Equity grants of 0.25% — 1.0% are the standard rate for compensating startup advisors As a mentor at a number of accelerators, I’m sometimes ...

Too much argument and occasional abuse makes responding to pitches perilous Hanging out with early-stage founders in the middle of a raise, ...

The venture world has its own language. You need to speak the lingo if you want to talk to investors. At a recent pitch session, a founder had ...

There’s only 1 correct answer to what matters most to investors What do investors care about most? Is it your vision? Your team? How you’ll ...

If you’re projecting more than 30% profits, you’re missing most of your costs When looking at financial projections of early-stage startups, ...

The only path to success for a startup is to become the leader in your market Most startup pitches I see have a similar story: the market for X ...

Keep your customers happy if you want to keep your customers A friend was complaining about how antiquated the apartment maintenance business ...

Before you start pitching, know what kind of investor you’re looking for and what kind of deal they want Startup founders: how many episodes of ...

What’s the point of a pitch deck? Hint — it’s not to get investment. It’s pitching season again and I’m drowning in bad pitch decks. Each one ...

Avoid these startup traps to ensure the best chance of success Over the past ten years, I’ve mentored all kinds of startups. And I’ve seen ...