Gust

DECEMBER 14, 2023

When people hear about the 25 percent annualized rate of return that active angel investors obtain, they assume that there must be some secret involved—perhaps an old-boy network of hidden links that connects angels to brilliant entrepreneurs and tech innovators or a mathematical algorithm developed by some genius at MIT that helps angels identify and invest in the businesses that are guaranteed to be the Apples, Googles, and Facebooks of tomorrow.

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investing investment networking innovation 91

Gust

NOVEMBER 8, 2023

Even in this age of videos and text messages, the quickest way to kill your startup dream with investors, business partners, or even customers, is embarrassingly poor writing. Being very visible in the startup community, I still get an amazing number of badly written emails, rambling executive summaries, and business plans with one paragraph per chapter.

startup 91

startup communities 91

Gust

NOVEMBER 1, 2023

Pitch decks for demo day. Goes without saying that raising capital is a critical moment for any startup. It’s your first impression that can essentially make or break (figuratively) the opportunity at hand. Branding is what sets one business apart from another. It's what makes Apple a luxury tech brand and Nike a reputable sports brand. Understanding how to create an effective branding strategy can help your startup stand out on your big day.

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Gust

OCTOBER 13, 2023

A note is a loan. That is, a lender gives a company $100, and the company writes a note to the lender stating "we will pay you back $100 one year from today, along with 10% [or some other number] per year interest". The convertible part means that in addition to the straight repayment mentioned above, the lender and the company agree that instead of the company paying back the loan in cash, if the company raises money by selling stock to another investor before the loan is due, then the original

investing 91

investing investment 91

Gust

SEPTEMBER 26, 2023

On March 16, 2023, the U.S. Copyright Office published a policy statement saying that the Copyright Office would generally not register copyrights in the output of artificial intelligence. The Copyright Office invoked the traditional requirement for a work to be copyrightable that the creative authorship must be that of a human author. Stephen Thaler owns a computer system he calls the “Creativity Machine,” which he claims generated a piece of visual art of its own accord.

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creativity 91

Gust

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

A C-Corporation, often referred to as a “C-Corp,” is a legal business structure that separates the company from its owners, providing limited liability protection to shareholders. It is the most common type of corporation in the United States, offering several benefits and flexibility for startups aiming for rapid growth and outside investment. The post What Is a C-Corporation?

investing 91

investing investment startup 91

Gust

SEPTEMBER 8, 2023

Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering. There is no middle ground.

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Gust

AUGUST 7, 2023

When your startup is very small, it’s fairly easy to gauge its health. From your vantage point as the company’s leader—and perhaps its only employee—you can readily track the arrival and departure of customers, the growth or decline of revenues, and changes in profitability as costs rise or fall. But as your company grows and its complexity increases, measuring the success of the business becomes more difficult.

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health development startup 91

Gust

JULY 25, 2023

Accelerators are as diverse and varied as the start-ups they serve. While there are some universal features, such as an application and selection process and educational programming, the specific offerings can differ widely. Most, but not all, will offer networking opportunities (with the exception of programs that focus heavily on one-on-one mentorship) and most, but not all, will offer some form of funding opportunities, either through direct investment or by leveraging their network of invest

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startup accelerator accelerator mentorship startup 170

Gust

JULY 25, 2023

As the Growth Manager at Gust, one of my responsibilities is to evaluate accelerator programs on the Gust Accelerator Platform to determine if they are a good fit for our community of founders. The guidelines we use for this, which were built by the Gust team, leveraging the collective decades of experience we have working with startups, can also be used to help founders determine which accelerator is best for them.

startup accelerator 171

startup accelerator accelerator startup communities 171

Gust

JULY 19, 2023

Being the founder of a startup can be both exciting and scary, particularly when raising capital from investors and managing your company’s finances. If this sounds familiar to you, a financial model is one tool you need to have in your corner. Whether you’re a first-time founder who is hearing the term “financial model” tossed around in fundraising conversations, or a serial entrepreneur who has built models of your own in the past, this post will help explain why a solid financial model has be

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financing finance entrepreneurs capital 70

Gust

JULY 11, 2023

As the influence of artificial intelligence continues to extend its reach across a diverse range of industries, the question remains: What legal rights do AI users have in output generated by AI systems? In a previous post, I reported on the recent announcement by the U.S. Copyright Office, which took the position that most AI output would be unprotectable by copyright because it is created by a machine rather than a person.

