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New Pick: Invest in Ending Opioid Addiction

By Andy Gordon on March 18, 2021

DEAL DETAILS Startup: Phoenix PharmaLabs Security type: Common stock Round size: Side-by-side raise – up to $1.07 million under Reg. CF  Share price: $1.00 Valuation: $26,790,283  Minimum investment: $99.00 Investment portal: Netcapital Deadline: March 23, 2021 (Phoenix has requested an extension to April 23, 2021, but it has not yet been approved.)…
The tech sector is under attack. Lawsuits. Politicians. Regulators. They’re all gunning for the tech industry. But what about the venture capital firms that financed the industry’s growth?  These companies should also command our attention. Their money nurtured big tech companies in their early years. More…
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I’ve been writing about rising valuations for a while now. But this week, I saw a deal that was so crazily priced, I just have to write about it again. This young San Francisco-based startup had about $700k in annual recurring…
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Equity crowdfunding and venture capitalism share some similarities. But they’re also fundamentally different ways to invest. So it’s important to understand how they’re different. That way, investors can make the right decision when they’re crowdfunding a startup. In this week’s Startup Insider,…
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Goldman Sachs is on the Bullish Bitcoin Train

By Adam Sharp on March 12, 2021

This week we got a new podcast featuring Mathew McDermott, head of Digital Assets for Goldman Sachs’ Global Markets Division. He discussed booming crypto demand from clients and what’s driving the move. Bitcoin.com provided a nice summary of the conversation. Here…
One year ago — on March 12th, 2020 — bitcoin was trading at $6,131 per coin. It had been valued at more than $12,000 in June 2019. But markets everywhere were in a bit of a panic last March, and stocks were trading…
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Startup Insider: Why CityZenith Is Hosting its Own Raise

By Early Investing on March 11, 2021

Andy Gordon first recommended CityZenith as an investment opportunity at a $20M valuation in the summer of 2019. He recommended them again this past September at a $27.4 million valuation. CityZenith briefly paused that raise (watch this week’s…

The One Thing All Good Founders Have in Common

By Andy Gordon on March 10, 2021

Why do founders become founders? There are certainly easier paths to wealth. Like what I do. A good startup investor makes more than a great startup founder eight out of 10 times. I should know — I’ve done both. And I’ve made a lot more investing…
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Top Tips From Six Years of Startup Investing

By Adam Sharp on March 9, 2021

I’ve now been investing in startups for more than six years. And it’s taken that long to prove concretely that what I’m doing is working.  This is the frustrating — yet rewarding — truth of startup investing. It takes a very long time to see results.
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JP Morgan released an interesting survey this week. It polled 3,400 institutional investors — representing 1,500 firms — about their views on crypto. Here are some highlights: 11% of respondents work at firms that own or trade crypto. 22% said their companies are likely…
Like a huge portion of Americans, I use Amazon a LOT these days. And with a 50% market share, it absolutely dominates online sales in the country.  But lately I’m frustrated with it. I’ve bought a few items recently that were…
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New Pick: This Medtech Startup is Ahead of Its Time

By Andy Gordon on March 4, 2021

Deal Details Startup: InnaMed Security type: Future Equity Agreement (SAFE) Valuation (cap): $20 million (to increase to $25 million) Minimum investment: $100 Where to invest: Wefunder Deadline…

Hardware Startups Have a Secret Strength

By Andy Gordon on March 3, 2021

Hardware is risky. Making something you can touch and feel usually takes more money and time than developing software products.  Yet five out of the last seven startups I recommended to my First Stage Investor members are hardware (or hybrid hardware and…
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Be a Value-Add Investor

By Adam Sharp on March 2, 2021

One of my favorite things about early-stage investing is that the companies are small enough that investors actually have a chance to make a meaningful impact. In the VC/angel world, this is known as being a “value-add investor.” As online startup investors, we can certainly add…
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If you’ve ever wanted to understand how really smart founders think — or how biotech startups operate — then this episode of Startup Insider is for you. Monogram Orthopaedics’ co-founders Ben Sexson and Dr. Doug Unis joined Andy Gordon and Vin Narayanan for a wide-ranging conversation about their…
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Bitcoin Is on the Path to Surpass Gold

By Adam Sharp on February 26, 2021

For now, it appears that our decision to take some profits last week may have been wise. Crypto is correcting pretty hard right now — which is perfectly normal and should be expected. I would be very worried if we weren’t seeing sizable corrections. …