A well recognised route a startup can take to find investors are crowdfunding and angel investment platforms. They provide businesses with a stage to present their investment opportunity and the administrative systems to accept investment in an orderly manner. This has been achieved by the use of new technology and the implementation of efficient business […]
When a startup founder establishes their business they will likely have a strategy in mind for how they will fund it. This generally starts with savings, grants and bootstrapping tactics. In most cases this will be followed by an investment round from angels or other invsetors. What is often overlooked in Northern Ireland is the […]
What is R&D? When a business sees a challenge or a gap in the market and starts investigating different ways to fill it, they could end up trying to create a new product, change a process – or simply extend the knowledge within a certain field. This is Research and Development (R&D) and this activity […]
As we start to sift through a new round of startups looking for guidance on their road, it’s worth going over again the challenges that every startup faces. This isn’t to say that all founders need guidance – some people are extremely capable of navigating their way. Those folks are rare enough and opportunities are […]
Last week saw the launch of the Creative Industries Seed Fund in Northern Ireland. Obviously a direct descendent of the Innovation Fund it’s not quite as open as the predecessor because it’s definitely aimed at Digital. If you recall, 40% of the Innovation Fund was dedicated to Digital previously – this will be close to […]
A podcast with DHH and Dave Teare about the possible changes in taking investment. It’s possible to build a company by building and selling products and services. But there’s also a lot of pressure to talk about investment and specifically to talk about exits. This podcast is very informative. It’s about how would you keep […]
The European Commission announced that it has awarded over €278M to 75 startups and SMEs through its accelerator pilot. @EUScienceInnovwas founded in JN to help entrepreneurs, #SMB, innovators and scientists scale their organisations internationally. Read More Worth noting there were three in Ireland and none in the UK.
Francesca (Check) Warner writes: The mission of the fund is to open access to venture capital funding for people building businesses serving customers who are underserved by venture-backed companies, products and services. These ‘overlooked’ people include women, black, Asian and other founders from minority ethnic groups in the UK, the over 50s population, founders from […]
(In Part I and Part II, Michael explains the investment process in an attempt to give a realistic depiction of the time it takes to get an investment round through – in this list it’s all about getting it over the final hurdle.) Stage 3 (6 weeks) – Due Diligence and close – dragging deal […]
(In the previous posting, Michael describes the first part of the investment process to give an indication of the timescales involved and how it can be difficult and frustrating for founders – but equally how this must be understood.) Stage 2 (10 weeks) – Promoting your Raise The best analogy for this is dating. Work […]
