How to Get Funded in these Hard Times.

How to Get Funded in these Hard Times.

First of all, if you’re a real startup CEO, these hard times aren’t so hard if you look at the right indicators. I’m interacting with startup money people all the time — angels, VCs, superangels, family offices, even some PE these days. There is still a lot of money out there, lots of deals happening. VC is still roaring, with the exception of about 2 months of fear over the NASDAQ and Crypto Crash.

The only thing that ‘s changed is valuations, and those aren’t much different than they were 2019-2021, which is pretty high.

Early stage angel investors like to find little gems before anyone else, they look for the $10 million valuation seed or pre-seed opportunities. That hasn’t change, money hasn’t “dried up”. I get angels asking me still every week for leads one early-early deals. If seed funding is good, follow on from these same investors later should be good also, unless the world falls apart over the next couple of years.

As they always have, investors do want a few things — a very strong level of belief in the founder(s), something new and not just a clone of existing businesses, and high energy from the startup.

I saw a very strong Silicon Valley angel say the other day that, for certain founders, he would give them $1 million without knowing the product or valuation, just betting on the founders he knows will win again and again. That’s the confidence and trust that prevails in the valley — today.

It’s also a testament to the power of the momentum of the current retooling of modern business. This recession can’t stop that.

So, the valuations are lower. Is that fair? Is that VC greed taking advantage of the stock market?? A little bit, but valuations, especially for mis and late stage were they too high and needed a reset. That couldn’t have gone on forever. And they’ll come back. Depending on where your company is, it shouldn’t matter anyway.

There are angels who look for early early deals, try to find $5M to 20M valuations. Those valuations aren’t going down.

But still, you should reassess, check your priorities, tighten things up.

1. What are people doing now because your product doesn’t exist, what is the pain you will solve?

2. What is it that you know about your specific niche that other companies do not?

3. How and when does this make revenue and profits? What is the growth graph?

@tomnora


CEO Life: 8 Pieces of Advice for the New CEO

CEO Life: 8 Pieces of Advice for the New CEO

Here are some quick bullet points for you as a new CEO or if you’re aspiring to become a real CEO. 

  • Constantly remind yourself and others of the Vision and Top Goals.
  • Be a Positive Influence to your team, a Motivator.
  • Understand your company’s Finances, very well
  • Don’t be afraid of Strong Advisors.
  • People’s perception of you will shift with time. Adapt to this.
  • Authenticity Matters. Don’t fake it or B.S. people.
  • Work on your Self Awareness.
  • Take time alone.

Carry this list around on your phone to remind yourself and to snap you out of your day-to-day.

Tom Nora, CEO Confidant

more ceo advice: How to build a Board of Directors


Openness

Openness

I’ve found that -Openness- to options and possibilities that you haven’t thought of often lead you to a superior answer.

When I think of open, I think of standing somewhere way up in the mountains in Colorado or New Mexico or California. You can see so far and so wide out into the world, from above.

I try to remember those views, the feeling they gave, and use them when I’m not on top of a mountain.

CEO thoughts from Tom Nora

Answer to askjelly.com question: How do I deal with my partner’s…

Answer to askjelly.com question: How do I deal with my partner’s…

 

How do I deal with my partner’s very extreme mood swings, knee jerk reactions and short temper?

tl;dr. Put it into a larger context, agree on a set of guidelines for acceptable behavior and communication.

Extreme emotions are never a good thing in a business setting, especially among partners. There’s an unwritten agreement among a leadership team that no one will go outside certain bounds of anger, mutual respect, and patience.

Usually when this happens there are other issues like lack of trust or perceived unfairness. In a partnership, often one member feels that they are doing more than the other(s), possibly feels incompetent and is trying to hide it, has personal issues or possibly several other problems.

The best thing to do is to lay it all out, talk about it, figure out definitively how to stop it. Don’t let it go on. Honestly discuss what is happening on both sides, and reinforce your desire to work with each other. If that doesn’t work, changes are needed before you damage the business.

 

How do you know?

I’ve stepped into the CEO role at several companies and have seen the emotional pain it causes founders to let go of the control and lose recognition. The problem usually resolves itself over time with building trust and paying proper attention to it, but not always.

The life of a Startup CEO – 3 full Time Jobs.

The life of a Startup CEO – 3 full Time Jobs.

This post has been one of my most popular on Quora. I originally wrote it in late 2012 when asked the question – What does it feel like to be a start-up mentor? (link to original post). In it I discuss the 3 full time jobs a real startup CEO has. If you read carefully I didn’t even actually answer the question properly, but I did touch on a few truths. 

One of the points of this is to realize that maybe yu shouldn’t try to be a startup ceo; most fail at it and are miserable. They Zalsohave a lot of fear that they can’t discuss with anybody – not their team not their investors, not their spouse, not the Board of Directors. All of those people have to be held at a bit of a distance. That’s often where I come in…

Enjoy…

– – –

As a Startup Mentor to over 20 companies over 20 years, plus a few currently, I think the first question is what is the CEO going through? (See below) As thementor you need to empathize, coach, help, counsel and help the CEO develop the business.

What is the startup CEO going through?

Being the CEO of a startup is crazy, fun, very hard work, inclusive, humbling and of course can be quite rewarding. Weekends are meaningless. There is a continuous decision stream where each decision informs the next. Your mind is thinking 24 hours a day, even when you sleep.

When you’re the CEO of a startup, a real startup with product and some cash in the bank and/or revenue, there are 3 FULL TIME JOBS.

1. Raising Money – you are constantly doing this, preparing for this and thinking about this, whether it’s pre-seed, seed funding, debt, revenue, partnerships, IPO or other.

2. Managing and Properly Growing The Business – this includes several things, depending on the size of the enterprise: managing employees, administration, hiring, firing, leases, expenses, unhappy employees, fixing other problems, etc.

This piece is what often kills an otherwise great business, which justifys the case for less is more when it comes to employees and infrastructure.

3. Selling – The CEO of a startup must ABS, always be selling. You start every day working this, just like #1 above, they’re closely related. Using the CEO to close sales no matter what size the business is, is vital to success.

This piece emphasizes the importance of having an awesome, mature VP of Sales, if you can afford it; it takes a lot of pressure off and frees up the time of the CEO.

So the job of the mentor is to make sure everything progresses forward and your protege is staying out of the ditches. It requires strong mutual trust but if you have that, it can be a rewarding win-win experience.

Contact me if you’re dead serious and I can help you. The Startup CEO by Tom Nora