I’ve had first hand experience of the difficulties in gaining a work visa in the US. It isn’t as simple as filling out a form, getting it stamped and looking for a job. No, it’s actually quite backwards. First you need to find a job, then you apply for a visa. For those unlucky people residing in countries which aren’t listed on the visa waver program, finding a job must be done remote. That was one thing I had in my favor. Being an Australian citizen, I could travel to the US for up to 90 days to secure a job before returning home to apply for a visa.
From the category archives:
Raising Capital
Recently I was invited to present to the selection committee of an Angel Group. The role of the selection committee is to assess companies and approve/dissapprove them to present in front of their members.
The presentation went well, enthousiasm and excitement was generated amongst my audience and I successfully passed the test – our company has been invited to present to the Angel Groups members. Good oh!!!! Then comes the paperwork for me to fill out: company name (no problem), company description (easy), credit card details……. huh, for what?
In the later stages of 2009 I connected with an angel group: Band of Angels. Their deal coordinator put me onto a presentation where Dr. Ian Sobieski (a founder and managing director of the Band of Angels Fund) sits as a panel members for the presentation Funding Your Dream.
The presentation offers great advice for any entrepreneur seeking seed capital. A range of topics are covered including the mistakes entrepreneurs commonly make when presenting, the average number of deals each VC company makes and a very important topic for start-ups seeking capital: how to connect with investors.
I’m a little late with this post. But hopefully the wait was well worth it as I do have some good news to share.
Yesterday ended Global Entrepreneurship Week, a week long program, celebrating entrepreneurs and encouraging free thinking within our youth. The goals of the week are to Inspire, Connect, Mentor and Engage. As an interesting coincidence the early goals of MySchoolAct were to Inspire, Educate, Create and Celebrate. Personally I think MySchoolAct’s goal’s are much more catchier, and so they should be, after all we are in the entertainment industry.
Most entrepreneurs are guilty of moving at a fast pace; so much so that they advance their product without gauging market intelligence. You see, most entrepreneurs are “the glass is half full” people. They come up with an idea, tell a few friends (who get excited, and of course they do they are friends), they search the net to see if there is a need for their idea and then presto, a new company is formed.
Yesterday, the NY Times printed a great article on Angel Investing and Bootstrapping.
To see the article click here.
The article is a must read for start-up businesses.
The article starts off with some interesting facts:
The rules of the game of angel investing have changed in the post-crisis world. The average deal size shrank by 31 percent in the first half of this year.
…. and continues with some great advice on bootstrapping:
I really enjoyed reading a recent post on a VC blog, discussing the “right” level of ownership you should give up to a VC.
Within the post, the author, Fred Wilson notes that the level of VC ownership is generally “20pcnt, but it is frequently 30pcnt”.
The post raises a very good point about VC’s needing a certain level of ownership, however its my opinion that the said level has no intelligent reason behind it, rather the level is set because of company policy or “just because”. Fred Wilson describes this behavior by VC’s as being unproductive and says that VC’s are putting their needs before the needs of their portfolio companies and the entrepreneurs who form them.
