I re-learned a lesson about US securities law as I worked to launch The Funding Coach podcast. When you talk about your fundraising in a public forum, it may be considered “general solicitation” under SEC rules. I’ll...
Category - Equity
Don Gooding
Don’t Bury The Lede In Your Startup Pitch
I recently coached four startups on their final accelerator pitch, and I had to tell two of them the old newspaper editor’s advice: don’t bury the lede. So what’s that mean? Back when newspapers were the primary way...
General Magic and The Visionary’s Curse: Right… But Early
Legendary Silicon Valley failure General Magic sits at the center of a new documentary that a Forbes review describes as full of “life lessons” for inventors. I’d describe General Magic as the poster child for what I’ve...
How Much Should I Raise? Include A Cushion If You Can – The Funding Coach
I spoke with a bootstrapping entrepreneur who is thinking about raising equity to keep his explosive growth going. I asked a bunch of questions to help him come up with a dollar figure to raise from angel investors, who...
The Equity Fork In The Road [meme]
In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it!” I’ve often spoken about raising equity as a fork in the road for startups. Why is that? Because almost all angel...
What Is A Seed Round, And Is That What You’re Looking For?
You may have read the phrase “Seed Round” and wondered: what does that really mean? And if I’m looking for startup funding, is that what I should tell investors I’m looking for? We’re going to break it down for you, and...
Top 7 Reasons For Startup Funding Fail
Most funding attempts by young companies fail, no matter what type of business funding they are trying to get. That’s true for business credit cards, trade credit, commercial bank loans with or without SBA guarantees...
US ICO Market Slammed Shut By SEC
In 2017 a small number of cryptocurrency Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) raised billions of dollars around the globe. This happened as Bitcoin, the most well-known “brand” of cryptocurrency, soared in price...
Should You Invest In Marketing To Long Term Customers?
I just met with a company that wants to raise equity to invest in marketing. The B2B services company founder thought they were ready. I soon found out they are not. The biggest issue for them is fundamental to any...
Money often costs too much [meme]
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was an American essayist, philosopher, poet and lecturer. This oft-repeated quote of his is a mere snippet of a very long essay on “Wealth,” which in turn is one of nine essays in his...
