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I started angel investing almost by accident, which sounds strange to say. Who “accidentally” invests tens of thousands of dollars into highly speculative ventures? Well, I did.

A friend introduced me to Clayton Christopher who was raising money for his new liquor company Deep Eddy. Their first product, a sweet tea vodka, was amazing and he was an experienced entrepreneur, so I went in.

Investing was an exciting, interesting process. Then the company took off, and I got to tell everyone I know that I invested in that new vodka that everyone in Austin was drinking. Winning is the ultimate intoxicant, and from there, I was hooked.

I started investing in companies left and right. I became a huge cheerleader for angel investing. I wrote about h...

More often than not, what we avoid saying to investors is as valuable as what we do say.

With our best intentions, we often shoot ourselves in the foot making lofty assumptions or declarations that investors hear all the time and just start shaking their heads.

Let's avoid that.

These are conservative forecasts

The moment we open ourselves up to saying our estimates are "conservative" we risk the conversation pointing to whether our assumptions are actually "conservative", "aggressive" or just "wild-ass guesses."

All estimates are guesses.

Let's avoid giving them a label at all, and instead say "These estimates are based on our best assumptions across our entire business." Investors would rather know the assumptions are based on what we ...

The cap table is a ledger of who owns stock in our company. If you and I are the only owners of the company, there are exactly two entries in the cap table.

Easy peasy.

But as the company grows, and we start handing stock out to more people, the accuracy of the cap table starts to become really important

It's easy now...when does it get complicated?

The moment we start handing stock out to more people than ourselves.

At that point, we start to run into keeping records of not only who we've allocated stock to, but who we may be taking it back from (former employees who may not have exercised their stock options for example).

The constant changes within the cap table start to become a bit more complex, and having an accurate ledger become...

There’s a popular misconception amongst first-time entrepreneurs that sharing an idea without signing a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) will lead to some version of The Social Network, where Mark Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, steals the Facebook idea and becomes a billionaire.

The mythology sounds horrifying, but the reality is much different.

In short – investors don’t sign NDAs. They won’t sign your NDA. Asking them to will make you look like you don’t know what you’re doing, and there are a few reasons for that.

No One Wants Your Idea

You may have the world’s most amazing idea. It may be a complete pile of rubbish. Either way, it’s not about ideas.

Investors want entrepreneurs, not ideas. Anyone can come up with a great idea, but...

Making a difference and making a profit don’t have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, in today’s environment, it’s now status quo to aim for both. Contrary to the viewpoint of our parents’ generation (make money first, then give back), today’s wave of entrepreneurs embed causes into their business models as part of the company DNA — not as an afterthought.

In 2008, I witnessed firsthand many of my peers launching innovative, socially conscious companies in genres such as fashion, retail, and e-commerce; each had a vision to make a difference in the world while creating a profitable business.

Unfortunately, I saw many of these business models fail due to an improper understanding of market forces, unit economics, or undifferentiated value pr...

“You didn’t ask.” Of all the things a business should hope to never hear the customer say, this has to rank near the top. Because it is so easily avoidable. Because the fault for never asking falls entirely on your shoulders. There are even automated tools to help you learn more about what your customer is thinking – to ask without asking!

UserCompass automatically sends NPS (net promoter score) surveys so you can know what your customers really think of you and so you can track their loyalty over time.

Currently, UserCompass surveys your Stripe customers. All you have to do is connect your Stripe account. Then UserCompass will automatically send NPS surveys and give you their feedback.

The service strategically waits three days from the t...

What is product strategy?

Product strategy is the combination of a high-level vision of what your company is going to accomplish and the steps you’re going to take to get there. Basically, you’re turning your product vision into your product roadmap. It’s something of a transitional step in the top-down process of transforming your grand vision for your startup into an actual, product design.

Most companies have more than one product strategy. In addition to an overarching product strategy that applies to the direction the whole company is headed, if your company has more than more product, then each one is going to need its own product strategy.

For many startups, the overarching product strategy and the specific product strategy overlap,...

Today’s Favorite Find: Jukedeck

Elevator Pitch:

Jukedeck lets you create unique music for your online video.

Why We Love It:

I have watched more startup explainer videos in my life than anyone should ever be subjected to. I mean, it’s a hazard of the job, right? When you write about startups, you inevitably end up watching startup explainer videos. As a result, I’ve seen the full gamut — the good, the bad, the hilarious, and the trying really hard to be hilarious but totally failing. I’ve also seen so many trends come and go. And, of course, I’ve witnessed the ones that just won’t die.

One of those trends with nine lives is, unfortunately, what I call “tinkly” music. (I’m sure it has an official name, but this is my column so I’m allowed t...

Boris Wertz is the founder of VersionOne Ventures, an early-stage fund that has made over 35 investments in consumer Internet, SaaS, and mobile companies across North America. Clarity sat down with Boris to discuss how to find funding sources, how (and how much) to ask, and crafting the perfect pitch.

In order to raise money, most startups go through the same process: create a pitch deck, and then pitch it to investors.There are many types of investors, such as institutional investors who invest other people’s money, angel investors who invest their own money, and venture capitalists who privately or publicly provide total capital for a new venture.

Where can you find funding?
First, you should think about what the right funding is. Everyon...

Let’s face it: Media failures happen to the best of us. Sometimes they’re simple mistakes that go unnoticed, and sometimes they’re catastrophic failures that can ruin a business. The vast majority of the time, though, they’re preventable.

At its core, a media failure is when the value exchange between a marketer and a media company breaks down. This can happen because a marketing strategy was poorly planned, the implementation was rushed, or the media company was unable to actually deliver the audience it promised.

That’s why at New Brave World, I always caution the teams we advise to be careful to consider legal timelines and the time and cost exposure that’s connected to custom content creation. It’s also important to ensure you’ve reserv...