Feel the Boot

You’re delivering your pitch deck ask slide wrong! What you should say instead.

Learn the right and wrong thing to ask for.

How to handle hard questions during your ask.

I was listening to several founders deliver their pitches. Most of them did their “ask” wrong and seriously damaged their chances of success.

In this episode, look at their mistakes and how they could improve this critical step in their pitches.

You need to understand the whole angel and VC investment process. You pitch to get the next meeting, not for an immediate investment in your startup.

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Escape the Startup Paradox 😬 MVP Without VC

Can’t Build Your Product Without Funding

But Can’t Get Funding Without a Product

In the newest episode of Feel the Boot, we're diving headfirst into the world of product development sans angel investment.

I provide strategies for startups to navigate the challenges of raising funding pre-MVP.

Consider the paradox that most startups face: they need money to build their product, but struggle to obtain funding without a product.

I lay out three strategies to overcome this challenge.

The first is to build a cheaper version of the product by using off-the-shelf tools and proving its success.

The second strategy is to validate the business by conducting interviews, surveys, and gathering evidence of customer interest.

The third strategy is to explore alternative funding sources beyond traditional equity investors like: friends and family, grants, partnerships, or bootstrapping.

By following one or more of these strategies, you can find alternative ways to build your minimum viable product (MVP), enabling you to progress towards your business objectives.

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Branding is far more than just a logo and color scheme.

Learn how to leverage both positioning and branding in your startup buisiness

In today's fiercely competitive business landscape, effective branding and positioning strategies are crucial for startups to stand out from the crowd. However, many founders underestimate the true scope and importance of these concepts. In this interview, we heard valuable insights from branding and positioning expert Mara Rada, shedding light on why these elements are vital for emerging companies. By understanding the multi-faceted nature of branding and the emotional factors that drive purchasing decisions, founders can create stronger connections with their target audience, ultimately leading to long-term growth and success.

In the interview, Mara mentioned a few resources that will help founders learn more about branding and positioning:

-       42Courses.com has many lessons on these and related topics.

-       Anything written by George Tannenbaum formerly with Ogilvy, and R/GA https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgetannenbaum/

-       Anything written by Manoj Jacob Creative Director at Crayons. Formerly at Ogilvy, DDB Mudra, Soho Square, & Havas https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacobwriter/

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Mara Rada is a feral thinker, a brand whisperer, and a category positioner. She helps companies create the beast brands of the future without selling their souls. She has worked with some of the world's most remarkable startups, Fortune 500 corporations, and the world’s best advertising agencies (Ogilvy). She is also a veteran public speaker and keynote presenter who talks about topics such as brand naming, category design, perceptual positioning, and nin-cliche-istic branding. She is the founder of FERAL, a strategic consultancy that specializes in untamed thinking and identity commercialization. Mara is not a guru and detests the word. Maybe as much as the dreaded “digital transformation”. But she sure knows how to transform lemons.

https://LinkedIn.com/in/mararada

https://ThinkFeral.com

How to create an angel investment portfolio for maximum returns.

Learn what drives the returns for your angel investments.

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Angel Investing 101 series: https://ftb.bz/angel

In episode, I delve into the economics of angel investing, emphasizing the need for a significant number of investments to increase the chances of success. Research shows that most angel investments result in losses or minimal returns, but a small percentage can yield substantial profits. To improve the likelihood of hitting those winners, you should make at least 20 angel investments. Diversification across different sectors is also crucial to mitigate risks associated with market fluctuations and sector-specific downturns.

I then discuss the importance of planning an investment budget. Startups typically prefer pre-seed investments of at least $25,000 to avoid numerous small investments on their cap table. For investors with smaller check sizes, you might explore options like crowdfunding or syndicates. Syndicates involve a lead investor selecting an investment, while crowdfunding platforms allow for lower minimum investment requirements, enabling diversification through multiple smaller investments.

Non-monetary Startup Rewards and Recognitions.

Eight employee incentives that work better than cash.

