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Chapter 1

Start-up
ABC

Chapter 2

Productivity
and Leadership

Chapter 3

Investments and
CAP-table

Chapter 4

Intellectual
Property

CHAPTER 1

Startup ABC by Ivo Remmelg (EstBAN)

Funding rounds

Every investor has their preferred stage of the startup when investing. He/she has their preferred risk levels to take. So unless you would like to get some advice from the investor, make sure you choose the one suitable for your startup’s needs before approaching.  

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What or who is a startup?

Only some businesses work for angel and VC financing and the key here is the scalability of the business.

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Who is the Lead Investor in Angel Rounds?

The probability of the startup’s success increases with every new stage of financing. Therefore the risk of failure is immense and decreases in time. 

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It’s an exit business.

There is a reason, why investors invest in scalable businesses. The reason is in the name — Investor. Investor invests to get the money back with a hefty return.

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Show the results

Investor can quite easily pinpoint the startups that will never succeed – mostly because of team issues, or market, product or something else is to blame. And they are generally right.

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Have a team

Founder only has 24 hours in his day as does every other person on this planet. At least 6 hours is needed for sleep and another 6 hours for all the other stuff – this leaves 12 hours for the creative work. 

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Corporate governance and reporting

There are widely accepted set of rules how companies must be managed: accounting rules and governance regulations, and some unwritten rules about how things must be done. 

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CHAPTER 2

Productivity and Leadership

Founder’s Mental Toughness

Being an entrepreneur is not easy – there is also the other side of the story. However, entrepreneurs or startup founders are only the few per  cent of people who take the risk to build something grand.

Focus and execution in Teams

We can’t focus on more than one thing at a time and it’s scientifically proved that your brain becomes dumber with multitasking. The solution is simple: to single-task.

Effective Planning in Startups

There are three main things to use to improve planning:

One – find your planning system or

Two – block time in your calendar for planning.

Three – align with your team.

Purpose and values of a Founder

Founders rarely focus on the “why?” However, without it, the company might lose its focus.

Robust communication in Teams

Majority of startups don’t have good structure for communication. How to share productive feedback?

Here are some suggestions:

1) have weekly feedback sessions and

2) do not point fingers.

Roles and responsibilities in a Startup

Most early stage teams are multi-taskers in essence: the CEO can be both the bookkeeper, salesman, marketer and … also a leader.

Founder’s Optimal energy

There are some simple truths in startupper’s life:

1) Invest in high quality sleeping habits!

2) Eat properly!

3) Stay hydrated!

4) Exercise! 

You as the founder need to set an example!

CHAPTER 3

Investments and CAP-table

Capitalization Table

Lots of abbrevations are used in startup world. CAP table or capitalisation table is one of the popular ones and essentially it is used to mark down shareholders. There are some rule of thumbs to follow, to make sure that yours looks good for the investor.

Recapitalization

It happens – too many investors occupy your cap table. Does it mean that  the game is over? Definitely not, there is a way.

Friendly Investor

Successful founder plans investment rounds from day 1. However, it’s understood that not all founders have the experience. This is where a friendly investor comes to help.

Giving Away Equity

Know the averages of every investment round, since investors are used to requesting a certain per cent of ownership based on the maturity of the startup.

CHAPTER 4

Intellectual Property

Startups and Intellectual property

Intellectual Property is essentially everything that  is created, i.e. trademarks, designs, patents, utility models, etc. It is important to protect them but why? The answer is clear – IP is the only asset your startup has.

Registering Trademarks

Trademarks are necessary to differentiate goods and services from others and make your product stand out. The cases can be different, but it is important to use trademarks.

Protecting domains and social media

Lot’s of startups  have a strong follower base in one of the many social mediap platforms and those communities are valuable. In case it’s created and run by one employee, make sure to have ownership to it in case the person leaves the company.

Software as IP

Copyright is easiest and simplest protection mechanism and it’s automatic. However, founders should keep in mind that unless stated otherwise, the developer – creator – owns the code.

Materials

ABC of angel investing

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