Startups Archives - Page 25 of 36

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

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

accelerators advisors angel funding angel investors consultants consulting funding incubators seed capital venture capital

Published in Startups

7 Comments

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

austin financing funding texas venture capital

Published in Industry, Insights / Research, Startups

12 Comments

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

angel investment angels financing funding investors tech technology traction venture capital

Published in Startups

30 Comments

How Big Data is Finding its Market in Texas

Monday, 28 March 2016 by Paul O'Brien

Data. Statistics, measurements, and analytics are funny things, particularly in entrepreneurship, as if you think about it, data is invaluable but difficult to aggregate, informational but difficult to consume, technical but immensely educational. Why so hard when so important? Data geeks such as myself often find ourselves lost in the weeds; we love mining

Analytics austin big data data startups tech texas

Published in Analytics, Austin, Startups

5 Comments

25 Startup Lessons from Serial Startup Executives

Friday, 29 January 2016 by Paul O'Brien

Advice about startups is prolific as grains of sand on a beach. Heck, here I am, sharing advice and implying I have the answers. In truth though, classically trained and experienced as a marketer, I hope I also convey more than most that there are no answers, only insight, opportunity, experience, and potential. Everyone wants

advice advisors entrepreneurship executives mentors Mentorship

Published in Insights / Research, Startups

9 Comments

The NW Austin Tech & Startup Corridor

Thursday, 07 January 2016 by Paul O'Brien

There is a frequently heard mantra in Austin that we’re not like Silicon Valley (that we don’t want to be like Silicon Valley) and though I’m of the mind that disagrees with that, considering Silicon Valley an industry of which we’re a part rather than a merely a specific location, what you can’t refute is

austin economy hardware Industry software startups tech technology texas

Published in Austin, Industry, Insights / Research, Startups

26 Comments