Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship & Learning

There are a couple of resources from Paul Graham of Y Combinator that I have come across recently that I think are very beneficial for those entrepreneurs trying to raise investment capital.  Here they are in no particular order:

1. Paul has recently posted an entry called, “A Fundraising Survival Guide.“  Here are a few key highlights:  a)  fundraising is hard — very hard.  b)  It takes investors a long time to make a decision because of the combination between investing a lot of money and the fact that they are often dealing with topics in which they are not experts.  c)  No matter what, you need to keep the company moving forward.  This works best when there are 3 founders — 2 to keep the company going and 1 to focus on fundraising.  d)  Strive to get to “ramen profitable” as soon as possible — which means that you are making just enough money to eat ramen noodles.  That way, you’re not desparate for an investor’s money.  e) Odds are against you.  According to one VC, only 1 out of 800 deals will receive an investment from their firm.  f) Figure out why investors are rejecting you and improve your pitch.  g)  Key factors in an investor’s opinion about you are the opinions of all the other investors about you.  And finally… h) raising money is hard!
2. Y Combinator to Offer Standard Funding Legal Docs: According to Techcrunch, it appears that the Y combinator (in partnership with the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich Rosati) will have links to some standard legal docs for an early-stage (first round) of funding.  Believe me, the legal expenses for a small round can really cost the start-up a lot of money and so I think that this is a great idea.

Thanks to Paul & the Y Combinator team for the resources.