Startups Archives - Page 23 of 34

Pitch Slap – How Your Attempt to Get Your Startup Funded is Failed by Your Pitch

Wednesday, 22 June 2016 by Paul O'Brien

You take the stage, perhaps at a demo event or perhaps even in a smaller sense, with an Angel cattle call, group of investors, or even with the press. You’ve been practicing in front of the mirror for weeks the pitch designed for you by the local incubator, crafted after Guy Kawasaki’s famous 10 slides,

Published in Raising Capital

12 Comments

Austin is Music Tech

Monday, 06 June 2016 by Paul O'Brien

“Music is the greatest form of communication. It possesses the information of language, the emotion of poetry, the creativity of art and the passion of love.” That’s a thought I shared almost two decades ago with a Yahoo! time capsule (yes, there was such a thing); a sentiment I put down for posterity, digitally. Music

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Published in Austin, Startups

15 Comments

Real Estate Tech is Texas

Thursday, 19 May 2016 by Paul O'Brien

Everything is bigger in Texas, under the Lone Star. Real estate is as Texan as Oil & Gas, with even ranches here that are larger than some states. What recently struck me was the discovery that, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis and National Association of Realtors, Texas Real Estate accounts for roughly 14%

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Published in Industry, Insights / Research, Local, Startups

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Where are Austin’s Venture Capital Firms?

Tuesday, 03 May 2016 by Paul O'Brien

Of late I’ve been exploring, discussing, and working with Austin’s venture capital economy. We’ll not belabor the ongoing discussions of the state of venture capital, lack of funding, future of financing, and otherwise here; rather, what struck me as potentially helpful is a mere layout of where venture capital is found. Certainly, before we can

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Published in Industry, Insights / Research, Raising Capital, Texas Startups

17 Comments

Should I be Seeking Funding from an Incubator or Angel Investor?

Monday, 02 May 2016 by Paul O'Brien

In the midst of the next startup bust (apparently), entrepreneurs are seemingly struggling to raise capital now more than ever. A very frequently asked question I’m hearing, sounds something along the lines of, “should I just take the terms of the local incubator?” But what troubles me in such questions more, is not the desperation

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Published in Startups

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Why Should Anyone Fund Your Startup?

Tuesday, 12 April 2016 by Paul O'Brien

Referred to by a couple local financing executives as “the best seminar they have been to here in Austin,” I recently had the honor of moderating a discussion of venture capital funding, thanks to the support and hard work of Texas State University’s SBDC and Frost Bank. Why so compelling? That’s precisely the question we

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Published in Industry, Insights / Research, Startups

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Why Tech Startup Investors Expecting Revenue are Wrong

Monday, 04 April 2016 by Paul O'Brien

A far too frequently overheard conversation in the startup community goes something like this: “Apparently neither Instagram nor Snapchat had paying customers while receiving both seed and series A funding?! I couldn’t believe it. Investors, advisors, and incubators these days are constantly trumpeting that a monetization model (or at least an anticipated revenue trajectory) is

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Published in Startups

30 Comments