks at his experience and shares the numbers that he’s put together to explain why VCs pass on investments.
He looked at all companies he met for a pitch in person or over the phone for just over a year, over 200 companies, and rated them based on traction, market, team, product and term sheet. In a nutshell, this is what he found:
i. 2% of companies pitching me get an agreement for a term sheet for investment. Note that a term sheet does not always result in a closed investment from us. I don’t win them all, sadly.
ii. 50% of companies were pitching mobile-centric or mobile-first offerings, which maps to our core focus area as investors at BlueRun.
iii. 100% of companies pitching me that received an agreement for a term sheet for investment were pitching mobile-centric or mobile-first offerings.
Then he breaks down his criteria:
1. “Team and Market are by far the two most important factors in gaining a term sheet”
2. “Traction speaks louder than words”
3. “Investor fit matters a lot.”
One thing is for sure, even for this glass-half-full investor: fundraising is hard, and so is building a company.
Today Brian Kobus from Summerhill Ventures stopped by to chat with the teams about going beyond Series A (wait, there’s more to life than a Series A round?!).
There’s a lot of talk these days about raising rounds, pitching VCs, accelerators, and everything in between, but all of this emphasis is useless if startups aren’t creating valuable businesses–something which many people lose focus on when trying to raise a round. Raising capital is just one step on the longer road towards creating a market-leading company. Here are some of Brian’s top tips:
1. As you grow your company, you’re going to go from being a Co-Founder to an Executive. The way you spend your time will change significantly, and you should be ready for this.
2. Your Board is an integral part of your startup: they are a part of your team, should be kept up to speed, never lied to, and always leveraged for who they are and what they can bring to your business. You’re all in it for the long haul, will become references for one another, and you should never lose sight of the fact that you’re all in the same boat!
3. Hiring will gradually become a process that will take up LOTS of your time, since finding the right people and convincing them to work for you takes time and effort…but don’t forget that this is the most important part of your job! Identify the people you want to work with and get close to them so that when you want to hire them it’s not a headache or wild goose chase.
4. Culture, culture, culture! It might not be at the forefront of your worries pre-seed, but when your company gets to 50 people, culture becomes something you need to think about and put effort into. Make sure that your views of the company’s culture are in line with the guy who started a few weeks ago. Also, don’t forget that people are coming to your company because you inspired them. They’re there because they believe in you and your vision–if you’re not inspiring them, they’ll leave.
5. It’s so important to define your market. Articulate your vision for the market space that you are going to dominate, it impacts how customers, analysts, investors, partners and acquirers see you–use the right words so that they understand (and keep in mind that these words might change!).
6. Startups live financing to financing, so be ready for the efforts it will take to raise follow-on capital. Focus on the investors, not the valuations, when you’re raising a round. What an investor brings to the table is much more valuable that what dollar value they give your company. Choosing an investor that can get you to your goal valuation (and beyond!) is much more important than choosing the investor that gives you your goal valuation off the bat but nothing more.
7. Get other people to sell your product and build great references. Then your product will sell itself.
8. Growth is the key valuation driver: the faster you’re growing, the greater multiple of revenue an acquirer can pay for you!
9. Exits come in all shapes and sizes, from acquahires to defensive moves to get you out of the race. Know where you are in the race to know what to expect in terms of an exit!
10. Finally: always remember to listen, learn and trust your gut!
Today we bring you an infographic from FastCompany, with some wise words from Mark Wilson. Turns out design ain’t as easy as it may seem.
“To think any designer could be an expert in each of these circles is sheer absurdity, but to recognize that every end user is an expert in each of these circles is highly important. As humans and end users, we might not know what makes an experience right, but we certainly know when it’s wrong.”
Ok, maybe not a thousand, but VentureBeat put together a list of 25 Things Investors Say When Rejecting Your Startup. With our Summer 2013 Cohort just about to go out looking to raise their seed rounds, we thought it would be appropriate to list the ways people will say no. Here’s what guest author Brian Witlin had to share from his and his friends’ experiences:
General Lack of Interest or Uncertainty
No response
We don’t see this as a fit at this time (the classic non-answer)
I was regrettably unable to get it over the finish line with my partners.
We are hesitant to invest as the lead, but keep us informed if you get a lead term sheet.
I’m unsure on this one. Let me set you up with one of our associates who has more expertise in this area.
Bandwidth
I am currently overwhelmed at the moment, and can’t spend the time pursuing this any further.
Competitive
We see this being competitive to one of our portfolio companies.
We have concerns that there are not strong competitive barriers to prevent others from doing what you are doing.
Market Thesis
We want to see how [insert portfolio company] plays out before we invest again in this space.
This space is too fragmented at this point for us to see a clear cut winner.
We don’t currently have a thesis on this space yet, and therefore are going to need to pass.
Firm Fit
We tend to invest locally, and you are located too far away.
You are slightly too early for our firm and we can’t see around the curve yet.
You are slightly too late for our firm at this time as we invest earlier stage.
We would invest if you had a local lead investor.
We don’t have more room in the current fund to invest.
Product Market Fit
I just don’t see people doing [insert primary action of your app] as a mainstream activity.
We would be more interested if you included [insert random feature/technology] in your product.
Distribution and Market Traction
We don’t see a clear path to cost effective user acquisition for your company.
We would like to see more months of [insert metric] before we feel comfortable moving forward.
Monetization
We are unsure of your business model and will need to see more proof points before we feel comfortable.
Your market isn’t big enough.
Team
We will feel more comfortable if you have added a/team of [insert hire(s)] to your team. There is too much team risk in this competitive environment.
Company Structure
We don’t like the cap structure of the company.
Other
I left the firm and therefore cannot make investments on behalf of [insert firm] anymore but you should check out my new venture! It is so cool.
Or, as John Stokes would put it, “It ain’t gonna happen.”
Festival season is upon Montreal!
The International Startup Festival is just over a month away and we can’t wait! Startups, investors, enthusiasts, and Dave McClure getting everyone to flick each other off (check out the deck from his keynote here)–all under the Montreal sun in Old Port–so exciting!
To add to the excitement, our Demo Day will be taking place on the evening of Thursday, July 11th…smack dab in the middle of the Festival.
Tickets are already on sale for both events, but you can get an early bird special on Startup Festival tickets here (Demo Day tickets will stay at $5.00 apiece!). Hurry before the special ends!
We hope to see you all there!
No need for much of a setup here. Just watch and enjoy!
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