I have been fortunate to invest as a VC and participate in startup boards for the last 10+ years. One of the many things that has changed (for the better!) is the continued smoothing of early-stage discrete financing events. But I believe we can do better.

I was at a board meeting the other day of a startup scaling well, and we were discussing their external sales team and how they were quantifying and qualifying new inbound customers. The Founder/CEO stated the company was going to run a competition between existing investors as to who could bring in the most ne

Cockiness and confidence brush up against each other but are two different species. Confidence holds back the power and unleashes it at appropriate moments. Cockiness runs amok, thinking its greatness spews from each pore, flinging superlatives all over the room.

Many early-stage teams get very consistent feedback from investors when they try to raise their first institutional investment — what does your customer think? Here's what it takes to turn a minimum viable product into your most valuable player.