Insights
What we’ve learned building companies.
Lessons from the businesses we’ve built with founders, and the ones that taught us the most.
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Beware! This is how startup life REALLY looks.Kayode Odeleye is 41 next month. For over 15 years he was a banker, working in leveraged finance. He neither loved it nor hated it, but he enjoyed the standard of living that investment banking afforded his family. In 2020 he resigned.Read the post →
Investor update template.Yesterday I provided an investor’s perspective on how to write an investor update. There are literally hundreds of different variations on this, but below you’ll find a template I’ve used many times myself, and tweaked over a decade of running venture-backed businesses.Read the post →
How should you update investors?Since 2012, I’ve made 57 angel investments, invested in a further 25 ventures as a limited/general partner, earned “sweat equity” in 5 companies as an advisor, and launched 4 different businesses of my own. Here’s what I’ve learned about investor updates. Note: you can find our investor update template here. Just do it.Read the post →
What is the role of a startup investor?Investors are not creditors; nor are they friends. They’re coaches. As an investor…. – Your job is not to back the winners. It’s to back the players and teams with the most potential, then help them to become the best versions of themselves. – If you CAN’T offer support, that’s fine, but stay quiet.Read the post →
How can a pre-revenue startup show traction?Founders who believe it’s impossible to build traction without first raising money should think again. Given the plethora of free tools, resources, and data available online, there are a whole host of things founders can do to build momentum, even if their product is still in stealth mode and yet to launch.Read the post →
Good versus bad angel investors.Most startup founders say they want smart, value-added money. At the end of the day, though, they primarily just want money. That doesn’t mean that all money is equal. A good investor can add value while a bad one can destroy it. Here are some of the things to look out for. What separates aRead the post →
Want to launch a startup? Look for low marginal cost.Sorry, but no. I won’t invest in your consulting / teaching / designing / building / manufacturing / retail / tourism / transport / services business. Nor will anyone else… … Unless they love you. I spoke with a lovely chap yesterday in the North of England.Read the post →
How can you help?In a recent call with some DQventures investors, we explained three types of introduction that we always welcome. This post aims to widen the net. If you know of anyone who matches one of the following descriptions, we would be delighted to hear from you… or them.Read the post →
When should founders ask investors to sign an NDA?Before I start I want to point out that none of this is legal advice. I have no legal training, nor do I intend to provide advice about protecting your IP. The purpose of this article is to help explain how investors think. Hopefully it will help you avoid errors that, I’m sure, have costRead the post →
What does the ideal fundraising process look like?This post was prompted by, and is dedicated to, the reams of terrible marketing emails I receive from founders looking for money. In July 2022, I posted DQventures’ investment criteria on LinkedIn, without really thinking about it.Read the post →
No, actually you don’t need a VC.But they might need you! Many startup founders, when looking for early-stage capital, automatically assume they need VCs (venture capitalists). Most are wrong. Hours upon hours of founders’ time is wasted chasing the wrong kind of investor. This is time most startups simply can’t afford to lose.Read the post →
Should you assign a valuation to price your startup’s investment round?One question we’re asked, from time to time is: should founders price their round? The answer we give is that is depends entirely on your stage. How should early-stage founders value their startup?Read the post →