Weekly 🔥 #10: Vet your startup like a VC
Welcome to another edition of our new newsletter! You’ll receive the best practical startup advice straight to your inbox every week.
In this week’s edition, we discuss:
- Approaching the funding raising process from a VCs point of view
- The future of cryptocurrency in 2022
- Is your side hustle profitable or a waste of time?
Let’s get to it.
A founder’s guide to startup due diligence
What are your chances of actually getting funded by a top VC? According to Marc Andreessen, it’s about 0.7%. The trick, according to private equity lawyer Baz Banai, is to think like a VC, and vet your startup accordingly. He also shares some great takeaways, including,
- Setup your virtual data room as soon as possible, even if you’re not fundraising. This is just best practice. As you come across key documents, transfer these into the corresponding folders.
- Initial interactions with VCs should come from the founder and/or senior management team. Select someone from your startup team to help you manage the fundraising process.
- Use the due diligence process set out in this article to vet your startup from a VC’s perspective. That way, you can anticipate questions that a VC might ask. You can use this free template Investment Memo.
- Always be ready to back it up future projections with well-reasoned assumptions and metrics where possible.
- You should be also be assessing the VCs. It’s going to be a 5–7 year relationship at a minimum — so, you better be happy with who you’re going into business.
The future of cryptocurrency in 2022
We’re a big fan of BlockWorks at Entrepreneur’s Handbook and this week we interviewed one of their founders Jason Yanowitz. He’s a legend within crypto circles and for good reason. He’s built the largest network of crypto podcasts anywhere and hosted Permissionless for 7000 blockchain enthusiasts. Here are some of his insights.
- The crypto crash is good because it removes the companies that were only hype.
- Once builders start focusing on the actual end-user rather than cool tech, Web3 will take off.
- If you’re building a brand today, focus on your newsletter first then a podcast then content.
- Focus on creating a community first above all else — profits will come later.
Is your online side hustle profitable or a waste of time?
86% of young Americans want to be social media influencers or online creators. But a side hustle isn’t a walk in the park; it’s hard work, and it’s extremely time-consuming. Lauren Como discusses how creators can starting earning more than a few dollars online:
- Your content should solve a problem or pain point, or it should inform and entertain. If it doesn’t, you’ll never earn enough to quit your day job.
- If you just go “where the growth is”, you’ll build a side hustle that makes you miserable or uncomfortable — and these ventures always fail when going gets tough.
- Ensure your expectations are aligned with reality. If you’re entering the side hustle game with the expectation that you’ll launch a profitable business overnight, you’re in for a rough ride.
- Be prepared to fail at first. Then embrace that failure. Then try again, but this time more successfully.
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