A startup’s cap table, or capitalisation table, is an important artifact for investors to evaluate a candidate for investment. In essence, a cap table shows who has put money into the company over time, on what terms, and who owns what. A cap table tells a financial story about the history of the company, and…
Continue reading →New Zealand Growth Capital Partners (NZGCP), the NZ Government-backed early stage investment fund, ran an interview with me today on their Kōrerorero blog, discussing general approaches to angel investment. I answer questions like: As an Angel investor, what do you look for before investing? What are your top tips for Kiwi companies with high-growth potential?…
Continue reading →The good people at Callaghan Innovation have compiled a little list of New Zealand startups from various sources as part of the Scale Up NZ project. The list is rough, but it’s ready, and as they say, perfect is the enemy of good. I’m told it’s a temporary fixture, and can be distributed freely. If…
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I have been given the Angel Association of New Zealand’s supreme award for 2018, the Arch Angel Award. This is a huge honour for me, and came as a complete surprise. I want to thank all of the people who have co-invested with me and helped me along the way, and especially the amazing NZ…
Continue reading →I was asked recently by one of the companies I’m working with that is post-prototype, but pre-revenue: How can I make this deal sweet enough for early stage investors without jeapordising future investment or diluting founders further? That is the dilemma. As a founder, you need to get cash into the company to grow, often…
Continue reading →I recently took on the role of Entrepreneur in Residence at the Kiwibank Fintech Accelerator, powered by Lightning Lab. Consider me the “Mentor-in-Chief” – as well as advising the ventures and helping them make great connections and destroy roadblocks, my main job is curating the relationships between the ventures and their mentors, and later in…
Continue reading →What do angel investors like me look for in investable early-stage companies? It’s all about: You and your team Your market Your startup Your progress Your financial plan Your investment terms Your other investors (and a few other things too). Watch the video of a talk I gave on the subject at CreativeHQ‘s Startup Garage…
Continue reading →I’m planning on being very involved in the Lightning Lab Christchurch accelerator programme that starts next week, mainly as a mentor. As I look back on both Lightning Lab Wellington accelerators where I mentored in 2013 and 2014, I felt that most of the teams could have used their mentors more effectively. With that in…
Continue reading →Last weekend I was invited to be a panelist on Radio NZ’s “The Weekend” programme with Lynn Freeman, discussing what it takes for startups to thrive. You can hear the audio here: I took some notes before the panel, of all of the things that I wanted to say – but of course in these…
Continue reading →Idealog magazine published an article today about a great little initiative by MYOB – getting people to pitch their startup ideas for a cup of coffee on their way to work. Nice one, Sarah Putt – I’m all for anything that encourages people to find their inner entrepreneur and find the courage to share. Sarah…
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