Welcome back to Inside the Mind of a NYC Angel Investor, a new series at AlleyWatch in which we speak with New York City-based Angel Investors. In the hot seat this time is Joanne Wilson of Gotham Gal Ventures. Joanne is a prolific blogger, Host of Positively Gotham Gal, and Cofounder of the Women’s Entrepreneur Festival. Joanne sat […]
Angel investor
Accelerate Your Startup With Help From an Incubator
One of the reasons that now is the time to be an entrepreneur is the explosion of startup assistance organizations, usually called incubators or accelerators. According to the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA), there are over 7,000 of these locations worldwide, and new online versions springing up all over the place, like Founders Space in Silicon Valley. […]
7 Due Diligence Steps Will Validate Any New Venture
In my experience, consummate entrepreneurs tend come up with more startup ideas than they can ever implement, and some of the ideas may not even make business sense. But how does any entrepreneur know which ideas to implement, and which ones are best left behind? After all, most great breakthroughs, like a computer in every […]
Are You Getting Your Fair Share of Startup Equity?
I always tell entrepreneurs that 2 heads are better than 1, so the first task in many startups is finding a co-founder or two. You need to find the skills or experience you do not have in business, technology or money. So the first question I usually get is what percent of the company or […]
How We Raised Over $1M in Our Seed Funding Round
After Blank Label raised outside funding through a seed round of $1.1 million, I started getting emails asking me how we did it. The email senders would write that they did not attend Harvard Business School or University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton, and that they did not have a big network with deep pockets. For context, my co-founder dropped out of college, and […]
6 Ways to Find a Fundable Startup Market Opportunity
Many entrepreneurs are so enamored with their product vision that they believe their own hype, and are convinced that the market for their solution is so huge that no one will ask them for independent market research data. They do not realize that business projections with no third-party validation have no credibility with investors, and […]
6 Principles For Proper Use of Funds From Investors
Entrepreneurs looking for investor funding often fail to realize that all money comes with strings attached. For example, if you have watched the “Shark Tank” TV series, you probably noticed that the “sharks” always ask the entrepreneurs for their intended “use of funds.” Those who respond with one of the wrong answers, such as “I […]
8 Ways to Get Off the Ground With Angel Investors
Angel investors are still the lifeblood of early-stage startups, despite the surge of activity in crowdfunding and an increasing early interest from venture capitalists. According to the Angel Capital Association, at least 300,000 people have made angel investments in the last 2 years, totaling $24 billion in the US alone. These are all accredited investors who […]
How Well Versed are You in Startup Investor Jargon?
Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. I am not recommending that you saturate your discussions with lingo, but responding with a blank stare once-too-often will not convince anyone that you can build the next world-changing […]
Making a Freemium Model Work for Your Business
In today’s digital age, consumers and businesses alike are inundated with new tools that promise to make their lives and jobs easier, more efficient, more sustainable and more fun. But in a world in which software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools and cloud-based apps are as plentiful as grains of sand at the beach, consumers have nearly limitless […]
Startups Need More Great Execution than Great Ideas
A popular approach for aspiring entrepreneurs these days seems to be, to corner anyone who will listen, with a pitch on their current “million dollar idea.” The initial monologue usually ends with the question “How much money do you think this is worth?” In my opinion, ideas are a commodity and are really not worth […]