Author: Jay Bigelow

When we ran an entrepreneurs bootcamp called Fastrac® Tech Venture™, we had one module on finances.  It was often one of the liveliest conversations and pragmatically useful sessions. We would share a cash-based method of managing the startup finances.  This is not to be confused with accounting (also important but a different view of measuring […]

Every year we host one of the largest  pitch events in the southeast at Venture Connect, March 17-19. 100+ companies get on stage to share their story to hundreds of potential investors hoping to connect with the 3-5 that may actually invest in a company in their sector and at their stage. In addition, we […]

Fall is often known as the season of plenty… for me, it was the month of plenty events for entrepreneurs. Last week I went to 4 (and probably said no to several more). Monday was a local angel group monthly company pitch.   We are blessed to have 6 formal angel groups here, plus several […]

On October 10th I attended Demo Day of the 2nd cohort of MetLife Digital Accelerator powered by Techstars. I don’t believe that this well-run global accelerator program gets the exposure and recognition it deserves locally but today’s post is just about the pitches themselves. Big pitch events like this one, this week’s Venture Atlanta or  CED Venture Connect Summit are designed to […]

As I have written before, raising equity capital is hard and not for everyone. The first round after your friends, family and fools’ round is really hard if you haven’t done it before or don’t have a high net worth network. For most companies who need to raise capital, the first money in will come from angel investors. But angel investors are not a homogenous bunch.

In Part I of this series I outlined why your seed stage company may not be investable (and some alternatives if it’s not). In Part II, I’ll look at why venture capital firms may not find your company backable.