Seed Capital
Watch Out for Dodgy Seed Capital Raising Fees
As many of you know, I’m not really a fan of using money middle-men to raise seed capital or any capital for that matter. Capital raising should always be the responsibility of a senior team member who hopefully has connections. When you hand over this key function to outsiders the results are rarely good.
These days the lone “middle-man” is often replaced by a group such as an angel investor club. The problem here is that these groups tend to create overhead that then needs to be covered. Moreover some are for-profit. This can lead to a Ticketmaster-style cascade of fees. Some well-know entrepreneurs are now leading a charge against groups that overcharge cash-starved entrepreneurs for the simple opportunity to present. Continue reading
Linkedin’s Reid Hoffman, the man with the true Midas Touch, talks about raising capital and how to succeed in today’s world as an entrepreneur. Continue reading
Be Honest: Are You a Blanche DuBois Type Entrepreneur?
I have always depended on the kindness of strangers. – Blanche DuBois, A Streetcar Named Desire
Let’s take a look at the main differences between true entrepreneurs and the Blanche DuBois type wannabes.
Are you a Blanche Dubois entrepreneur?
True entrepreneurs are very resourceful by nature. Once they make the decision to proceed with a new venture they immediately shift their focus to how they can move forward with whatever resources happen to be at hand. One of the reasons that they are able to start making progress immediately is because there’s always something you can do to move forward. Always. You just have to be on the lookout for it.
In contrast, the Blanche DuBois entrepreneurial wannabes come up with an idea, maybe write a business plan and estimate of how much money they will need to implement it, and then sit down and wait and wait and wait some more for a kind stranger to come along and drop $50k, $500k, or $5 million into their laps.
