#venture-capital

6 Tips for Startups Working with a Creative Agency
▻https://hackernoon.com/6-tips-for-startups-working-with-a-creative-agency-e24e9f85ba86?source=r

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6 Tips for Startups Managing Creative AgenciesHiring a big name #design agency is one of the perks of running a VC-funded #startup. It’s like a makeover montage from a romantic comedy — all the beauty inside your ugly duckling startup is finally revealed! But it’s also a risky investment.If someone on the founding team has a strong aesthetic sense and a good ear for brand voice, agencies are like steroids — an undisputed performance enhancer. However, it’s easy for more analytical teams to be bewitched by the honeyed words of account execs.One thing many founders fail to appreciate is that the best agencies are highly selective of their clients. The firm’s most famous work is often for flush with cash corporations that have a mature #marketing infrastructure to actually build the brand.The equally (...)

#venture-capital #entrepreneurship

Tech Tools for the Modern Family
▻https://hackernoon.com/tech-tools-for-the-modern-family-1809e6c89fda?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3

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How both B2B and B2C tech innovations are empowering today’s parents and childcare providersToday’s parenting landscape has evolved at a rapid pace. Compared to just a few decades ago, the makeup of the workforce is changing rapidly; the work participation rate for women with children under age 6 has grown significantly in the past 40 years, as has the percentage of families with children in which both parents work. Further, today’s parents, educators, employers, and children are living in a world that is increasingly tech-first.Parents — especially modern millennial parents — expect tech-forward, simple, and elegant solutions across all spheres of their lives, but particularly as they seek to raise the next generation.Though the parenting landscape and their accompanying expectations have (...)

#education #software #venture-capital #startup #technology

Esports : $1B teams ? (NBA in the 1980s)
▻https://hackernoon.com/esports-1b-teams-nba-in-the-1980s-b3ffcb54c4f7?source=rss----3a8144eabfe

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Today, every #nba team is worth over $1B (USD) and we believe that esports organizations could be worth the same, or more, in the near future. History is repeating itself, but much faster this time.After noticing the deals taking place with esports teams like Cloud9 raising $50M, TSM raising $37M, Team Liquid raising $25M, and the lucrative expansion fees for OWL franchises, it reminded us of what happened in the NBA in the 1980s. The investments in these esports teams and franchises are very similar to the prices paid for NBA franchises in the 1980s.The path to a $1B valuation will happen faster for esports organizations than it did for the NBA.Main Takeaways:1) Team transaction values are similar2) Expansion fees are similar3) Global viewership for esports will drive higher valuations (...)

#hackernoon-top-story #venture-capital #gaming #esport

2018 Stealth Capital Report: Tracking Hidden Billions
▻https://hackernoon.com/2018-stealth-capital-report-tracking-hidden-billions-39744c1f1726?source

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It should come as no surprise that investment in tech startups is booming. Early stage startups are on-pace to reach over $8 billion dollars of funding this year in 2018, while late stage startups are receiving over $70 billion.But what does this mean for startups in stealth? If you haven’t heard of a startup, does it even really exist? Are credible startups with real venture dollars remaining in stealth for longer as they build their technology?What we’ve seen at Brex is that the stealth startup economy is thriving. Brex has identified over $1.43B in stealth capital outstanding, with the vast majority raised in the last two years. These stealth startups make up 3–5% of the overall startup market. And some of the most high profile startups in Machine Learning, Autonomous Driving, and (...)

#stealth-capital #stealth-vc #venture-capital #stealth-capital-report #tracking-hidden-billions

#startup Aggregation Opportunities: Order Ahead & Contact Info / Social Graph Hub
▻https://hackernoon.com/startup-aggregation-opportunities-order-ahead-contact-info-social-graph-

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Just four months after my experiment of deleting every app from my phone for 30 days, I’m disappointed to admit that I’m back up to 70 apps. Although this is still 66 fewer than when I originally deleted everything, it’s still too many. Frankly, I’m a bit envious of the Chinese “Super-Apps” like WeChat, which aggregate messaging, ride-sharing, e-commerce, gaming, and more functions in one unified app. I don’t expect a U.S. version of the “super-app” to emerge anytime soon, as each of these functions serve as the focus of the most valuable U.S. #tech companies (Facebook / Apple, Uber / Lyft, Amazon, etc.). But as Jim Barksdale, the former CEO of Netscape famously stated, “there are only two ways to make money in business: One is to bundle; the other is unbundle.”In the mobile-app world, I think (...)