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Gust

JUNE 16, 2023

When you run a startup, securing the right types of funding at the right moments can feel like a never-ending game of chess. You have to think twenty moves in advance, and if you make just one mistake, you might end up sabotaging the whole game. And plenty of founders do sabotage the game: It’s estimated that 80% of startups don’t make it past the first year, and 90% fail over the long run.

SaaS 185

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Gust

JUNE 16, 2023

When you run a startup, securing the right types of funding at the right moments can feel like a never-ending game of chess. You have to think twenty moves in advance, and if you make just one mistake, you might end up sabotaging the whole game. And plenty of founders do sabotage the game: It’s estimated that 80% of startups don’t make it past the first year, and 90% fail over the long run.

SaaS 91

SaaS startup founder founder startup 91

Gust

JUNE 8, 2023

Number one, understand your business. It sounds obvious, but the majority of entrepreneurs who pitch me have obviously never thought through many of the major issues surrounding their companies. You should know EVERYTHING about your business, product, customers and competition. You should know every metric regarding customer acquisition, conversion and retention.

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pitching entrepreneurs 202

Gust

MAY 17, 2023

Imagine that you are the founder of a Brazilian B2B SaaS startup that has landed a few enterprise clients and has some good traction. Your sights are now set on raising capital in Silicon Valley to scale your business and reach new markets. While your conversations with U.S. based investors are productive, you soon realize that they are unwilling to invest in your Brazilian startup as it is governed by laws they are not familiar with.

startup 160

startup SaaS capital investing 160

Gust

APRIL 21, 2023

In recent years, artificial intelligence has emerged as a powerful tool for generating original works. The question of who owns the copyright to these works, however, has become increasingly complex. Copyright registration in the United States has traditionally been limited to human creators, but with the rise of AI-generated works, the distinction between human and machine-made creations has become less clear, leading to uncertainty around copyright ownership and register-ability.

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Gust

MARCH 21, 2023

It is 2023, and the environment for funding has changed drastically in the last few years. What you do before you pitch is even more important than it has been in the past. The post 5 Things To Do Before Pitching Your Business To Investors appeared first on Gust.

pitching 91

pitching 91

Gust

MARCH 14, 2023

The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes. Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. The biggest complaint I hear from fellow investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation.

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pitching VC startup founder founder 113

Gust

MARCH 6, 2023

Starting and building any business other than the very tiniest one-person shop is a complicated task. Thus, the majority of businesses that aspire to become high-growth companies of the future—are launched by a founding team of two, three, or more people. Combining the strengths, insights, experiences, talents, connections, and resources of a few people often gives a new business a greater chance of success than resting entirely on the shoulders of even a highly talented single individual.

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Gust

FEBRUARY 21, 2023

The process of acquiring venture capital can stir up quite a few emotions in an early-stage founder: Excitement. Fear. A sense of doing something incredibly important. The incredible degree of pressure in knowing that you need this money to be successful. However, as many founders have discovered, chasing that venture capital funding can be incredibly time-consuming, expensive, and frustrating.

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founder venture capital capital ventures 91

Gust

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

Taxes is like the sands on the beach by my house, it is a constantly changing world molded by the tides of public sentiment and the seasons of political changes. Sometimes I walk down and there is a ton of sand and everything is smooth and easy to walk on. Other days the sand is sucked out, leaving rocky crevices where my feet are constantly at risk of a cut.

startup 91

startup development 91

Gust

JANUARY 6, 2023

So, you’ve got a great idea for a startup. But there’s just one catch; Your startup requires machine learning (ML), and to you, that feels a bit, well, overwhelming. We’ve got some great news for you! ML doesn’t have to be either complicated or time-consuming. In fact, there are a number of ML SaaS platforms on the market today that are intentionally designed to do the heavy lifting for you.

startup 91

startup SaaS 91

Gust

DECEMBER 6, 2022

Convertible notes are a great tool for venture financing. They are primarily used for early-stage financings, but they are also a good solution for a bridge round when a company isn’t quite ready for the next equity financing round. The actual mechanics of converting convertible notes (in other words – calculating conversion shares) is not a simple task and requires great care.

financing 91

financing finance ventures investing 91

Gust

NOVEMBER 22, 2022

Throughout the years of developing Gust.com and Gust Launch, we recognized a common pain point in the startup journey. Founders, the passionate entrepreneurs pouring all of their efforts into building their ventures, had questions about how to properly set up their startups. They ask those early questions: What should we be doing? How do we set it up?

