This week's FintechFriday session is with Mitchell Jones, co-founder Lendtable ⚡ a YC S20 batch company that raised $18M from Softbank to help workers get thousands in additional income by giving a cash advance to cover living expenses so they can finally begin earning their employer match.It’s noted from YC’s site that 1 in 4… Continue reading Weekly Startup Spotlight: Lendtable, a Series A Fintech
Tag: corporate venture capital
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
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
Branch and the future of employee payments 🚀
Join the FinTech Friday crew this week with Branch on the future of employer payments with @i_vp, @cokiehasiotis, @Jane_Barratt, @tek_fin, with founder @atifsiddiqi. This Friday, Jan 15 at 11:00 AM EST on @joinclubhouse. Join us! https://www.joinclubhouse.com/event/VxLAL9bM
Democratization of VCs and Investment Opportunities
The past decade has brought a lot of new investors to the playing field, myself included. I wanted to quickly jot down some of the trends I view to be catalysts and where the future may be moving towards. Not all are new as of 2020, but most are gaining steam. 1/ Venture Capital being… Continue reading Democratization of VCs and Investment Opportunities
Don’t talk to CorpDev – Part Deux
Corporate Development, Strategic Business Development, Corporate Business Development, or any other amalgamation - are likely all the same teams with small caveats. Traditionally, CorpDev’s mandate was to buy companies. That’s traditional. But it’s 2020 and we can all attest that business models have changed over the past years. These days CorpDev isn’t simply a team… Continue reading Don’t talk to CorpDev – Part Deux
Navigating Termsheets
Termsheets are (1) used by founders raising capital and (2) investors looking to deploy capital. Most all termsheets are different in some slight way (unless you're using a SAFE or KISS note), they usually require lawyers, and all are time-consuming where neither party usually gets 100% of what they want. For a founder, it's about obtaining capital without giving… Continue reading Navigating Termsheets
Negotiations
Everyone has a different style when negotiating - and all of these styles lend themselves to have better outcomes depending on the topic at hand and the counterparty. Having experience is the best defense, but I like to follow and have honed a template if that isn't an option. That said, over the years, I've… Continue reading Negotiations
Venture Deals in 2020
Since the Coronavirus was labeled a ‘pandemic’ on March 11th, over 372 startups have laid off more than 39,000 employees. The latest big announcement being yesterday with Airbnb and 25% of their staff being cut (equating to 1,900 employees), even after they just took on $2bn in debt. Airbnb also cuts deep as it's a… Continue reading Venture Deals in 2020
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