#startup-aggregation #venture-capital #startup-opportunities

Your pitch deck isn’t an application for financial aid
▻https://hackernoon.com/your-pitch-deck-isnt-an-application-for-financial-aid-fb36989b28ca?sourc

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By Joseph Flaherty, Director of Content & CommunityIf you’re pitching investors, one of the easiest ways to improve your deck is swapping out blank interstitial slides, or the dull logo cover slide, with pictures of your product in use or in context.Don’t think of your deck as an application for financial aid — a series of boxes to be dutifully filled out. Instead, conceive of your slides as a movie poster designed to draw in unsure viewers, who happen to have a nearly endless supply of alternatives to consider.To that end, most decks would benefit from more pictures. Don’t overdo it, but any title slides that are largely blank are good places to show off.If you make a consumer product, and it’s for sale at the Apple Store or Whole Foods, get a picture of it on the shelf. #ProudInvestor (...)

#venture-capital #business #startup #technology #entrepreneurship

Stripe valued at $23 billion and has no plans to IPO, says CEO
▻https://hackernoon.com/startup-grind-stripe-valued-at-23-billion-has-no-plans-to-ipo-says-ceo-8

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Startup Grind Event CoverageCollision discusses globalization of payments and his growing media empireStripe CEO John Collision opening keynote at #startup Grind GlobalStartup Grind Global kicked off this morning with opening remarks by Stripe CEO John Collision in conversation with Ashlee Vance of Bloomberg Businessweek. What follows is a summary of key insights shared:Been there, done that“People tend to think online already happened and everything that’s already been figured out has already occured, but in fact in a bunch of countries, there’s a very rapid rise in digital money. The dominant behaviors and methods are changing. Ali Pay and WePay came out of nowhere and payment players are now winning the market, in China in particular. When we started out and were pitching investors in 2010, (...)

#venture-capital #fintech #cryptocurrency #technology

STOs, ICOs, VCs: How do you know what fundraising method to choose for your #startup?
▻https://hackernoon.com/stos-icos-vcs-how-do-you-know-what-fundraising-method-to-choose-for-your

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2017 and 2018 has shown us that dramatically huge amounts of money have been raised through ICOs, more than $15 billion (based on icodata.io). And in Summer 2018, it even overtook Seed and Angel investments:(Source: coindesk.com, crunchbase.com)Given the numbers, it’s easy to see why startup founders should select ICO/STOs as their major source of fundraising. Following my #10kqachallenge (where I interview 10,000 experts in different niches: formula.geekforge.io) I asked VCs and crypto fund founders and executives about this question, and here’s how they answered:Andrew Knight — Fund Manager at invictuscapital.comLet’s start with a process of elimination. To run an ICO, your company first needs to have the right product and/or service offering that aligns with the utilization of a token (...)

#venture-capital #crowdfunding #initial-coin-offering #security-token-offering

Four words that could kill your #startup
▻https://hackernoon.com/four-words-that-could-kill-your-startup-f5726f787dcf?source=rss----3a814

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And seven sentences that can save it.By David Frankel, Managing Partner“We learned a lot.”When said to investors, this phrase is almost always a euphemism for “We’ve spent nearly all of our capital, don’t have traditional traction, but need more money.” Those four words will chill a VC’s soul — here’s what you should say if you’re running out of cash/time.“We’ve identified a specific customer”Sure, you might have flailed around in the process of finding a route to market, but now you’ve identified a specific person willing to pay. Not a category, not a company, but the individual that will write you a check.“This is what we’re going to build”You’ve lost the luxury of experimenting, growing slowly, you need to present a clear vision for the product that will turn your company around. You need to talk in terms (...)

#hackernoon-top-story #technology #venture-capital #entrepreneurship

The Basics of Customer Success
▻https://hackernoon.com/the-basics-of-customer-success-98279059c2c2?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3--

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After making a sale to a customer, you need to start the process of ensuring they stay a customer. Here are the basics of keeping customers happy and increasing revenue.OnboardingAs the builders of your own product, it’s easy to assume a customer will immediately know how to use your application. Unfortunately, the reality is often different. Here’s how to onboard a customer and prevent them from quickly churning:TacticsCustomer Training — Train all new customers. Lead the customer through a series of common tasks to ensure they know where to go and what to do. Initially, you should do this in person, but over time it should become more automated. For example, Duolingo, a language education app, has customers translate a few easy sentences before using the core app.Human Support — Be (...)

