The Airbnb pitch deck from 2009 has become an increasingly popular reference for entrepreneurs around the world. The company founders, Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk used this pitch to raise $600K from Sequoia Capital and Y Ventures. The company has since become a giant in the Travel industry, closing a round in early 2015 on a valuation of over USD $20 Billion.
Originally recovered from a 2011 talk by Blecharczyk on Startup Bootcamp in Boston, we got a glimpse at the exact slides that they used to pitch investors on their original fundraise. The deck was incredibly successful at summarizing the company vision and the huge market opportunity they had before them.
We’ve added all the original slides in this article along wit...
For many first-time founders, pulling an idea off the ground might look easy, yet a lot of them fail in their first few attempts.
According to CB Insights, more than 50% of startups fail in their first four years. 42% of them do because of a lack of market need, 29% run out of cash and 14% ignored their customers.
Founders learn about this process gradually, and often the hard way. The counter-intuitive nature of startups makes it difficult for first-time founders to have the right guesses at first.
It is clear that this stage was a legitimate challenge within the startup community — and it needs to be addressed.
Conversations were had and attentions were focused on fleshing out the very best way to assist these fledgeling startups to mark...
There are only a handful of common angel investment terms that you should be familiar with before you go out looking for capital.
Angel investors will generally be pretty forgiving if you don’t know everything there is to know about structuring an angel investment deal or reviewing a term sheet. So don’t get too worked up if you don’t know the details here (why would you?).
All that being said, there are a handful of common angel investment terms that you should be familiar with because they will have a material impact on how your deal looks. As long as you understand the basic conce...
A good business plan does more than just inform readers about what your company does, how you earn money, or what you want to do. It persuades the reader that your company is awesome, gets them excited about the opportunity to get involved, and makes them want to help you succeed.
But how do you write a good business plan for investors? You probably didn’t go to business school and if you’re a first-time founder, it can be really hard to figure out how to do something so technical. But don’t worry! This guide will walk you through how to write a business plan for investors, will help you answer the most important questions about your business, and will show you the best ways to illustrate them. We’ve also thrown in some additional resources...
Looking for a business grant for veterans? Here’s the thing: Grants are usually open for a set period of time, after which that money is no longer accessible.
As a result, it wouldn’t actually be possible to list out business grants for veterans, because by the time you read this, they may or may not still be available. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t some great financing options out there for vets, like a VA small business loan!
First, we’re going to take a look at the federal government’s database for all small business grants. Then, we’re going to look at some government and private loans for veterans and other small business owners, as well as some veteran-specific training programs and resources.
Remember: Just because you don’t se...
When it comes to types of startup funding, there are a lot of options to consider.
Startups in the early stages need to raise startup capital or funding to survive past the business idea (at minimum) but looking into all the types of funding can be overwhelming to a budding entrepreneur. If you've never heard about pre-seed funding, equity stake, or venture capital funds, we are going to dive into how to raise funds for startups, and the difference between all the funding sources out there.
So, what do all the types of startup funding mean? What are angel investors? How does series funding work? What does equity funding entail? What's the best way to land an investment from a venture capital firm? Is self-funding and crowdfunding ac...
Aaron Leupp is the proud CEO of PromoAffiliates, one of the most popular CPR agencies in the world. They have simple, effective business model: the company generates promotional codes for their clients, and then advertises those codes across the web with sponsored content. Their clients include quite a few big names, such as Uber, Lyft, Drizly, and DoorDash.
I sat down with Aaron to talk specifically about what he’s doing on Youtube. He’s certainly the person to talk to, since the sponsored videos he has set up have led to millions of views and thousands of conversions. Aaron was happy to provide us with some key takeaways from his experience using Youtube micro-influencers: independent channel owners (vloggers, pranksters, etc.) who are w...
Despite how obsessed the startup world is with company culture, there’s no singular definition we can all turn to. But while it’s difficult to put a dictionary definition on company culture, there are really two parts to it: Philosophical and practical.
On a philosophical level, company culture is the intangible atmosphere of your company. Some people call it the “personality” or the “glue that holds everyone together” or even the “soul.” It’s as much a feeling — of belonging, of shared purpose, even of similar ways of dress — as it is an aspiration for the entire company to contribute to.
“The truth is that culture – on its own – is not the thing that will bring you success in whatever way you may define it for you...
Startups set tons of goals, and most are focused on what we want the business to achieve. But sometimes the most important goals to set are the things we DON'T want the business to do!
When we founded Startups.com, we had lots of experience in previous startups doing things we loathed.
This time around, we set out to not only build a startup we loved, but an environment dedicated to avoiding things we couldn’t stand.
We began by listing all of the things we never wanted to do again like:
Among others.
Itemizing everything you absolutely don't want to do again ...
“Corp” stands for “corporation.” If you see it after the name of a company, it means that company is legally incorporated in at least one state. The founders have filled out all the paperwork, paid all the fees, and is viewed as a Corporation by the government and the IRS.
Corps and Incs. are virtually interchangeable when it comes to legal structure, compliance obligations, limited liability or tax structure. But that doesn’t mean you can use the terms interchangeably! Once you register as either a Corp or an Inc, you have to use the term you registered with on all of your legal paperwork.
[H3] Structure of a Corporation Let’s look a the structure of a Corporation. Cor...