entrepreneurship

European VC Plural has carved out a reputation for itself as being one of the few VCs in the region started and led by entrepreneurs who grew their own startups.…

Plural, the VC led by founders, pulls together a new $432M fund to back European startups

Entrepreneurship is all about taking risks. It means innovating without fear of failure, stepping into the unknown, and pursuing ambitious ideas.

Turn headwinds into opportunity in 2024

According to the SBA, veterans are roughly 45% more likely to form their own business compared to people who haven’t served in the military.

Veteran to visionary: What I learned in the Marines about being a fintech founder

Veterans already possess many of the skills and attributes needed to be a successful entrepreneur — including having courage.

How to leverage military experience to become a successful entrepreneur

If you’d like to know what investors are looking for, how they want to be approached and what they’re most likely to ask, keep reading.

How to pitch me: 7 investors discuss what they’re looking for in September 2023

The impact of AI-first companies will be greater, financial returns superior, and moats more enduring than their AI-enabled counterparts.

Six imperatives for building AI-first companies

If AI is essential to your solution, you should be prepared to explain the measurable impact it has on your product offering.

Here’s how we raised a Series B for our AI startup during a downturn

Here’s a high-level guide for evaluating an AI-based solution as a potential customer — an enterprise buyer scorecard, if you will.

How to buy an AI solution the right way: 7 questions new customers should consider

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How to pitch me: 15 investors talk about what they’re looking for in August 2023

“I suggest reaching out right before Labor Day to set up a meeting in September or wait and start your outreach altogether next month.”

8:00 pm PDT • August 31, 2023
How to pitch me: 15 investors talk about what they’re looking for in August 2023

Appreciation isn’t just about gifts or praise. It’s about taking the employee — their experiences and interests — into consideration.

4 steps founders can take today to improve team recognition tomorrow

Hire experienced talent early, allocate 10% of revenue to marketing, and continue dividing team responsibilities as you scale.

5 growth lessons we learned while scaling from $2M to $3M ARR

As a founder, you can get the most out of legal help by deploying a few smart strategies that won’t break the bank or blow your budget.

Beat the clock: 6 smart ways startups can use lawyers effectively

With concise materials, you can make board meetings more effective and leave room for useful conversations.

Early-stage board decks are dead: How to run a meeting in 60 minutes

Even the most experienced angel investors and VCs can overlook red flags that are not immediately apparent.

Hidden in plain sight: 5 red flags for investors

“This is really only talking about world-changing, big-ass businesses with a lot of impact that could be a billion dollars or more in value.”

NFX’s James Currier: Where unicorn ideas come from and why founders ‘have to keep pivoting’

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How to run efficient and effective early-stage board meetings

These slides are from seed and Series A stage companies that did a great job of informing their boards and driving constructive discussions.

4:30 am PDT • May 2, 2023
How to run efficient and effective early-stage board meetings

I’m going to save you some time: many, if not most, of you are probably not yet ready to pitch an investor.

How to pitch me: 5 investors discuss what they’re looking for in April 2023

While I hope for the best for companies banking with SVB, it’s important for founders and CEOs to plan for the worst. This will be the weekend that differentiates a…

A 10-step playbook for founders with Silicon Valley Bank accounts

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Tech layoffs are creating a new era of scrappy (and humbled) founders

An emerging class of founders is reminding the ecosystem how collapse can be an activator.

10:00 am PST • February 17, 2023
Tech layoffs are creating a new era of scrappy (and humbled) founders

Depending on where you worked and what you did, you may already have the experience investors are looking for.

TechCrunch+ roundup: Advice for laid-off techies, fintech flops, how to build a growth team

You may already have the experience investors are looking for when it comes to reaching product-market fit and solving engineering problems.

6 VCs share advice for laid-off tech workers planning to launch startups

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What can the 2000 dot-com crash teach us about the 2022 tech downturn?

“When you no longer believe, if you’re not buying what you’re selling anymore, then it is time to stop,” said M13 Partner Anna Barber.

8:00 am PDT • September 27, 2022
What can the 2000 dot-com crash teach us about the 2022 tech downturn?

There’s no nice way to say this: when it comes to onboarding new employees, most early-stage startups are either inept or uninterested.

TechCrunch+ roundup: Due diligence roadmap, employment law basics, YC’s Michael Seibel

As fintechs become more efficient, so too do fraudsters. “Faster instant payments mean faster fraud,” Sardine CEO and co-founder Soups Ranjan told TechCrunch. That’s the thesis behind his startup, which…

Sardine raises $51.5M led by a16z to sniff out fishy fintech transactions

Web Summit, one of the world’s largest events centered around technology startups, is to launch a brand-new venture capital vehicle consisting of two new funds, TechCrunch understands. The move follows…

Sources say Web Summit Ventures will be a new $40M follow-on fund

OurCrowd, the global crowdfunding venture firm, today announced its newest fund. As the organization announced at today’s Clinton Global Initiative event in New York, it is partnering with the WHO…

OurCrowd announces its new $200M Global Health Equity Fund

A significant number of companies are following popular advice to try and break even, but the sad truth is that this is probably the worst possible advice for most startups…

‘Just break even’ may be the worst possible advice for startups in turbulent times

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Stop spending so much time on your product when pitching to investors

It’s natural for founders to live and breathe for their customers and product, but the dirty little secret of fundraising is that your investors are extraordinarily unlikely to care about your product

8:00 am PDT • September 18, 2022
Stop spending so much time on your product when pitching to investors

The investors I’ve spoken to recently are still open to good ideas, but when they come from founders who are already working toward product-market fit, it boosts their confidence.

TechCrunch+ roundup: Growth activation metrics, 3 keys to Series B, pitch deck teardown

Despite well-known volatility in the crypto market, crypto startups building infrastructure to support the industry’s long-term growth have seemed to fare better than their peers. This is especially true for…

Goldsky raises $20M to bring real-time, on-chain data to crypto companies