Climb the Vertical Learning Curve
Founders need to master a huge number of skills and topics all while scrambling to keep their business running.
Feel the Boot is here to walk with you along the difficult and rewarding path you have chosen.
108. The Waiting Game: Why Pre-Seed Investors Delay and How to Speed Up Commitment
Why do investors play the waiting game, and how can you get them off the fence and committed earlier?
103. Better than TAM SAM SOM 🚀 startup market sizing
Every early-stage investor wants to hear about your market opportunity. How big can you plausibly get if everything goes well?
That usually means sharing your TAM, SAM, and SOM. But what are they, how do you calculate them, and are they really the best way of showing your market potential?
98. Startup Fundraising Facilitators 🐍 Surviving the Pit of Serpents!
Raising money from investors is a long, arduous process, so many founders seek help.
In response, a whole cadre of people specializing in that sprang up, often called fundraising facilitators. The problem is that most of them appear to be ineffective at best and harmful at worst.
97. Exposing the top reasons for angel investment pre-screen rejections
How demoralizing is spending hours on a pitch deck and associated materials only to get ghosted by the investor or receive an automated form rejection?
94. Escape the Startup Paradox 😬 Strategies for Funding Product Development
There's a paradox that impacts most startups early in their journeys. You can't make your product without money, and you can't get money without a product.
89. Non-Dilutive Startup Fundraising 💰 SBIR Grants for Innovation
In this interview, Caroline Arzoo, Director of Partnerships at OmniSync, and I discuss the different options for funding a startup, with a focus on non-dilutive funding.
88. Talking to friends and family about investing in your startup.
The first money you raise for your startup will probably be from people who already care about you and your success, your friends and family.
85. How venture capital kills startups ☠️
VC investment is a double-edged sword. It can launch your startup like a rocket, but it can also cause it to explode on the launch pad.
Learn how taking venture capital investments can destroy your company.
82. 📉Startup Fundraising in a Bear Market
When the economy gets rocky, raising funds for your startup is more challenging.
In this article, I show how to adapt your fundraising strategy and position your company for maximum success.
78. Investment Term Sheets: Explanations, Red Flags, and where to push back
Money from investors should fuel your startup's exponential growth. But a lousy term sheet can leave the company spluttering on the launch pad with nothing to show for all your hard work.
70. High valuations can demotivate employees and derail investment
Founders constantly strive to grow their companies and maximize their valuation. Unfortunately, sometimes a high valuation can hurt your company.
66. 💵 Pre-revenue startup funding: valuations & venture capital
If you're thinking about raising funds for your startup, you might be asking what your company worth right now, the pre-money valuation? I'm going to pull back the curtain and explain to you how investors look at valuing your startup.
61. Understand founder equity dilution and how your decisions impact what you keep.
Learn about dilution and how your ownership shrinks as you bring in investment. The decisions you make, and the terms you negotiate, can drastically alter your payout at exit.
56. Bootstrapping vs. VC funding: which is right for your startup?
Should you bootstrap your startup to greatness or take outside investment to accelerate your growth?
53. Virtual Pitching and Fundraising Over Zoom, What Founders Need to Know
Most investment pitching now happens over video conferences, so mastering remote fundraising is critical.
47. Ten Common Startup Fundraising Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
I see a ton of bad pitches. I want to share the top ten fundraising mistakes and how you can avoid them.
34. Iris Fujiura - Feel the Boot interview
Iris Fujiura, Chapter Lead of the Silicon Valley chapter of Golden Seeds, and an engineer/executive working on rockets and launch systems, provides great insight into angel investor priorities, and what makes for a successful funding pitch.
28. How to create financials for early stage pre-seed startups that will wow investors
When you talk to an investor, they expect you to show financial projections. How can you do that when you are pre-revenue?
23. Why are even successful startups and entrepreneurs having trouble raising their Series-A rounds?
Why are so many strong startups failing to raise their A-Rounds?
19. Raising Capital: Why you need more money than you think
When you are raising funds for your startup, one of the biggest questions is, “How much should I ask for?”
8. Pre-Seed Through A and Beyond: What are all those investment rounds?
What is the difference between pre-seed, seed, A, B, and C rounds?
6. How to get funding for your startup company - answering a viewer question
How to break through the logjam of startup fundraising.
4. Your Non Disclosure Agreement can poison the well for angel investment
Asking investors to sign your NDA before seeing your pitch will kill most deals. Why is that?
3. Are angels greedy to demand a massive 20X return on investment?
Why do angels & VC demand 20X or better returns? It all comes down to the economics of startup investing.