Loading...
Answers
MenuI´m currently looking for a consultant who can support me in reaching out to investors to close our seed round this summer.
We´re a sustainable fashion e-commerce retailer based in Czech Republic and are now looking to expand to Austria and other European markets.
We are already registered on several platforms and have had a good response and a few investor meetings already but no deal closed just yet.
We have all required documentation and would therefore only be interested in the actual support of reaching out to business angels and VC´s. If you´re available for the task and think you have relevant contacts feel free to contact me.
Answers
I have helped more than 500 startups worldwide.I can help you in raising funds. Feel free to check the profile ratings.
#Founded first startup in year 2001 - 18 years of business experience.
#CEO of leading Startup Consulting Firm,
# Investment Banker - Angel Investment, A Series for startups.
# Startup Lawyer - Corporate legal matters.
#Full Stack Developer - Software Architecture Web/App
# Experience of AngelList - Connected to Angel Investors/VCs worldwide
# Mentor, Advisor & Consultant for Startups
# Author of Startup Easy - A Practical Guide
Featured on CNBC Young Turks, TiE the Knot, Startup Weekend & Startup Grind
I can't help you reach out to the investors directly, but I can give you some advice on the best approach, when to follow up, platforms for building investor list, tools for reaching out etc.
Feel free to schedule a call.
You can use LinkedIn to reach out to investors.
I am connected with many investors on LinkedIn. Just today the personal adviser to Kevin Harrington-Original Shark from ABCs Hit Show, Shark Tank connected with me.
Here is how it goes to find investors:
1. You define who you want to reach and where they should be located.
2. You optimize your LinkedIn profile so that it shows what you do and what is in for a potential investor.
3. You search for your ideal investor on LinkedIn.
4. Once connection has been accepted you start a dialogue.
5. If the person seems interested in what you have you make an appointment via Zoom or Skype or phone.
6. Talk with the potential investor and if all makes sense arrange a meeting in Prague or in their city.
The example above happened because I also publish videos on a regular basis.
I am happy to jump on a call and answer all your questions.
The first thing is what is your startup? What’s do you have? The pitch, the idea, the model, the team...in others no one unless they just want to get your mo eh can help you here blind about the startup.
So pitch the folks here first. If you’ve got something good, powerfully differentiated with protection, any kind of validation plus support in your ecosystem - not just prospects but their customers as well buying in, suppliers, etc..,, then it’s far easier to get help on resources.
Notice what I said - resources. Do not ever make the assumption to go by the book. That’s wrong. The best ideas almost always attract resources - sponsoring cash, facilities, research, supply and prospect support, customers customer support. Many times you can go very far without ever needing to raise formal capital and especially from angels or VCs. The more you need that the sooner, the more likely you are less validated, not vetted or that you are inna complex, longer time and resource intensive venture.
To the former, in manufacturing, devices and materials and allied services across medical, CPG and industrial markets, we help with the finer strategy, the deals and the appropriate reach through to connections, pitching, planning and formal if needed fundraising and debt financing.
Related Questions
-
As a startup, is it better to find a way to pay for services (i.e. design) or trade equity for it?
Before I get to your question, let me give you a tip: always aim settle questions of payment before the work happens. It is ten times easier to agree on a price beforehand, and having done that doesn't stop you from changing it by mutual agreement later. The problem with paying cash is pretty obvious: you don't have a lot of it. The problems with paying equity are subtler. The first one is that early-stage equity is extremely hard to value. A second is that equity transactions require a lot of paperwork. Third is that entrepreneurs tend to value their equity much higher than other people would; if not, they wouldn't be starting the company. And fourth, people like designers are rarely expert in valuing businesses or the customs of of startup equity valuation. In the past, I've both given and received equity compensation, and it's a lot more of a pain than I expected. In the future, what I think I'd try is convertible debt. That is, I'd talk with the designer and agree on a fair-market wage. E.g. 100 hours x $100/hr = $10k. The next time we take investment, the $10k turns into stock at whatever price we agree with our investors, plus a discount because he was in before the investors. Note, though, that this will increase your legal costs and your deal complexity, so I'd personally only do this for a pretty significant amount of work. And I'd only do it for somebody I trusted and respected enough to have them around for the life of my business.WP
-
Where could I find a list of the top 100 VC firms in Silicon Valley?
