In this voice narrated slideshow, you will get acquainted with tips that will enable you to form a fundable startup: These tips include: how to prepare a compelling Business Plan, how to structure your Capitalization table, how to win an audience with a Venture Investor, as well as how to prepare to pitch your story to investors.

Video provides advice on evaluating the proper time to seek funding and calculating the amount you should hope to raise.

Video reveals some of the most common mistakes in early stage funding and how to avoid them.

Video discusses the best timing to raise capital. Raising capital too early can complicate matters for your business.

As an aspiring entrepreneur, if you want to run your startup without external funding, it is recommended that you choose an industry that is geared towards a low startup capital. Other tips are offered in this video.

The book, Zero-to-IPO, written by David Smith, plots out the life of a high-tech startup in the context of a journey. The journey starts at Zero with the formation of a private company to commercialize a new technology or invention. This journey terminates when the company reaches its destination, and ceases to exist as a private, independent corporation—at IPO, Acquisition or Shutdown.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Top 10 Tips for Forming a Fundable Startup".

In this voice narrated slideshow, you will get acquainted with how Venture Capital firms operate. You will learn about their business model.

In this interview, Paul Dali provides insights into the venture capital investment process for entrepreneurs. He explains how candidates are selected, how investments are negotiated and how entrepreneurs can best prepare themselves for success in the fundraising process.

Venture capital investor Ann Winblad talks about her experience as an entrepreneur and an investor, and provides insights into how venture investors select portfolio companies, then direct them toward success.

Everything you need to know about Finance and Investing in under an hour.

Before you reach out to Venture Capitalists to invest in your business, ensure that your business has the capacity to grow rapidly.

Part 1 of a panel discussion titled: How Venture Capital works. In this Video, an entrepreneur that received Venture Capital investment in his business outlined two scenarios which can prompt Venture Capitalists to get involved in a business. You will also get acquainted with the term “Fund of Funds”.

Part 3 of a panel discussion titled: How Venture Capital works. In this Video, one of the panelists describes what happens (e.g. interactions, tasks, etc.) from the time when an entrepreneur meets with a Venture Capitalist to the time an entrepreneur receives an investment from the Venture Capitalist.

Video explains how startup exits from M&A dipped in 2011 and how the IPO climate makes for difficult times for venture investors.

This episode explains how venture capital funds work, how they are organized, what types of investments they're looking for, how they make money, share it with limited partners and how they mitigate risk through modern portfolio theory. This episode provides a useful primer for anyone interested in raising finance from venture capital investors.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ How Venture Capital Works".

In this article, you will get acquainted with the benefits and downsides of financing your company through Venture Capital.

This voice narrated slideshows looks at how Angel Investment works. Angel investors can make seed investment, join your Board of Directors or Advisory Board, as well as make warm introductions for your business to other Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists. Angel Investors can also provide guidance in business planning, as well as add credibility to your business.

How do you locate or attract the various types of angel investors? What are the common mistakes that entrepreneurs make in seeking or accepting angel investing?

In this video, you will learn tips on how to get Angel Investments.

In this video, you will get acquainted with what angel investors look for in young companies.

Randy Williams, founder and CEO of The Keiretsu Forum, and Nathan McDonald who runs The Keiretsu Capital Co-Investment Fund, give an overview of angel investing and discuss the angel investing process.

Randy Williams, President & CEO of the Keiretsu Forum, and Matthew Le Merle, Managing Partner, Keiretsu Capital. discuss potential returns achievable through Angel Investing.This program was aired on KMVT15 Community Media.

Randy Williams, CEO and Founder of The Keiretsu Forum, discusses Angel Investing in India with Mahinder Chugh, Chapter President, Keiretsu Mumbai.

How angel investors work, how they syndicate investments and how they structure their investments as convertible notes or preferred stock rounds of financing. David Smith presents materials from the Silicon Valley Business School Raising Finance for Startups course and explains how he managed to raise more than $20m from angel investors in one of his previous startups.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Angel Financing--How Angel Investment Works".

A nunber of investors in Silicon Valley and elsewhere have adopted the Series Seed financing documents, which define how angel investments are structured. The Series Seed is essentially a preferred stock round of funding, very similar to the way a venture capital round is structured.

Since founding Sequoia Capital in 1972, Don Valentine has financed many of the companies (Apple, Oracle, Electronic Arts, NVIDIA, Cisco, Google, YouTube, etc.) that have been Silicon Valley's biggest technology and business success stories. In this video, he describes some of the insights that allowed him to lead Sequoia through decades of disruptive changes, creating several new industries along the way.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ The Business Plan".

This voice narrated slideshow helps entrepreneurs understand how to win an audience with a Venture Investor.

In this video, you will get acquainted with how you can select the right investors for your business, who will be aligned with your mission and help you grow.

This portion of the book, Zero-to-IPO, by David Smith, looks at how companies can raise money from investors. Raising money for your startup is a process that takes planning, hard work and more than a little luck.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Winning an Audience with a Venture Investor".

Watch a startup pitch a venture investor.

