So you want to be an Entrepreneur Blog » Fundraising http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog How to decide if starting a business is really for you Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:39:57 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 How *not* to send an intro email to investors! http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-not-to-send-an-intro-email-to-investors/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-not-to-send-an-intro-email-to-investors/#comments Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:09:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-not-to-send-an-intro-email-to-investors/ I often read Mark Cuban he has some really valuable insights for entrepreneurs.

When you are trying to hit up a potential investor you will only get one shot (if you are lucky enough to get hold of their…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-not-to-send-an-intro-email-to-investors/feed/ 0 Ron Conway and Paul Graham startup success data http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/#comments Mon, 02 Aug 2010 18:51:36 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/ I was watching Michael Arrington interviewing Ron Conway and Paul Graham and this is what I learned and also my own view after several startups of my own and those of friends.

So Ron’s very simple data from 500+

…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/ron-conway-and-paul-graham-startup-success-data/feed/ 2 Videocast: how to raise angel funding with Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/videocast-how-to-raise-angel-funding-with-jon-gillespie-brown/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/videocast-how-to-raise-angel-funding-with-jon-gillespie-brown/#comments Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:01:52 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/videocast-how-to-raise-angel-funding-with-jon-gillespie-brown/ Today I did a Videocast with StartupSchool, it was a one hour session with on how to raise angel funding. We had a lively discussion about many of the core things Startups need to know about Angel Investors…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/videocast-how-to-raise-angel-funding-with-jon-gillespie-brown/feed/ 0 Want an Angel Investment? this is the video 101 http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-an-angel-investment-this-is-the-video-101/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-an-angel-investment-this-is-the-video-101/#comments Fri, 04 Dec 2009 00:41:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-an-angel-investment-this-is-the-video-101/ I often get asked about how to raise Angel money and where to start. Well I have written a lot about this in the blog but personally I like learning from AV media more than blog…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/want-an-angel-investment-this-is-the-video-101/feed/ 0 Great lessons from an Angel Investor Matt Coffin http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/#comments Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:26:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/ This is one of the best videos I have ever watched to help startups see what makes sense in coming up with an idea and other great lessons, how to avoid building something no one cares about, what angels…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-lessons-from-an-angel-investor-matt-coffin/feed/ 1 How to find Angel Investors…the “smart” way! http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-find-angel-investorsthe-smart-way/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-find-angel-investorsthe-smart-way/#comments Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:33:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-find-angel-investorsthe-smart-way/ My friend Bob Karr, CEO, Link Silicon Valley, LLC is one smart cookie.

He regularly sends members of his website http://linksv.com very useful, timely and detailed information about funding transactions going on in the Valley.

This is…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-find-angel-investorsthe-smart-way/feed/ 0 Make sure your business plan gets read – build a “killer” exec summary http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/make-sure-your-business-plan-gets-read-build-a-killer-exec-summary/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/make-sure-your-business-plan-gets-read-build-a-killer-exec-summary/#comments Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:10:14 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/make-sure-your-business-plan-gets-read-build-a-killer-exec-summary/ Like most people I hate writing business plans, I want to get on with the business at hand rather than keep writing and re-writing lots of words about what I plan to do!

This must also be true for…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/make-sure-your-business-plan-gets-read-build-a-killer-exec-summary/feed/ 0 Need to raise a smaller VC round, say 1-2M, see this list http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/need-to-raise-a-smaller-vc-round-say-1-2m-see-this-list/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/need-to-raise-a-smaller-vc-round-say-1-2m-see-this-list/#comments Thu, 07 May 2009 19:54:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/need-to-raise-a-smaller-vc-round-say-1-2m-see-this-list/ I asked a friend Bill Romans to recommend to me smaller VC funds that like to offer smaller amounts of funding and are happy to work with $1-2M and variations around that level.

These guys are VCs but tend…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/need-to-raise-a-smaller-vc-round-say-1-2m-see-this-list/feed/ 0 Great advice on pitching VCs…common mistakes and how to avoid them http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-advice-on-pitching-vcscommon-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-advice-on-pitching-vcscommon-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/#comments Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:43:29 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-advice-on-pitching-vcscommon-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/ Tim Ferriss has had the foresight to ask some of the presenters at this years TiE conference (TiE’s annual conference on entrepreneurship, TiECON 2009 May 15/16) some very useful questions:

  • What is the best pitch meeting

…

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]]> http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/great-advice-on-pitching-vcscommon-mistakes-and-how-to-avoid-them/feed/ 0 How to write a winning elevator pitch http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-elevator-pitch/ http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-elevator-pitch/#comments Wed, 01 Apr 2009 03:59:00 +0000 Jon Gillespie-Brown http://www.tobeanentrepreneur.com/blog/how-to-write-a-winning-elevator-pitch/ Writing a good and punchy “elevator pitch” is way harder than most people think. Plus I find that I really need to teach this skill a lot with my Stanford and UC Berkeley MBA’s to help them both with…

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