Lessons Learned at Female Founders Conference

Y Combinator’s Female Founder Conference couldn’t have come at a better time. Silicon Valley has been inundated with negative stories about the role women play in the region. Female Founders Conference gave us the other side of the story.

What Every Startup Founder Needs to Know About Acquisitions

The growing trend in early-stage M&A is to ditch the suits. According to Dealogic, 73% of acquirers utilized a formal investment banking firm in 2003. By 2013, only 31% of acquirers used a formal investment banking firm. Ironically, M&A volume has increased, not decreased.

How Entrepreneurs Can Raise Capital With Ease

Investors put their money into companies that have traction. This traction may be in the form of revenue, customers, or simple investor interest. Entrepreneurs should study the investor landscape, secure a lead or anchor investor, and then display their company’s profile publicly.

The world of finance is flattening. It has never been a better time for early-stage companies to raise capital. With SEC relaxing requirements and technology bringing people together, entrepreneurs are raising capital with ease.

Top 10 US-based Venture Capital Funds

The Top 10 US-based venture capital funds, based on amount of capital raised during the first quarter of 2014, pulled in $7.3 billion over 8 venture capital firms. Accel Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson each raised two funds. When it rains it pours.

Silicon Valley’s Brain Drain

By 1971, due to the growing number of semiconductor innovations, the region began to be referred to as Silicon Valley. Fast forward to 2014 and the landscape has been watered down by novelty apps, news aggregators, and get-rich-quick copycat companies. If we had to name this same region today, what would we name it?

The New Rules of Fund Raising

To date, over $1,000,000,000 has been pledged to Kickstarter projects, with the average project receiving approximately $20,000; enough to seed the initial stages of most ideas.