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Oregonstartups.com Blog
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Information for startups
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Are You Smarter than an Attorney?
Find out on March 30, 4pm, at OTBC, when we’ll pose questions about common start-up legal issues, and compare your answers with the answers of two Perkins Coie attorneys, Neil Nathanson and Jeff Bock. Learn more and register at this link.
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Angel Groups get Tougher
A Business Week post by Scott Shane with Case Western Reserve University describes his research that shows how angel groups’ deal funnel got tougher from 2007 to 2009. When entrepreneurs apply to a venture group, there’s an initial screening that weeks out many, followed by a pitch, then more due diligence, and then, for a [...]
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Why do entrepreneurs flock to loudmouths as mentors?
A recent Venture Beat post from Will Herman raises a question that has crossed my mind more than once: Why do entrepreneurs flock to loudmouths as mentors? A worthwhile question to consider if you’re starting a company. I agree with Will’s suggestions: recognize that you’re your only savior, access many mentors, and learn about what [...]
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Ask the Attorney: What issues do I need to consider when forming a start-up?
A Venture Beat post, Ask the Attorney: What issues do I need to consider when forming a start-up? has a good summary of the issues that founders should be thinking about very early on. At OTBC, we frequently see start-ups making mistakes relating to these subjects – mistakes that may not be fatal, but that [...]
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How To Calculate A Return On Investment
In a recent post “A VC” Fred Wilson explains How To Calculate A Return On Investment – because he has seen multiple cases of financial projections from entrepreneurs who don’t quite understand ROI. As Fred points out “You don’t need to get a finance MBA to be able to do this kind of thing.” Read [...]
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What does it Take to be a Venture-Fundable Entrepreneur?
At OTBC, we meet with a lot of entrepreneurs who want to raise venture capital to fund their idea. If they haven’t raised venture capital before, they tend to underestimate how difficult it is and how long it takes. One way to increase the odds of getting funded is to understand what VCs look for [...]
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Three Words (times 50) of Advice for Entrepreneurs
Dharmesh Shah published a great post with 50 Three-word phrases that can make your start-up a success. And I agree with (almost) all of them. The only one that makes me a little nervous is the one about “avoid business plans”. But I actually believe in effective business planning more than business plans (I’ve seen [...]
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The reasonable man adapts himself to the world
You may recognize the George Bernard Shaw quote. The rest of it is: the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. From WSJ.com: Venture Capital Dispatch Turning Unreasonable Ideas Into Reality It started with 284 unreasonable ideas. Those were whittled down to 42 [...]
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Needs versus Wants
I’ve often heard it said (and for that matter, I’ve often said myself) that when starting a growth company (one that’s likely to be looking for investment capital from angels or VCs) the entrepreneur’s concept has to be compelling – not just a “want” but a “need” – a “must have” as opposed to a [...]
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Lewis Howes – 8 ways to use social media
A recent Guy Kawasaki How to Change the World post linked to a 6 minute video by Lewis Howes on 8 ways to use social media. A quick summary: Be yourself Get active on at least Facebook Twitter and LinkedIn Provide awesome content Be smart with your time Be consistent Promote others Connect face to [...]
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