#customer-success #basics-customer-success #entrepreneurship #venture-capital

D2C 2.0: The Rise of Infrastructure
▻https://hackernoon.com/d2c-2-0-the-rise-of-infrastructure-d2172fdf59d4?source=rss----3a8144eabf

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Billions of dollars in venture capital have poured into direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands over the past ten years, funding hundreds of upstart brands challenging the incumbents in nearly every product category. These brands, once ignored by investors, are now raising multi-million dollar rounds pre-launch and recruiting top talent.There’s no question that there’s hype around the D2C space, but we’ve seen far less interest in the infrastructure that allows these brands to scale. D2C brands uniquely own every step of their production and distribution process — from product design to packaging to marketing to fulfillment. New brands can struggle to put all these pieces together, while established brands face challenges like figuring out how to serve an international audience and maintaining (...)

#venture-capital #startup #branding #hackernoon-top-story #entrepreneurship

Investing in Life’s Third Act
▻https://hackernoon.com/investing-in-lifes-third-act-4d25d3388dda?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

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Announcing Third Act VenturesI’m excited to announce the branding of my venture firm Third Act Ventures. This is the capstone of all of the research and work I’ve done over the past few years. It represents the boundless opportunities I see in developing technology to improve the lives of older adults.“Third Act” is a reference to the life stage the investments focus on. It’s what follows after life’s first two acts: childhood & adulthood. In the literary world the third act is commonly referred to as the “Resolution”, it’s where the story and subplots are all wrapped up nicely. We’ve moved past the setup and the action, now it’s time to tie everything up before the close. The End. But while that may have been true for our ancestors’ third act, rapid advances in technology and medicine have (...)

#startup #silvertech #investing-in-third-act #venture-capital #lifes-third-act

My Unconfiscatable Conference ReCap
▻https://hackernoon.com/my-unconfiscatable-conference-recap-77de8296a1c2?source=rss----3a8144eab

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I’m sitting at the airport in Las Vegas waiting on a 1:30am flight that will eventually land me somewhere on the east coast in 8 hours. I didn’t plan on it or anything, but as one of my 2019 resolutions was to write more, I figured I’d recap a bit of what went down in Vegas. I know I’m breaking the rules. What happens in Vegas is supposed to stay in Carson County, Nevada. But, I just came from a conference about sticking it to the man and I’m feeling unruly.Thursday, The #bitcoin Carnivory Club DinnerBCC MenuI didn’t know what to expect heading into this dinner. Many of the main VIP attendees and the host himself- Tone Vays, have exulted about dieting exclusively on the finest cattle the world can offer. Now, I love a good steak, but it was under my own impression, that I thought we were going (...)

#venture-capital #bitcoin-news #cryptocurrency #blockchain

My predictions for 2019 — tech, #investing and everything else
▻https://hackernoon.com/my-predictions-for-2019-tech-investing-and-everything-else-af081726edb8?

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My predictions for 2019 — tech, investing and everything else2018 was quite busy in the tech worldI was going through my predictions for 2018 and I was pretty close on some of them, while very wrong on a few as well.12 Predictions for Venture Capital in 2018This year I wanted to just list off a bunch of things I’ve been thinking about as they came up, I read about it or heard from friends. Happy to dive more into any topic if you’re interested but thought rapid fire might work better as our attention spans continue to shrink. In no particular order:We had a pretty nice IPO window in 2018 and I expect that to continue into 2019 with some of the bigger, higher valued unicorns finally hitting the public markets.Assuming some of them will IPO in H1, lockups will expire towards the end of the (...)

#startup #technology #venture-capital #entrepreneurship

Building a Market Model for Your #startup’s Product
▻https://hackernoon.com/building-a-market-model-for-your-startups-product-59943cf5b161?source=rs

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All successful startups have something in common — their product or service solves a problem or fills a business or retail consumer need. Thus an important part of identifying your startup’s space in the economy is understanding the market that you are targeting.This article is the first in a series examining how you can build a deeper understanding of your target market. From there, we’ll look at developing go-to-market strategies that will result in customer traction and ultimately drive the success of your startup.Defining a MarketA market definition is a set of characteristics that identify the group of businesses or consumers who would use your product or service, and could reasonably be expected to purchase the product or service within a given timeframe.The diagram below shows how (...)