In this episode of "Feel the Boot: The Science of Startups," I, discuss seven highly effective motivators and rewards for employees that founders can use to attract and retain top talent. These motivators include having a strong vision, giving employees equity, providing public recognition, delegation and employee empowerment, giving personal attention, tailoring rewards to the individual, and unique “wow” rewards. I emphasize the importance of understanding what motivates individual employees, as what works for one may not work for another. I share two examples of "wow rewards" that have had a significant impact on employees, such as handmade plaques and giving solid gold coins to employees who have put in a "gold medal performance."

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How to quickly eliminate the losers,

and identify companies worthy of further due diligence.

As an angel investor, you will need to look at many startups.

This guide provides a framework for quickly analyzing deals to see if digging deeper is worth your time.

This is part of a series on Angel Investing https://ftb.bz/Angel

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Make a Quick First Cut

Is the Company Angel Investable?

Competition

Valuation

Problem/Solution Validation

Business Economics

Defensibility

Intellectual Property

Need for Additional Funding

What is There?

Churn

Assumption Validation

Is This Possible?

(bonus) Team

Non-Dilutive Fundraising 💰 SBIR Grants for Innovation

Get cash for your startup without giving up ownership.

Government grants can fund your development from idea to MVP and beyond.

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In this interview, Caroline Arzoo, Director of Partnerships at OmniSync, and I discusses the different options for funding a startup. She emphasizes that federal grants and contracts can be a great alternative to conventional angel and VC investment. However, she notes that the application process can be difficult, with over 80% of people who apply for federal funding on their own getting rejected for non-compliance. To help founders access non-dilutive funding, OmniSync has created an AI-powered platform that simplifies the process of finding and applying for federal funding.

In addition to federal grants and contracts, Caroline also suggests considering crowdfunding and pitch competitions as creative funding avenues.

She highlights the importance of community, transparency, and being open to change in order to navigate the complexities of growing a startup.

We also also touch on the emotional toll of the founder journey and the importance of building a support system.

Caroline Arzoo Bio:

Caroline Arzoo is a passionate advocate of innovation, supporting early-stage founders through her community-building work at OmniSync Inc and as a mentor for Founder Institute. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara’s Technology Management program, Caroline has supported hundreds of early-stage startups in accessing non-dilutive capital from the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.


In addition to her work supporting founders, Caroline also works to empower and build innovation ecosystems, partnering with universities, small business development centers, accelerators, and more to support their entrepreneurial initiatives.

Find her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinearzoo/

Check out OmniSync’s grant application tools at https://www.turbosbir.com/

Your earliest investors are probably unsophisticated.

You must help them understand how startup investing works.

When you are at the idea stage, almost no angel or VC investors will back you, but people who know and care about you might.

Unfortunately, this is usually all new and very confusing to them.

You must ensure they understand what they are doing and paint a realistic picture of the possible outcomes.

This video is for you, the founder. It explains your options for structuring the deal and how to communicate with them about this opportunity.

I created another video to share with your potential investors that tells them what they need to know. https://ftb.bz/friends-and-family-explainer

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💸Get Angel Investor Dealflow

You need to look at a lot of startups to find good investments

Learn several ways to uncover quality startups

Our Angel Investing 101 series teaches new Angel Investors how to invest in startups.

This episode focuses on Angel Investor dealflow. You need to source a lot of potential deals to identify those few worthy of investment.

Where to list yourself as an angel investors:

https://LinkedIn.com/

https://signal.nfx.com/

https://www.angellist.com/

https://www.crunchbase.com/hub/angel-investors

Syndicate sites:

https://AngelList.com

https://TheSyndicate.com

Crowd Funding Sites:

https://Wefunder.com

https://Republic.com

https://Seedinvest.com

https://Fundable.com

https://StartEngine.com

https://MicroVentures.com

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Who decides what between the board and shareholders?

How to handle the BoD and Shareholder meetings as a founder.

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In this episode, I explain the board of directors and shareholders roles and responsibilities.

Some votes require both groups to approve. Others are specific to the BoD or shareholders.

Running shareholder and board meetings as a startup is easier than you think.

Having those meetings is essential, even if you are the only participant!