Startup Success: Funding the Early Stages of Your Venture

Youve got yourself a startup! But now wheres the funding going to come from?In this day and age creating a startup seems to be an easy process. After some meetings with an equally passionate cofounder you discover you have a creative idea the outline of a business plan and a willingness to spend nights and weekends doing really hard work. But most startup founders have never run a company--much less had to secure funding to reach crucial milestones. If you dont get the funding you need you may either make progress at a snails pace or you may have to give up altogether.With stakes this high improving a startup founders odds of fundraising successfully--even just a little--can make a huge difference in the outcome of a venture. In this informative and enlightening book Gordon Daugherty demystifies the fundraising process that takes place during the early phases of a startups evolution.Every founder cares about the valuation they will be able to negotiate with investors and anyone who has attempted fundraising has encountered numerous debates about the valuation theyre asking for. Startup Success dedicates a whole chapter to negotiating valuation which in the end involves a serious combination of art and science to execute effectively.Daughertys book serves as a valuable educational and planning tool for use before the fundraising campaign begins and a reference guide for interacting and negotiating with investors after things get underway. Startup Success is written in a logical sequence that follows the general life cycle of planning and executing a successful fundraising campaign. Actionable tips tricks and aha realizations will have readers dog-earing pages and highlighting passages for future reference. The authors own words tell it all: I decided to write something different that best exploits the gray in my hair and the hard lessons Ive learned. Any startup founder advisor or angel investor--regardless of their experience level--will come away with improved skills and an increased knowledge base.Gordon Daugherty is a seasoned business executive entrepreneur startup advisor and investor. He has made more than 200 investments in early-stage companies as a venture fund manager and angel investor and he has been involved in raising more than $80 million in growth and venture capital.