Archive: startups

Two Ways Startups Are Benefiting From the Great Resignation

By Allison Brickell on January 26, 2022

Headlines about the “labor shortage” have become a near daily occurrence. Millions of Americans are quitting their jobs and looking for better offers.  But in reality, there isn’t a shortage of people who want to work. It’s just that more people are rejecting the low pay and sub-par benefits that many jobs offer.  Many companies are struggling with this. They don’t want to raise wages or change benefit structures. And they’re losing their employees…
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The Real Reason VCs Are Investing So Much In Startups

By Vin Narayanan on January 25, 2022

Last month, I flew out to Seattle for an event to meet up with angel investors, venture capitalists and some of the largest players in wealth management and private equity. The people in the room represented firms that had more than $10 trillion in assets under management combined.
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Startup Insider: ESG Investing Makes an Impact

By Early Investing on January 20, 2022

A growing number of investors are focusing on companies with ESG initiatives — environmental, social and corporate governance. These non-financial factors are standards that measure the ethical impact and sustainability of an investment in a company. This is also known as impact investing or sustainable investing. …
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I had hoped that the dramatic startup valuation increases in seed and Series A rounds would start slowing late last year. Unfortunately I haven’t seen much evidence of that so far. I’d guess that seed stage startup valuations are still up around 2.5x since I started…

Early Investing’s 2022 Predictions Extravaganza

By Early Investing on December 29, 2021

2022 is almost here. And we’re thinking about what the new year might bring. So the Early Investing team has decided to make some predictions – most of which are sure to be wrong. But we like to try anyway.
Note: Our friends at KingsCrowd have fascinating conversations with all kinds of entrepreneurs on their startup investing podcast. In a recent episode, KingsCrowd founder Chris Lustrino spoke with Shari Noonan, CEO and co-founder of Rialto Markets. Rialto provides a secondary market trading platform for buying and selling shares…
The other day I was talking to a friend who is just getting started with investing. He asked my opinion on how to build a portfolio from scratch. In this environment, that is a very tricky question. The S&P 500 currently trades…

All About the New Early Investing Website

By Vin Narayanan on December 15, 2021

The new Early Investing website is now live! For the first time since 2013, we’ve updated our look. Our continuing goal is to make the Early Investing website as easy to use as possible so that you can…
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Startup Insider: The 2021 Holiday Gift Guide

By Early Investing on December 13, 2021

The holiday season is upon us. And that means it’s time to do some shopping.  If you’re in need of some quality gift ideas, look no further. In this episode of Startup Insider, Vin Narayanan and Andy Gordon provide gift recommendations from some of…

Top 10 Startup Valuations Both Online and Offline

By KingsCrowd on December 1, 2021

Note: Determining startup valuations is more of an art than a science. Lately, we’ve written about how startup valuations are reaching eye-popping highs. But how do online startup valuations and offline startup valuations compare? That’s the question that our friends at KingsCrowd address…
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Deal Details Startup: UpCounsel Security type: SAFE Valuation (cap): $28 million  Minimum investment: $250 Where to invest: Wefunder Deadline: December 9,…
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“We need decarbonization now, across every sector in every country,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres tweeted earlier this week. Don’t kill the messenger here, but he’s spitting in the wind. A plea for governments to pick up the pace of decarbonization will do little good. Not…
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Startup Insider: What Makes a Bad Founder

By Early Investing on November 1, 2021

At First Stage Investor, we spend a lot of time talking about founders. We usually focus on what makes a good founder — the qualities that investors should look for before they sink money into a startup.  But since we just celebrated…
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Watch Out for This Serious Startup Investing Red Flag

By Adam Sharp on October 19, 2021

Oftentimes in seed rounds, companies explain that they need to raise money before really getting the business started. This can be a serious red flag, depending on the situation. If the company was founded months (or years) ago but has made little to no progress, that’s…

Look Beyond Big Tech Investments

By Allison Brickell on October 13, 2021

Last Monday, Facebook experienced an outage that lasted for about six hours. Users couldn’t access Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, Whatsapp or OculusVR.  The effects were felt across the world. Suddenly, everyone who relied on Facebook or WhatsApp for communication was left in a lurch. Even…

Why I Will Never Invest in a Scooter Startup

By Vin Narayanan on October 6, 2021

I love riding scooters. They’re ubiquitous in big cities and college towns. Everywhere you walk, there they are — just waiting to be used.  Electric scooters are perfect for trips that are too far to walk, but too short to drive. It requires almost no effort…