Startups Archives - Page 23 of 36

A Different Approach to Reaching Angels and VCs

Monday, 01 May 2017 by Paul O'Brien

Spring time in Austin is always the most incredible season for entrepreneurs. Seeds are planted, bluebonnets rise, SXSW is in swing, and the world descends on the city to invent, innovate, and reach investors. This year, it seems, the startup du jour is in VR; with upwards of 300 VR related sessions and panels throughout

Published in Startups, Featured, Raising Capital

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The Three Things a CEO of a Startup Should Do

Monday, 20 February 2017 by Paul O'Brien

ceos entrepreneurship executives founders leadership priorities

Published in Startups

10 Comments

How Content Creation Affects Your Funding

Monday, 16 January 2017 by Paul O'Brien

Content media site Medium announced just days ago that they are restructuring through layoffs and office closings as they “renew their focus.” Medium CEO, Ev Williams, noted that, “in building out this model, we realized we didn’t yet have the right solution to the big question of driving payment for quality content. We had started scaling up the teams to

content fundraising influence media startups venture capital

Published in Insights / Research, Raising Capital, Search, Social Media

4 Comments

The Secret to Funding: How Many Customers You Need Before Contacting VCs

Friday, 06 January 2017 by Paul O'Brien

It might be the most frequently asked question by early entrepreneurs. If not that, the most frequently heard frustration from founders is, “I have customers, why can’t I raise capital?” Let me jump right in on the secret I’m about to reveal: customers aren’t the answer you’re seeking. Which is to say, the magic number

angel investors customers fund raising funding investors revenue vc venture capital

Published in Startups

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Growth Hacking for Investors

Sunday, 27 November 2016 by Paul O'Brien

I had the honor of sharing, with Austin Pre-Accelerator DivInc, some thoughts about Growth Hacking. The startup program fostering diversity in tech asked for some insight to the idea of growth hacking and I’ll admit, I struggled with how to make an hour talk about such a thing relevant to startup founders. Luckily, I find myself in

funding growth growth hacking marketing startups venture capital

Published in Startups

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The 8 Things Startup Founders Need to Know about SEO (and one more that will surprise)

Thursday, 06 October 2016 by Paul O'Brien

In the spirit of the great Buzzfeed content marketing hacks, here are the 8 things startup founders need to know about SEO! Honestly, what you’re in for is a non-marketing, non-search oriented exploration of why SEO is critical to startups, founders, and your success or failure as a new venture. I had the honor of

fund raising funding marketing Search search engine optimization seo startups

Published in Search, Natural Search / SEO, Startups

7 Comments

Is the Perfect Pitch Deck Far From Perfect?

Wednesday, 17 August 2016 by Paul O'Brien

A challenge of the premise behind the famous 10 slides; as you prepare to take the stage to pitch, think about how the idea of an elevator pitch (what you say in 30 seconds or less to convince your audience to listen further) factors in. Generally speaking, if you don’t close a deal in the first 3

funding fundraising pitch deck slides

Published in Startups

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