education 91

education founder startup entrepreneurs 91

Gust

NOVEMBER 17, 2022

By this point, the word “lean” has been so used so frequently and in so many contexts that you could be forgiven for thinking that it was completely meaningless. But it’s actually quite the opposite. The reason the term—and the thinking that it represents—has swept the startup world is because it makes fundamental sense. Originally developed by Steve Blank and brought to popular attention by Eric Ries in his bestselling book and subsequent series, the core philosophy boils down to a loop that cy

development 91

development startup 91

Gust

NOVEMBER 8, 2022

You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. There are no “overrides” – for example, businesses don’t thrive just because they offer the latest technology, or because everyone wants to be “green,” or because their goal is to reduce world hunger.

entrepreneurs 91

entrepreneurs technology startup 91

Gust

NOVEMBER 4, 2022

A business model is the idea that underlies a successful business. It describes how the business creates value for customers, delivers that value to them, and captures a portion of the value for its owners. Every successful business, no matter how large or small, complex or simple, operates according to a business model that makes sense. (Of course, some large, complex companies operate according to several business models at once, since they include divisions or departments that create, deliver

entrepreneurs 91

entrepreneurs 91

Gust

OCTOBER 28, 2022

As a founder, you likely have a lot on your mind. Raising capital for your startup is probably near the top of your mental "to-do" list, but chances are you haven't really gotten around to starting on it just yet. It’s important to raise capital to support growth and scalability in the early stages. While it might be a stressful task, raising capital isn't really something you can leave on the back burner.

capital 91

capital startup support founder 91

Gust

OCTOBER 1, 2022

Angel investing in the past few years has moved from an arcane backwater of the financial world to a business arena that receives coverage in mainstream newspapers and hit television shows such as ABC’s Shark Tank. Today, any sophisticated investor with a portfolio of alternate assets should consider direct, early-stage investments in private companies as one potential component of that portfolio.

angel investing 91

angel investing investing investment 91

Gust

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

Krezzo Co-founder Stephen Newman talks cross-departmental operational alignment with OKRs (Objectives & Key Results). When start-ups begin to scale, one of the first things that becomes a big problem is keeping track of the core business priorities and performance across teams. When implemented and adopted successfully, OKRs essentially becomes your company’s playbook enabling your company to focus more on solving problems than doing homework.

enablement 162

enablement founder 162

Gust

SEPTEMBER 6, 2022

Before a technology startup becomes a company, it spends a period of time as simply a project. The founding team is usually one or two individuals building and testing products as they try to validate a demand for them in the market. At some point, founders ask themselves: when is it time to turn this project into a company? The post When Should a Tech Startup Form a Company appeared first on Gust.

startup 172

startup technology founder 172

Gust

AUGUST 26, 2022

Did you miss filing form 5472 at some point? Normally this means big penalties that are nearly impossible to waive, but finally there is some relief. The IRS sent out a news blast today with some great news for corporations that file form 5472 - they are waiving penalties on late filed international information returns for 2019 and 2020. This is huge for corporations with foreign owners, as many have avoided filing for fear of the $25,000 per form penalty being assessed.

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Gust

AUGUST 24, 2022

Because you are undoubtedly raring to go out and change the world, I’m going to provide you with a crash checklist in “starting smart,” so that you can avoid the biggest, most bone-headed errors made by many bright-eyed and enthusiastic first-time founders. The post 25 Key Action Steps for Every Entrepreneur appeared first on Gust.

entrepreneurs 185

entrepreneurs founder 185

Gust

AUGUST 19, 2022

Having worked with hundreds of founders and early-stage startups, I often hear questions in regards to setting up an Advisory Board. I will address some of the common questions I’ve heard over the years in this article and share some insights I’ve gained as both a founder and as an advisor. The post Best Practices for a Successful Startup Advisory Board appeared first on Gust.

board 185

board startup founder 185

Gust

APRIL 8, 2022

Startup founders need to be Jacks or Jills of All Trades. They are visionaries, product designers, bookkeepers, and tech support representatives. But the single most important role of the founder is to be an effective communicator. And in the context of a startup, that means “storyteller”. The founder needs to paint a mind-picture of a […]. The post The Startup Founders Pitch Toolbox appeared first on Gust.

startup founder 91

startup founder pitching founder startup 91

Gust

MARCH 18, 2022

A number of years ago I worked in product for Gust Launch. As a disclaimer, I am a staunch believe in the mission of Gust Launch and—more generally—decreasing the barriers to entrepreneurialism and innovation. One of the things we did during my time at Gust Launch was form the Startup Legal Counsel network that is […]. The post The Importance Of Being Connected To The Right Lawyer appeared first on Gust.

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networking innovation startup 91