Signaling Risk? How Early Startups Can Work Best With Big Funds
Signaling risk typically happens when a large fund comes into an early round, creating an expectation in the market that they will lead the next round. For instance, if a $1B firm puts in...
Hardware is Hard — 5 Practical Tips For Startups To Raise Successfully
You had a great idea. You built a great team. You know that hardware is a significant part of the product but also provides defensibility. Then why are you still hearing too many polite...
So My Startup Is Not Growing As Fast — 5 Practical Tips To Still...
Long sales cycle? Marketing got too expensive? Spent too much time fixing the product? There are so many reasons why things can take much longer than planned. In fact, our experience at Tau is that...
Closing Your Startup Round? 5 Practical Guidelines
Previous articles have talked about party rounds and keeping momentum in your fundraising. This one will focus specifically on the close, which ideally is a foregone conclusion but sometimes becomes the period of highest...
Have A Startup Idea? How To Raise A Pre Seed
The term pre seed has really become institutionalized in the last couple years, before that the idea / powerpoint stage wasn’t called by any other specific name. Let’s delve into definitions before 1) Definitions There is...
Your Startup Is Doing Great? 5 Ways To Optimize The Fundraise Further
Examples of previous articles: Raising A Bridge Round -- 3 Core Principles Insider Rounds -- the Good, the Bad and the Ugly How Best to Pitch to a VC The Art And Science of...
Going Crazy Managing A Fundraise? 5 Practical Guidelines For Entrepreneurs
At Tau Ventures we believe the fundraising process is always a bit broken -- it works for some startups some of the time but by and large it’s inefficient. While part of it is...
Fundraising Intermediaries? Why Entrepreneurs Don’t Do It, And Where It Still Makes Sense
When it comes to startup fundraising, using intermediaries is looked disfavorably in many if not most ecosystems. Three key reasons for this trend -- more investors around, technology has made coordination and communication increasingly...
Crowdfunding? 3 Principles For Entrepreneurs
Oculus. Glowforge. Flow. Exploding Kittens. Veronica Mars. Tile. The Coolest Cooler. BauBax. Fidget Cube. What do all of these companies have in common? They are all successful and started with crowdfunding -- the list...
Be a Better Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs always look for the right recipe to increase the odds of success. Steve Blank was probably one of the “recipe” pioneers as he started the lean startup movement. Before the lean movement, I would...
Pre-emptive round? 4 Ways To Decide How Startups Should Approach It
Someone wants to give you money before you start fundraising? When you still have cash in the bank? And you are getting a great valuation? Hurray! But while it’s almost always a good thing, there...
Virtual Fundraising For Startups — A Q&A
Q&A with Eileen Wu Raise Partners CEO and Sand Hill Network Co-Founder, Former CNN and CNBC Reporter/Producer Has virtual fundraising leveled the playing field for international founders? Is it easier now for international founders to...
Nitty-Gritty Details Will Make (or Kill) Your Valuations. Here’s Why.
Genius is in the details that other people skim. Answer me honestly. When’s the last time you bothered to read beyond the first line of a Terms and Conditions agreement or take the time to...
Fundraising is badly misunderstood
If there is one thing that most startups misunderstand entirely, that’s probably fundraising. Thus, they create their own mental image of what needs to be done to raise money successfully. After interacting with more...
Raising A Startup Round? How And When To Share Fundraising Updates
How long does it take to raise capital? Why am I not getting term sheets when other companies are? Is that investor really interested? These are among the most common questions entrepreneurs ask themselves and VCs. Rounds...
SAFE: Great (Esp For Entrepreneurs), As Long As Done Safely
Simple Agreement for Future Equity, or SAFE, is an increasingly popular instrument for fundraising especially at the earliest stages of a startup. SAFEs were really formalized by Y-Combinator in late 2013 (more on their...
What Is With All These Names And Numbers? 5 Major Ways In Which A...
So a VC is investing in you -- great news. But then you see a string of names and numbers in their investment vehicles and you wonder, what is really going on. This post...
Advisors In Your Startup? 4 Ways To Best Work With Them
Advisors, as the name says, can give advice that becomes the difference between success and failure for an entrepreneur. But beyond words advisors can also provide several other values: Credibility -- within your company...
Doing Deals Without Meeting In Person? 5 Guidelines For VCs And Entrepreneurs
Since covid hit the US six months ago VCs and entrepreneurs worldwide have had to adapt to the new reality of doing deals without meeting in person. Building trust is the challenge -- both...
Fundraising During A Pandemic? 4 Ways For Startups To Be Most Effective
The fundamentals of pitching a startup during a pandemic are no different than pitching in normal times. In fact, there is a strong argument for looking at the crisis as an opportunity to start...