Welcome to brettfoxstartupceo. On my channel, I help early stage startup CEOs like you raise money and grow your business.
I love startups! I mean, I absolutely love startups!
I love the struggle. I love the sense you’re building something big. I love the thrill of getting a product to market and watching revenue grow.
But, it’s not easy, is it?
I know how difficult raising money truly is (63 Venture Capital Firms turned us down before the 64th funded us). I know how tough it is to get traction in the marketplace.
I know how tough it is to build a world-class company. I know what it’s like to epically fail. know what it’s like to win big.
My Promise to You:: I will not pull any punches.
Click here to subscribe to my channel: ru-vid.com. To get your free Startup Pitch Deck Template go to: www.brettjfox.com/startup-pitch-deck-template-youtube/
Walmart, succeeded, first they went out of the city, second instead of screwing people. They gave better deals. It all when Sam Walmart, put 6-socks into a plastic bag to be sold at a discount. Mcdonald also did the same, structure.
You're welcome. You can help from my free community for startup CEOs here. There are weekly AMAs with me: Skool group: www.skool.com/zero-to-pitch-7541/about
You should have focused on board control. That IMO is the key, esp in the early stages. How to retain or at least try to maximize control of the board.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I did a video on the fallacy of board control. You can watch it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-tIsH02uactg.htmlsi=V8fEzgfColBIsppu
The Wright Brothers had idea to build a flying machine. A 99.9%, that it could fly. At Kitty Hawk, they had their landlord, assist them. Once successful, they believe could sell the idea to the Military. As an observation scout in the air, never knowing in 1909. That the flying machine would turn into a giant, in 25-years. A trillion-dollar industry was born. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sklryxX01D8.htmlsi=Ji46XK_EE5tszz0F
I ordered this book. Thank you! On this topic, the manager of one of the largest funds in India recommended reading a book of his Harvard teacher Deepak Malhotra: “Negotiation Genius”. He said that this book is good for any person and it greatly changed his life
I’ve got an Angel Investor but don’t know how to explain what his ROI should be. Seems I’m at the start up point where I don’t know what I don’t know. This guy just believes in me
Brett, thanks. Great video. At the start of the video you said you'd offer advice about what to do if you don't have one of these key qualities. You partially addressed that concern in your Integrity bullet when you said, basically, tell them. Bring up the issue before they discover it themselves. Is that what you intended? If so it doesn't seem like an approach that will work for some of these requirements, e.g. "You are excellent at what you do." You wouldn't say, "Hey everyone, just want to let you know that I'm not excellent at what I do. I'm pretty mediocre in fact." That may build trust as they walk you to the door, but it doesn't seem likely to get the intended result. Update: I rewatched and think I found it: be the best version of you. Find the right investor for you.
Thank you for the insights in this video. Very specific issues that every new start-up CEO needs to understand or he/she will learn the hard way as we have. Number 4 is definitely a screaming, hair on fire, sky is falling red flag. Start-up CEOs don’t always consider that the investment in their company helps offset gains for tax purposes - so the start up essentially become a ghost or negative company. The investor isn’t aligned to the success of the start-up. Quite the contrary, it’s just the opposite. Not much is written about this nasty dirty secret but CEOs need to be aware of this. It happens in public companies as well, but difficult to discern. Thanks, Brett for another great video!
Well, these aren’t really trick questions, or? These are asked to learn more about the founders, how they think and react and if they understand the industry they are working in, etc.
The courses I have in my paid group, Zero to Pitch, Gold, will help anyone trying to raise money. You can join here: www.skool.com/zero-to-pitch-gold-5265
I've seen several of your videos. Do you also invest and are you interested in fixing the seemingly perilous overall structure to investments? For example, if the product were to target the open problem of open source remuneration, and it happened to provide implementation mechanics that enabled an investment equivalent of open source (because it has to do with open collaboration + pay, which investment is one particular concrete use case), would that be interesting to you?
Brett, I want to start a business selling the same herbal supplement that I have been taking for 12 years with great results. It balances hormones for both Men and Women. It has tons of success stories on RU-vid. Most people need it, but very few know it exists. What should I do? Start myself and get some sales, then seek investors. Or seek investors now.
Key Highlights for those who want to revise: 1. What is your exit strategy? - Investors know the potential exits for your startup, they want to understand whether you know it 2. Why won't existing players build what you're building? - You fail if you don't acknowledge that any large competitor has the ability to do what you're doing - It's cheaper for a large competitor to buy us than to build the technology themselves 3. But what would you do if they do enter your market segment? - If you say that they will not enter the market, then you are lost - If you say we can change strategies, you are lost again - This is our sole focus, we will fight to the death to win 4. What valuation are you expecting this round of funding? 1. In A Negotiation: Let the other side go first - You give a valuation too high and you scare the investor away - You give a valuation too low and you cost yourself money - You get it right - We'll let the market decide our valuation - I've seen companies like us are valued between X and Y 5. What keeps you up in the night? - Investors ask this question because you never know what you'll hear - I'm worried about recruiting the top talent, having said that, I'm confident enough of the existing team, that we continue to execute very well
Contrary to popular opinion, you don't have to worry about investors stealing your idea. It's another group of people that you really have to worry about: www.brettjfox.com/how-should-you-protect-your-idea-before-you-raise-funding/
File a "Patent" is the easiest way to go, and I've done this several times when I recorded my conversations Illegal or not that's a whole different thing,, but at least I have something to start another other kind of conversation if it got to that point
hey brett, im making a product and my exit strategy is getting acquired, until then I will not have any revenue, how do I "convince" investors, what storytelling would you suggest would make potential investors have faith in me/my idea. Also, I requre some capital so is following SAFE framework to get investment from VCs a good idea? (seed round)
Then, you have to find other options. You and your co-founders will have to pitch in. Then, you'll have to find a way to survive until you can either get a loan, attract angel investors, or bootstrap and get to cash flow postive.
@@WaleedOsman- Accelerators like YC are different. You have to look at the merits of each one. I think very highly of YC. That being said, it's not easy to accepted by them.
Hi Brett! Very nicely presented topics! Thanks. But I have a question: In another video - "What You Should Never Say To An Investor", you say, it is a red flag to investor if you say that any financial plan or estimate is conservative. Yet in this video, you show us a LinkedIn financial plan which on the top of the second group column has "Conserviative Projections" title. So, how do you explain this discrepancy? LinkedIn plan looks realistic, I don't know, and it is a conservative projection. To tell or not to tell? The question is now? Thanks for any suggestions (maybe Linked in plan was just to show the main topics of an estimate? and we should disregard the naming of the second column group?) Thanks, anyway.
Thanks for the kind words.. Great point regarding LinkedIn. I think I said in the video that was a mistake on their part to do this. Having said that, the rules might a little different when you already had all the gravitas built up that Reid Hoffman did. Then you could say a plan was conservative and investors would believe it. You and I don't have that gravitas, so we have to play by a different set of rules.