#startup-market-model #venture-capital #market-model #modeling

Securing #startup Funding Top Tips from Eqvista CEO — Tomas Milar
▻https://hackernoon.com/securing-startup-funding-top-tips-from-eqvista-ceo-tomas-milar-af3da963d

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Securing Startup Funding Top Tips from Eqvista CEO — Tomas MilarNow that you have a billion-dollar idea that you have used to open a company with, what is the next thing you need? Well, the next step is to create a website, build/rent office space, hire a professional team, and obviously have some free-flowing cash that would help you pay the rent and the salaries easily at least. All this just means that you require capital. Regardless of the kind of business, every startup needs some amount of cash to actually get off the ground during the initial days.Image credits: Photo by Emilio Garcia on UnsplashToday I’m introducing you, Mr. Tomas Milar a serial entrepreneur and investor. As a founder of about 8 to 10 companies, Tomas is often asked by many entrepreneurs for tips on how to finding (...)

#angel-investors #tomas-milar #bootstrapping #venture-capital

15 Ways Stellar is Modernizing Global Financial Institutions
▻https://hackernoon.com/15-ways-stellar-is-modernizing-global-financial-institutions-96219c12b89

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I cringe every time I have to step into a bank. I dislike every aspect of the experience from the polluted lighting, long queues, lack of privacy, to their demeanor of probing why I want to access my money. It’s a nightmare, but that’s only a small part of the problem.The world’s current financial infrastructure is littered with inefficiencies that contribute to high transaction costs, slow money velocity, and lack of global inclusion. These gaps have curtailed growth of communities and leaves billions of people financially underserved. One of my favorite projects that solving these problems is the Stellar Foundation. They realize that society needs a worldwide financial network that is open to anyone, internet like speed and cost for money transfers, and ensures integrity of (...)

#blockchain #cryptocurrency #ethereum #bitcoin #venture-capital

5 trends to guide your #blockchain investment strategy
▻https://hackernoon.com/5-trends-to-guide-your-blockchain-investment-strategy-f93e274e44e3?sourc

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Blockchain Investment Strategy: 5 Market Shifts to MonitorHere are 5 blockchain sector movements to help you strategize your investment framework in 2019.#1 An increasing maturity level within blockchain development and adoptionAccording to Deloitte’s Global Blockchain Survey, 40% of Deloitte’s Global Blockchain Survey respondents reported that their organization will invest $5 million or more in blockchain initiatives in 2019. Traditional companies realize that blockchain technology can help disrupt current inefficient systems by optimizing their internal processes through blockchain’s reliability, speed, and transparency features. Thus, more traditional businesses will start working with this technology and the companies that offer blockchain solutions.What does this mean? This trend will (...)

#venture-capital #sto #fundraising #cryptocurrency

CES 2019 Show Guide
▻https://hackernoon.com/ces-2019-show-guide-45544bf1d853?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

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Talking refrigerators, flying taxis, supercute robots and more!Me hugging my favorite family robot last year, KeeckerThe Consumer Electronics Show aka CES is finally upon us, and for the 182,000 people about to descend upon the world’s largest #technology show, they’re in for a fun week. The show officially runs Tuesday, January 8 through Friday, January 11, but press begin arriving today to preview the hottest gadgets.Some mainstays are noticeably absent this year like Gibson who had a full roster of rock stars last year including Tommy Shaw of Styx and Iggy Azalea. It’s also not clear if anything is going to top Intel’s breathtaking reveal of drones hauntingly dropping down on the Bellagio fountains. It could very well be a quiet year where the major players sit this one out and leave room (...)

#venture-capital #blockchain #bitcoin #crypto

STO Market Outlook 2019
▻https://hackernoon.com/sto-market-outlook-2019-8d504732854a?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

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By Tatiana KoffmanIf 2017 was the year of the utility token, with ICO’s raising more than $5.6B, 2018 will be remembered as having paved the way for a new generation of security tokens. Issuers and investors continue to remain curious about the benefits of tokenization such as increased liquidity, fractional ownership, decreased issuance costs, innovative structures and greater pricing efficiency. After conducting an independent study of 130+ STOs currently on the market, the following are some trends forming for 2019.Market TrendsDeal Size: The current range of deals run from $2M for smaller equity fundraises for consumer tech companies to $1B for institutional venture capital deals.Industry: The vast majority of STOs are are happening in the Real Estate, Finance, Tech and Energy (...)

