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New Recommendation: VetPronto
By Adam Sharp on October 12, 2016
Deal Details Valuation: $5 million cap (the maximum valuation your shares will convert at) Security: Convertible debt (a note that will convert into preferred shares) Maximum amount to be raised: $1,000,000 Currently raised: $132,000 (as of 10/10/2016) Minimum investment: $100 VetPronto offers on-demand veterinary service. That’s right. Your pets can now take house calls from licensed veterinarians. I believe VetPronto has the team, vision, and tenacity to turn this into a large and profitable business. The…
Member Update
By Adam Sharp on September 19, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, If you read our free e-letter, Early Investing, you know that I’m bullish on the legal cannabis industry. What we’re seeing today is a rare opportunity that comes along only every few decades. The illegal marijuana market is estimated to be around $50 billion per year…
Upcoming Exclusive Pre-IPO Fund
By Adam Sharp on August 17, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, My colleague Andy Gordon and I are hard at work preparing another pre-IPO fund for Startup Investor members. We are planning to launch within the next 45 days. If you aren’t familiar with the term “pre-IPO,” it refers to later-stage companies that are still private. One of…
New Recommendation: Barrow’s Intense Ginger Liqueur
By Adam Sharp on August 17, 2016
As I talked with Barrow's Intense founder Josh Morton, it became clear that he has a deep understanding of what it takes to market and distribute this product.
Update on Geekatoo
By Andy Gordon on May 31, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, 444 Castro Street, San Francisco. That’s where Adam and I met Geekatoo Founder Kevin Davis last summer. Geekatoo used to call it home. Not anymore. The slightly larger HelloTech recently acquired Geekatoo. HelloTech was Geekatoo’s competitor. It operated in the same market and chased the same…
Update on Dealflicks
By Andy Gordon on May 2, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, Last time we wrote to you about Dealflicks, it was doing just fine, even exceeding our expectations. That was last October. At the time, the company was pulling in revenue at a $4 million annual rate. And it had expanded to 600 locations.
Two Outstanding Opportunities: Virtuix and Wefunder
By Andy Gordon on April 19, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, Our friends at The Oxford Club invited Adam and me to come speak at their annual investment conference. That’s where we were last week. As in previous years, we talked a lot and learned a lot. And as in previous years, we’ve come back to Baltimore with…
Cannabis Science and the War on Drugs
By Adam Sharp on March 25, 2016
Medical cannabis is already beginning to disrupt the pharmaceutical space. As I'll explain, it has the potential to take significant market share.
Update on Appvance
By Andy Gordon on March 11, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, I’m pleased to report that Appvance just closed its second post-Series A raise. This one was for $5 million. Half was new VC money. The other half was from a convertible note raise done last February and converted into shares as part of Appvance’s current…
Update on Care at Hand
By Andy Gordon on February 29, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, Care at Hand is based in Washington, D.C. I’m in Baltimore, an hour away. So when Dr. Andrey Ostrovsky, the founder and CEO of Care at Hand, invited me to dinner, I hopped in my car, drove down I-95 and met him at the Blue Duck…
Update on Magnises
By Andy Gordon on January 29, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, Our portfolio holding Magnises is a credit card company. It also serves as a sort of club for millennials. And, much like an American Express card, it offers perks to its members. You can think of it as the American Express card for millennials… but clubbier.
Tabs and Phabs and the Changing Face of Mobile
By Andy Gordon on January 7, 2016
Dear Startup Investor, I thought I’d share with you an inside look at current mobile user trends, as reported by Flurry yesterday. Flurry – now part of Yahoo – has been tracking the mobile industry for seven years now. It monitors more than 2.1 billion smart devices worldwide. Flurry…
Update on Trustify
By Andy Gordon on December 15, 2015
Dear Startup Investor, We recommended Trustify in late July. Back then, it lacked a major investor. But we liked the company so much, we recommended it anyway. A few weeks ago, it landed its big fish – Lowercase Capital. This venture capital (VC) firm is one of…
Reminder: Barbara Corcoran Venture Partners Fund (Exclusive)
By Adam Sharp on December 8, 2015
Dear Startup Investor, Time is running out… Your chance to invest alongside Barbara Corcoran (of Shark Tank fame) and her partner, savvy veteran investor Phil Nadel, won’t be around much longer. On December 31, the fund officially closes. This is your last chance to participate in an opportunity brimming…
Update on Appvance
By Andy Gordon on November 13, 2015
Dear Startup Investor, There is a company in our Startup Investor portfolio that doesn’t get the attention it deserves. It’s one of the startups I like the most, but talk about the least. The company is Appvance. I recommended it to you in January 2014. Its founder and CEO…
Boom vs. Bust
By Andy Gordon on November 6, 2015
Dear Startup Investor, I emailed my partner Adam this morning. It said, “Read Sam Altman’s latest blog. He nails it.” Adam’s reply: “It’s nice someone in Silicon Valley agrees with us.” Ah, yes, finally a voice of reason. And from a respected entrepreneur and investor from deep inside Silicon Valley…