Startup Basics Archives | Anhelare Partners

Pitch Deck, Pitch Memo, Business Plan, … PPM?

What should you create? The old adage “know your audience” works well here, but this detail also infers knowing where your own business “fits” in the scheme of things. For any early stage technology startup – you’re pitching to Angels, Early Stage / Micro-VCs, and Incubators/Accelerators. Pitching outside that realm is probably a waste of…

InFundraising Startup Basics

What Numbers Are “Normal” In Fundraising

How long is a piece of string? Tough question to answer. That’s roughly similar for this question as well, but we can still weigh in and provide some guidance.

InFundraising Investment Startup Basics

Why Dilution Isn’t The Most Important Thing

Let’s get real – the one thing you want is success for your business. If you’re concerned about levels and end results of success, that’s a great problem to have. Success, especially if you’re reading this, probably requires fundraising. Throughout fundraising, you’re going to get diluted. Most likely, diluted below 50%. You’re going to report…

InStartup Basics

Hiring Founders and Employees

So you need help. Early on, you probably need Founders (“Co-founders” or “Cofounders”) for little to no pay. Most often, startups are looking for a “Technical Cofounder” aka a CTO. It’s pretty rare for the inverse to happen: a Technical Founder having a hard time finding a Business-focused Cofounder (skill set judgments aside). Let’s be…

InStartup Basics

Fast Followers and Moats

These are catch phrases we hear often, both talking about the concern of competition. A moat is basically protection, something that protects your business from having others enter it. Fast followers are those that.. well… follow you quickly, after you launch/start to gain popularity. Having something that you can consider a “moat” that stops “fast…

InStartup Basics Technology

What Qualifies as an MVP?

MVP means minimal viable product. “Minimal” leaves room for ambiguity, admittedly – but not much. The reality is, making the product work isn’t what investors care about – they care that the working product has a market. Ergo, pragmatically, an MVP should be the lowest possible viable product that can test and prove the product…

InStartup Basics

Incubator versus Accelerator

Let’s keep it simple: Incubator comes before Accelerator. Incubator: you’ve got an idea, you need help getting it off the ground. They help really early on. Accelerator: you’ve proven the idea, at least some, and you need help “accelerating” it. Office space providers are unfortunately calling themselves Incubators these days. Watch out for that. A…

InFundraising Startup Basics

Nebulous Fundraising Language

Honestly, this topic can take years to get a handle on. Worse, often “norms” and the meaning of words change from year to year or situation to situation. When you’re doing fundraising, you’re working with people who speak this language and make these deals every day. They can easily balance the pros/cons of various strategies…

Category: Startup Basics