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Questions You Can Expect From Investors

Questions to Expect from Investors from The Startup Garage

The Most Common Questions Asked by Investors Statics show that investor receive thousands of plans a year and will only proceed to the next round with 10% of those at best.  Regardless of the type of investor you are targeting (sophisticated individuals, angel groups or VC firms), it is important to be fully prepared to […]

How Startup Valuation Works

How Startup Valuation Works from The Startup Garage

A valuation is simply an estimated value of a company and is often based on assumptions surrounding the company’s current and future potential. There are several factors to consider when valuing a company including the startup stage that the company is in, prior successes, how much money is needed and for what purposes, the type […]

Top Cities for Venture Capital Activity

Entrepreneurial Density and Venture Capital The chart below looks at the total amount of dollars spent by venture capital firms as well as the total number of deals on a per-capita basis.  As we can see, Boulder came in third behind San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara (AKA Silicon Valley) and San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont. The map below provides a […]

The Importance of an All-Star Management Team

Importance of an All Star Team from The Startup Garage

The most cited answer among investors – and perhaps the most underrated factor among first time entrepreneurs – is the startup team.  There may be a need for your product or service, the market may be enormous, your business model may be attractive, there may be few competitors in the space, and you may even […]

Ban Overturned on Publicly Advertising You Are Raising Capital

Ban Overturned with SEC from The Startup Garage

Raising Capital? Shout It From the Rooftops! The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to overturn the ban on “general solicitation” or publicly advertising that your company is raising money.  As a result, the SEC has deemed it legal for private companies to tell anyone that they are raising money, which was previously illegal. How […]

Understanding Barriers to Entry

Barriers to Entry from The Startup Garage

Entry into any market by a startup business is in some way possible, though it is often constrained by some sort of economic, procedural, regulatory or technical obstacle.  Such obstacles are often referred to as ‘barriers to entry.’  Some examples of barriers to entry include high startup costs, strict laws and regulations, inability to access resources, […]

Investment in Mobile App Development Industry is Soaring

Mobile App Development Trends from The Startup Garage

VC Funding in Mobile App Development Still Hot Since 2012, mobile app development companies have taken $262M in VC funding across 36 deals, which accounts for 59% of the $446M to the mobile app development space overall.  Some of the largest acquisitions included Kony Solutions at $18.3M in a Series D round from Telestra Ventures […]

Sustainable Competitive Advantages

Sustainable Competitive Advantage from The Startup Garage

A competitive advantage is some aspect of the company and/or its product or service that gives it an edge over its competitors and allows it to generate greater values for the firm (in sales and/or profit margins) for the firm and its shareholders.  Two primary examples of competitive advantages include: 1) comparative cost advantage – […]

Venture Capital Seed Investment and Re-Investment

Venture Capital Investment and Reinvestment from The Startup Garage

Seed Investment Rates Two international firms, 500 Startups and SV Angel, top the list for most active seed investment in 2010-2011. Below is a list of the 30 most active seed VC investors over the two-year time frame ranked based on number of deals they participated (graph thanks you CB Insights): Re-Investment Rates While 500 Startups […]

The Importance of Differentiation

Standout Competitive Advantage from The Startup Garage

When asked about their product or service, most entrepreneurs could go on and on with the various features and advantages.  However, once you ask them, “what makes your product or service desirably different?” their pitch begins to flounder.  They begin to fall back on their key features or advantages over their competition.  But, the question […]