Highlights for Entrepreneurs (03/14/24)
Paul Shapiro
(CPA retired), Startup Advisor (CFO and Controller for early stage tech and internet companies); Highlights for Entrepreneurs newsletter
Happy Pi Day! I'm glad to be back in LA, especially after a nice balmy (but pretty windy) ride with my cycling group. Beats the 30 degrees in Ithaca! Thank you for reading my newsletter and I hope you have a very nice St. Patrick's Day on Sunday (don't forget that Monday is NOT a holiday!)
I know that you are very busy, but I hope you enjoy the curated information and the?music selections?in the newsletter.?Get in touch if you have any feedback,?sources or other interested?readers - feel free to forward!??If you hear of any?upcoming events, please pass them along too! If the links speak to you, consider subscribing to the source! If you find a link particularly interesting, let me know so I can look for more like it.
Have a great week,?be safe and healthy...?and take some time to care for yourself!?Here are this?week's resources for you to check out.?
Paul?
- Attend their panel celebrating Women VCs and Founders during Women's History Month.
- Fractional CFO Debbie Rosler will walk through best practices in setting up bookkeeping, accounting, and tax systems for pre-seed and seed-stage companies.
- Every startup that completes the online Pre-Screen and Quarter-Finals Surveys learns about investor diligence and receives a free assessment of how they will be viewed by potential investors.
- This event is designed for aspiring technology entrepreneurs, startup founders, and technology professionals, looking to meet the best in the industry.
- A16Z GAMES SPEEDRUN is back bringing?their Tech x Games accelerator to Los Angeles later this summer. SR003 will run for 12-weeks starting July 29th, culminating in a Demo Day during SF Tech Week.?
- In this third workshop of the Startup Fundamentals series, Roger Rappoport, a former entrepreneur and currently a partner and the leader of the Emerging Growth & Venture Capital Practice Group at Procopio, an AMLAW 200 law firm in Silicon Valley, will conduct an interactive, informative session with great takeaway materials and actionable items, with in depth content on the terms and term sheets for a seed, angel, convertible debt, Safe (pre-money and post-money) and Series A round.
- "Given the dislocation of the regional banking market in early 2023, we discussed how venture investors and companies should think about the supply of venture debt, the proper uses, and what we should expect moving forward."
- Another great video from Royse with the key legal issues to avoid. Number 1 as always is proper documentation and tracking of your equity, but there's several more close behind
9)?Y Combinator: The Truth About Building AI Startups Today [Lightcone Podcast Ep. 1] (Podcast video)
- This is the 1st episode of this YC podcast series, focusing on YC preferences and?the ideas that are working particularly well, mistakes to avoid, and? a look at the competitive landscape among the current AI giants.
- Do you know about Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS)? It can help you save on taxes when you sell your startup stock, but it's complicated. This is a short overview
- An easy to use template to determine how much marketing you should allocate to obtaining a lead. One of many resources at this site
- I wanted to highlight this series hosted by Minnie Ingersoll focused on LA venture companies. This is Episode 200 featuring a pre-seed and seed investor.
领英推荐
- Posting this before it gets too dated, these investors discuss trends in venture capital, including the growth of fund sizes,, the resurgence of the Bay Area, the decrease in capital efficiency, the rise in unicorn companies but lack of liquidity, and top recent investments
- Create your policy early so the ground rules are known and understood. Ambiguity just leads to pushing of boundaries and someone ends up unhappy
-?"...the unexpected becomes expected. I’ve become so used to anticipating pitfalls, that I expect every founder is doing the same."?This article gives 7 examples of pitfalls that first-time founders will likely face.
Musical Diversions:
A little on the bluegrass side to brighten your day
From the KCRW weekly playlist
Another artist new to me, I could have chosen several other songs from this album.
Former guitarist with Supertramp and an accomplished session man - new album
This Week's Cover:
A cover of Peter Gabriel with Peter Gabriel
In Memoriam (an occasional section, hopefully):?
Tribute to Karl Wallinger, founder of World Party and member of the Waterboys on This Is the Sea
Here's to Eric Carmen, also a solo star but this is from his power pop band
___________________
Paul G. Shapiro, CPA
Startup Consultant
Santa Monica, CA
#StartupLeadership?#startupadvice?#startupfunding??#vcfunding?#Startups?#StartupEquity