#sto-market-outlook #cryptocurrency #venture-capital #fundraising #blockchain

Top tech blogs & podcasts to follow in 2019
▻https://hackernoon.com/top-tech-blogs-podcasts-to-follow-in-2019-a78b77a84142?source=rss----3a8

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Curating a list of top blogs I read — because it’s a new year!Today we’re over-loaded with choice. Twitter posts, tech blogs, Medium posts, Instagram, Whatsapp status. It’s easy to spend your time across a lot of these mediums without learning anything substantial. Click, click & down the rabbit hole you go. Hence now more than ever it’s important to curate your #reading list.A lot of the blogs on this list reflect my active interests — consumer tech more specifically video, AR tech and finance. I’m also experimenting with using an RSS reader to read new posts regularly. Other than blogs I’m also adding podcasts a few podcasts. Please note the list isn’t ordered by my favorites though I’ve added a note for the best ones.Here are the top blogs I follow:Haresh Chawla (...)

#silicon-valley #technology #venture-capital

The Mall of Shame
▻https://hackernoon.com/the-mall-of-shame-5c9de67df34?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

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The Mall at Rockingham Park in Salem, NH is home to a million square feet of #retail and contains 144 stores, restaurants, and kiosks. It’s by no means the nicest mall in the country, but as recently as 2015, it was the top-grossing property by square foot in the Simon Properties Group portfolio thanks to its role as a sales tax sanctuary on the border with Massachusetts. Middle-class staples like Williams & Sonoma, Coach, Lush, and an Apple store (along with the obligatory food court Sbarro) help account for $1.8B in annual sales.But there’s an odd trend at work in this otherwise healthy-seeming cathedral of capitalism. Exquisitely fabricated sales fixtures are being replaced by slat board walls. Store logos that were once agonized over by creatives at Landor and Pentagram are being (...)

#entrepreneurship #startup #venture-capital #business

What I Learned from 71 Minutes with Brock Pierce [Interview]
▻https://hackernoon.com/brock-pierce-interview-tales-from-the-bitcoin-floor-e479693a49bd?source=

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2019 outlook, when a bear market is a good thingMy interview with Brock Pierce at CoinAgenda GlobalThere were close to 500 crypto conferences in 2018 and #blockchain billionaire Brock Pierce spoke at many of them. He was there at CoinAgenda Global until late, gathering the faithful around campfire-like tales. He was there at the NASDAQ Crypto Summit, hosted by Justin Wu and Chris Champion, rebutting playboy personality Dan Bilzerian on the merits of #bitcoin. Kicking off 2019, he’s going to be on my panel at CES next week for The Great Crypto Debate.He’s been so ubiquitous at the shows, I’ve been starting to feel like Rolling Stone reporter Cameron Crowe’s character in the cult classic, Almost Famous, an embedded journalist following the life and times of a rock star.Just last week, he gave (...)

#brock-pierce #cryptocurrency #venture-capital

The Mythical Million Dollar Run Rate
▻https://hackernoon.com/the-mythical-million-dollar-run-rate-cb0288a6eb31?source=rss----3a8144ea

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People obsess about college rankings, baseball stats, and other forms of numerology out of a natural human desire to simplify and bring order to their world. Seed stage startups often do this by fixating on a single revenue number — a million-dollar run rate.As far as round numbers go, a million dollars of annual revenue is a great sign of progress. Once upon a time, it really was a marker that made a meaningful difference in raising a Series A, but the imaginary milestone of $83K in MRR isn’t the ticket to a Series A that it was five years ago.Over the last half-decade, there’s been substantial inflation in round sizes, to the point where a Series A has the dimensions, and prerequisites, of what would have been closer to a Series B round 5 years ago. When evaluating decks, Series A (...)

#venture-capital #entrepreneurship #business #technology #startup

Investing in Bien-Être
▻https://hackernoon.com/investing-in-bien-%C3%AAtre-7b4af68a2a43?source=rss----3a8144eabfe3---4

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Backing Bien-ÊtreWhy there is a massive opportunity for next generation of companies to build around the #wellness-driven consumer.Photo by Meghan Holmes on UnsplashWe are living through a transformational cultural unbundling of consumer preferences in personal and professional contexts.From:One-size fits all brands, media, and retailers leveraging economies of scale for mass market exploitation.To:Global networks of niches and tastemaker-driven communities redefining the customer experience and creating entirely new systems of meaning for consumers.This new era — centered around the wellness-driven consumer is fundamentally reshaping and expanding addressable markets, creating massive opportunities for emerging companies building communities and experiences that improve human health, (...)

#wellness-driven-investing #wellness-driven-consumer #startup #venture-capital