Investment memo's are written docs all VC, PE, or CVC shops produce to (i) tell a story with conviction and (ii) obtain permission to invest capital into the company. Some are 2 pages, some are 20. These memos differ by the (i) stage of the company (Seed is much different than Series B), (ii) fund… Continue reading Investment Memos
Category: Venture Capital
The Rule of 40
The 'Rule of 40' is popular among investors and analysts because it provides a simple, easy-to-understand metric for evaluating the financial health of software companies. As with any metric, there are pros and cons. It combines two important metrics, revenue growth and profit margin into a single number that can be used to quickly assess… Continue reading The Rule of 40
Venture Funding
When raising a Series A round of financing, founders need to focus on the metrics that demonstrate the potential of their company to investors. Post prototype, pre-product market fit. Here are five metrics that founders should track and be prepared to discuss (albeit business model dependent): 1/ Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR): This is the amount… Continue reading Venture Funding
B2B Card Platforms
Recently talking to a founder, he had mentioned the poor experience he and his company had when they began looking for banking products. That made me want to do a quick deep dive. You'll find hyperlinks sprinkled throughout this quick post - do click on those if you'd like to learn more. Companies normally start… Continue reading B2B Card Platforms
Be a specialist
An interesting study was just released about venture capital. One tool I view that corporate development teams can refine and build upon to execute in-organic growth. The study essentially notes that venture capitalists are specialists. I believe this. The research paper also notes that performance is much better in the sub-industry VC's focus on; even… Continue reading Be a specialist
Early Stage Company Nomenclature + Rounds
Two things are popping up more and more in 2021: 1) I get a fair amount of questions about equity and where it should land for first-money-in through the mentoring I do for early stage companies. Unfortunately, it’s not a straightforward answer. 2) Round inflation is real. It really doesn’t matter if you mark your… Continue reading Early Stage Company Nomenclature + Rounds
FinTech Subscription Metrics (Acorns)
There is a lot of capital being poured into the consumer fintech space. And there seem to be an ever increasing number of larger scale unicorns who have yet to go public. More and more companies are waiting to ‘exit’ and the average time staying private has been increasing. This means that there are a… Continue reading FinTech Subscription Metrics (Acorns)
Be On Deck – Fintech fellowship
This June I’ll be joining beondeck’s fintech fellowship program. Super excited to see what it turns into. The program is eight weeks in length and focused around creating a community of professionals that can connect, nerd out over emerging business models, as well as the technical aspects. On Deck is creating a new way to… Continue reading Be On Deck – Fintech fellowship
Venture Capital & CVC Activity: Covid Review
Covid was deemed a national pandemic in the US on March 11th, 2020. Ten days ago as of this post. The gut reaction to many startups was visible. As in any business model under duress (especially startups) marketing stops, then recruiting slows or stops, followed by letting individuals go who may have already been planned… Continue reading Venture Capital & CVC Activity: Covid Review
Charlie and ComplyAdvantage – Financial Crime Edition
Hope to see you during this week’s convo with Charlie of ComplyAdvantage where we talk about financial crime and his platform which aids in combating it. Joined by hosts Vaibhav / Cokie / Yann / Jane 👏 https://lnkd.in/e9GPED6 #fintech #technology #cybersecurity #privacy #cybercrime #api #aml #banking
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