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Welcome to Phase One of a four-part Funding Series:

Phase One - Structuring a Fundraise

• Part 1 - Startup Bootstrapping ( ←YOU ARE HERE 😀)

• Part 2 - Debt as Startup Capital

• Part 3 - Equity Funding for Startups

• Part 4 - Convertible Debt

Phase Two - Investor Selection

Phase Three - The Pitch

Phase Four - Investor Outreach

We are excited to guide you on your funding journey. Let's dive in!

Bootstrapping involves all sorts of capital — friends and family, your personal savings, crowdfunding, and of course the ever-popular "sweat equity" (getting people to work for stock in your company).

Bootstrap Meaning

Contrary to what many believe, most businesses don't get started by way of a big investment from some deep-pocketed investor. Most businesses get started ...

If the depictions of startups in popular culture are to be believed, working for a startup is basically like hanging out in a clean version of a frat house basement. There are pool tables; ping pong tables; kegs that you can drink whenever you want! There are communal workspaces, free food and nap spaces. We have Nerf gun fights spontaneously every day!

And while some of that is true, sometimes — go check out Airbnb’s office in San Francisco for an amazing example of what can be done with startup unicorn money — the reality of working at a startup is a bit more… complicated.

“I’ve worked for a few startups now (Zirtual Inc. [pre-acquisition] for three years, WeWork for six months, and TrendKite presently for over a year),” Kristopher Louie...

Brian Chesky’s dad wasn’t thrilled he had decided to go to art school. Chesky promised him he would not move back home to live in their basement, and that when he was done, he’d get a real job with health care benefits.

And he did. But at age 22 he was overcome by a “weird feeling of mortality.” A sense of “this is my life”: Commuting in LA traffic alone to a job in a design company. It was a let down after he’d started to believe the high-minded rhetoric from Rhode Island School of Design that designers could “design the world around them.”

He quit that job, rolled up a foam bed into his crappy Honda Civic and moved in with his old design pal Joe Gebbia in San Francisco. In a bid to pay rent, they opened up their home to attendees of a des...

Before GirlBoss was a book or a Netflix show or a hashtag, Sophia Amoruso was running NastyGal and reticent to even sit on stage and be interviewed. She finally relented, and this was one of the first she’d ever done.

This interview was situated almost exactly between a five-year, almost effortless success story of growth, and a five-year slog that ultimately ended in bankruptcy.

But while NastyGal ultimately didn’t work, Amoruso continues to find ways to productize her unique attitude, style and eye. In addition to executive producing the Netflix show based on her life, she’s recently launched a media company for women called GirlBoss Media.

I have mixed feelings on the show and the direction of her media company, as a woman who doesn’t pa...

Startups are an excellent way to make money — for everyone else.

We all love hearing the story about that super-successful Founder who made a billion dollars growing their startup. Those legends fuel the myth that we "rank and file" Founders must also be swimming in our Scrooge McDuck vaults of cash.

Yet, I speak to thousands of Founders and if there's one common thread when it comes to money — it's that most of them are beyond broke!

So how is it that we can spend so much time building a wealth engine that doesn't actually provide any wealth for us? Where is all that money going anyway?

"Back of the Line, Pal!"

The problem starts with us. When we launch our startup, we're wildly resource-constrained, so we start off by sacrificing our own ...

The value of a startup should be judged by its potential to help the Founder — not everyone else.

But that's not really the way we tend to talk about the value of a startup. We tend to think in terms of how valuable our startups are perceived by people that aren't us, like investors or the outside media.

At the same time we get a very skewed perspective of how many startups even raise funding, much less how many of them ever survive the journey. When we compound those broken perspectives, we make it nearly impossible to realize just how valuable our bootstrapped startups are!

99% of Startups don't Raise Venture Funding

If we're going to assume that only venture-funded startups are more valuable, then we should probably start by understandin...

It is difficult to predict the specific types of startups that will be most successful in 2023, as the success of a startup can depend on a variety of factors such as market demand, competition, and the unique value proposition of the business.

However, here are 20 business ideas to start the brainstorming process:

1 - Virtual events platform

Virtual events, such as conferences, trade shows, and workshops, have become increasingly popular in recent years due to the rise of remote work and the convenience of participating in events online. A virtual events platform could be a successful startup business model for a number of reasons:

Market demand:

There is a growing demand for virtual events as more organizations look for ways to host events onl...

Series A startup funding is an important milestone for many early-stage startups. It is the first round of significant institutional funding, and it can provide the resources and support needed to take a startup to the next level.

In this article, we will explore what series A funding is, how it differs from other types of funding, and what startups can do to increase their chances of securing this crucial form of financing.

What is Series A Funding?

Series A funding is the first round of institutional funding that a startup receives after completing its seed funding round. It is typically sought by startups that have a proven product or service and are looking to accelerate their growth. Series A funding allows startups to build out their te...

Businesses need to be able to access capital for growth and stability, which is why understanding the different approaches to raising funds is essential. This blog post provides an in-depth guide on analyzing, comparing, and applying various methods of obtaining funding so that companies have the ample financial resources they require.

Short Summary

• Understanding the importance of capital raising and different methods available to businesses.

• Evaluating pros & cons of equity financing vs debt financing, as well as innovative strategies such as crowdfunding, peer-to-peer lending, and strategic partnerships.

• Attracting investors by crafting a compelling pitch, building a strong network & demonstrating past successes. Plus preparing for capital ra...

Most startup Founders never get rich — and it's 100% our own fault.

I'm not talking about not getting rich because our startup failed — that one is obvious. I'm talking about having a startup that actually worked and still not getting rich. And when I say "rich" I don't mean "Powerball Rich" I'm talking in most cases, making any money at all. As a whole, we tend to suck at making money for ourselves.

The reason for this is that the startup ethos is riddled with fallacies about how we should approach profit and wealth. We've constructed a narrative that glorifies sacrifice and risk while somehow completely overlooking common sense and profit.

Founders need a reality check. We need to remind ourselves that treading down the most dangerous pat...