For our investor and entrepreneur community, education is a necessity for funding and building a company. Investors need to understand what to look for and how to evaluate startups, how to invest through equity crowdfunding, what are typical returns, and what to do after an investment is made. Founders are looking to find tricks and tips for attracting investors, getting investor meetings, setting the right terms, and, ultimately, successfully raising money. We’ve been offering educational webinars for quite some time, covering topics such as Startup Investing/Startup Fundraising 101, Attracting and Retaining Top Talent, and Investing Advice from the pros. To change things up, we wanted to give entrepreneurs the opportunity to drive the conversation.
On Thursday, February 19th, we hosted a panel of industry experts in a webinar entirely devoted to answering questions related to fundraising for your startup. Moderated by Onevest CEO Alejandro Cremades, we had a fantastic panel that covered all aspects of the investing world. Peter J. Fusco, Partner at Lowenstein Sandler LLP, is an expert from the legal front, having been involved with over 1,000 offerings in the past 24 months. Representing the venture capital industry, Frank Rotman, Founding Partner of QED Investors, has almost 20 years of experience in consumer and small business finance. Lastly, Ariel Poler is a renowned angel investor, mentor and entrepreneur, having invested in startups like AdMob, Slideshare and Flixster.
The webinar covered a lot of important topics, including:
Why fundraising is like a mutual dating exercise
Frank Rotman’s “0.8 to the 5th Theory” regarding what needs to go right for startups to succeed
The number one factor VCs and angels use when evaluating a startup
How to address fundraising in the US for international startups
What is more important than revenue, traction, and any other numbers you can show in a slide deck
Let us know what you thought in the comments below.