I actually created a list when I was raising capital for my startup. Hope it is of use, I visited at least 1/2 of them so happy to give any directions on how to approach them. http://blog.tareasplus.com/100-fondos-de-capital-de-riesgo-en-silicon-valley/ Happy to jump on a call :)HJ
-
How much dilution should I expect when raising a super angel round for 700k?
Im an investor and advisor. As many people as you ask, you will get different answers. The best and most successful way to raise capital is to start with people you know, aka friends and family. If friends and family are insufficient as they often are, then you need to find angels. If you dont know anyone, network. They arent hard to find. It might be a good idea to find a few prominent local people to serve as advisors and get their help in raising money. The worst part about raising money is that it almost always deflects from running the business. If you want to discuss this further, Im available.AC
-
Is it possible to hire a marketing agency with equity?
Hello! This is a very good question, my name is Humberto Valle, and I'm the founder of www.Unthink.me a small globally known inbound marketing agency. We have helped many tech-related companies such as Software Developers who work on equity as well as traditional payments. For our marketing agency, we have also taken equity in combination of 'cash' payment. So yes, there are many opportunities for startups to hire or partner with an individual or agency on equity. The trick, I would assume is where in your lifecycle do you approach someone to work with you/for you for equity promise? At the end of the day, marketing agencies are not a hail mary approach to growing or making a company sustainable - its all about management and strategic market fits - if your plan is to hire an agency to have them do what you want, you may not find anyone who would be interested, possibly not even for payment. It is very understandable that you want to save your burn rate but you have to be respectful of someone's skillset - for example you mentioned doing 75% equity and the rest based on results - so commission? A good established marketing agency is not in the business of a startup, so unless they have a CEO who gets distracted, any good leader will not take on 'external opportunities' from what they are doing right now - aka a marketing agency won't work on hopes and dreams - which is what this is right now. As a business owner, startup entrepreneur and leder of your team you have to make critical decisions and hiring and spending on marketing is one of them. For example, I would consider myself to be globally recognized ( not a lot but decently enough) on topics that revolve around marketing strategies - my suggestion to you would be to look into marketing agencies and hire them directly while you are also focusing your expertise (is it manufacturing? logistics? sales? what is it? focus on that and outsource/partner the rest such as for example you could look for an existing expert in cosmetic distribution or connections at some of the larger retailers, give them that structure (% equity + commission %) butkeep that that equity to a minimum (don't offer, ask for them to value their own worth and negotiate from there)HV
-
How does one raise funds for a business subsidiary without selling ownership of the "brand" identity?
In my experience, every step you take to complicate your company's structure and ownership rights reduces the likelihood of investors providing your venture with seed funding. To attract seed funding, investors expect a single-minded laser focus on the entrepreneurs' assessment of his or her best path to validating their business and growing it into a very large business as quickly as possible. So the very idea that you are reliant or considering taking multiple paths to success is likely to act as a red flag for most experienced early-stage tech investors. Also, until there is significant traction achieved, an investor is expecting to own everything generated by the business. There are rare occasions where a particular asset, brand, domain or other component of the business can be spun-out (usually in the case where it's a distraction from the core business but there's inbound demand from a buyer), but when I say rare, I mean this happens so infrequently that it's not anything that should be reasonably expected in the course of planning. Speaking candidly, this entire strategy creates a perception (accurate or unfair) that you are undecided on a number of the key questions you need to be sure of before you have a good chance of raising seed funding. I'd be happy to talk to you about what you're doing and help provide some clarity based on what I hear. I encourage you to review my references as I have been helpful to many other Clarity members on these types of issues.TW
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.