Why Build a Financial Forecast

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startups should build a financial forecast for their business.

Even if the future is uncertain and all the data is not known, it's still important to build one.

Here are the reasons why:

It validates the founder's hypothesis.

A founder should have a hypothesis about the business.

A financial projection helps determine its feasibility.

It also determines how much funding to raise.

The financial forecast shows the cost to start and run a business.

The fundraise amount is a key component of the plan.

It communicates the plan to investors.

The investors want to know what the founder is thinking about the business.

This includes the growth rate of revenue, the size of the team, and the cost of doing business.

It demonstrates the business can become profitable and scalable.

The financial forecast also shows when the business will become profitable and how much money could be generated by it.

Founders should include a slide in the deck for the five-year financial forecast.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

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For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
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Be Founder-Friendly To Gain More Dealflow

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Founders live in the center of the startup world and thus see many companies raising funding.

A startup investor will do well to tap into the knowledge of founders about other startups raising funding.

An investor who treats founders well will find they are often amenable to making referrals.

Here are some key steps on how to be founder-friendly.

Be timely with founders' requests for information such as signed term sheets and invested funds.

Make life easier on the founder, as they have plenty of other investors who will end up taking their time for special questions and unique situations.

Follow up investor updates with helpful information and words of encouragement.

As often as possible, try to help with founder asks including introductions.

Update the founder on what you are looking for in startups.

Ask for introductions to other founders where they fit the investment criteria.

Develop an expertise or skill that founders need and build a reputation for providing some level of it at no cost to founders.

This will give founders an easy way to introduce the investor to other startups.

Consider these steps for being founder-friendly.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Founderflow vs Dealflow

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup investors spend their day looking for quality deals.

There are business plan competitions, demo days, and other formats where founders pitch.

Then there's warm introductions and referrals.

The quality of these deals tends to be higher.

Most investors don't take time to refer a low-quality deal.

Instead of looking for dealflow, search for founders

Look for successful founders and track their progress.

Here are several reasons to track founders:

They often know how to find good ideas for startups.

They know other founders who have found a good idea and are now raising funding.

They can help screen startups raising funding with more incisive questions.

They can help coach funded startups in the investors' portfolio.

They often know where to find quality deals.

They can make referrals to the ones that pass muster.

Build a network of experienced founders and check in with them often.

This is called Founderflow.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

_______________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.