In this video, you will get acquainted with ten things you need to know about yourself -- and prove to a Venture Capitalist -- before you pitch to a Venture Capitalist.

Video provides tips regarding how to create a Business Plan Deck.

For an early stage company, there is very little data to look at regarding the performance of the company, that an investor will consider in making investment decisions. Against this backdrop, in this video, a Venture Capitalist outlines the qualities that they look out for in entrepreneurs.

What sections and content should you include in a Pitch Deck? Video outlines the key aspects of a Pitch Deck.

Video explains how to successfully pitch to venture capitalists.

Video provides tips that will help you to impress investors.

Video provides tips for pitching without an NDA. In some cases an NDA is not necessary and can actually complicate things.

Video provides fundraising tips for entrepreneurs, including the need to highlight your team when seeking capital.

This portion of the book, Zero-to-IPO, written by David Smith, provides tips that will help you to prepare when you get the opportunity to present to an investor.

This voice narrated slideshow looks at the structure of venture capital investments and negotiation of key provisions.

Typically in Silicon Valley, liquidation preference applies in Venture Capital investments. Against this backdrop, if a company that Venture Capitalists Invested in, is acquired or liquidated, the Venture Capitalist will get their money back first before sharing the remaining proceeds with the founders.

Video looks at the most important aspects of the term sheet, and how to handle them.

When you are negotiating a term sheet, leverage your strengths to get the best deal. Also, ensure that your goals are in sync with the goals of your VC fund.

This episode explains how venture capital investors get preferred stock, and founders get common stock. Preferential toppings provided to investors include liquidation preferences, veto rights, board rights, anti-dilution rights, co-sale and drag-along rights. David Smith talks to Mark Cameron White, founder of the White Summers law firm, about the terms Mark's seeing in Silicon Valley and elsewhere today.

The powers of shareholders, the board of directors, officers, the CEO and how decisions are made in startups and other companies.

This case explains how the liquidation preference puts the investors at the head of the line when funds are being distributed as the result of a sale of a venture-backed startup company. It also explains how management incentive plans can be adopted to provide incentives for management when common stock holders see little hope of participating in the proceeds of a company sale.

What is "Liquidation Preference" and how should you negotiate it with regards to Venture Capital investments?

There has been much discussion about the high valuations of venture backed companies, and especially the “unicorns”, companies with a valuation of a billion dollars or higher. However, as the investors in these companies generally receive preferred stock, rather than the common stock that is issued in IPOs and held by public company investors, unicorn valuations are not directly comparable to public company valuations. To better understand unicorn valuations, an analysis of the terms of 37 US based venture backed companies that raised money at valuations of $1 billion or more in the 12 month period ending March 31, 2015, was done: The findings of the analysis are presented in this piece.

New York Times article regarding a company known as "Good Technology": Employees of Good Technology, a mobile security start-up in Sunnyvale, California, awoke one day in 2015 to discover that their company was being sold to BlackBerry, the mobile device and software maker. In an investor document about the sale that was distributed to shareholders, employees discovered their Good stock was valued at 44 cents a share, down from $4.32 a year earlier. In contrast, preferred stock owned by Good’s venture capitalists was worth almost seven times as much, more than $3 a share. For some employees, it meant that their shares were practically worthless. Even worse, they had paid taxes on the stock based on the higher value.

When Good Technology was sold to Blackberry for 425 million, employees' common stock were worth a mere 44 cents a share, down from $4.32 a year earlier, and some employees were hit with astronomical tax bills on the high value of their stocks at their peak, using life savings or borrowing money to cover those bills.

An analysis of the terms of 150 venture financings by companies headquartered in Silicon Valley.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Negotiating Terms with Venture Investors".

Article explains the common stock/preferred stock division in startups and provides good advice for founders negotiation M&A transactions.

Crowd-sourced set of documents for raising a seed round of financing using a preferred stock instrument.

Standardized documents often used by venture capital investors.

Many startups are forgoing traditional seed funding in favor of convertible notes, loans which convert into stock after a company goes through its next round of funding. But are convertible notes good for startups? Are they good for investors?

Video explains what a convertible note is in an early funding round, along with why to consider offering them to investors or not.

YC Partner Kirsty Nathoo gives the lowdown on several different ways to capitalize your company and how those impact founder equity and cap tables overall.

Y Combinator introduced the safe (simple agreement for future equity) in late 2013, and since then, it has been used by almost all YC startups and countless non-YC startups as the main instrument for early-stage fundraising.

This paper describes how VC investors structure their investments in technology startup companies, and investigates the alternative financing structures available to startup entrepreneurs. A number of alternative funding sources are available to startup companies when smaller rounds of financing (less than $2m) are required. The convertible note, the note with warrants, SBA bank loans and other alternatives are explored. Trends are also discussed exploring how some startups can take advantage of new technology and marketing channels to reduce their costs and reduce their dependence on VC’s for funding.

A Startup Bond is essentially a convertible note or debt instrument that is sold to investors by a company to raise funds.

This voice narrated slideshow provides tips for commercializing technology and inventions through a startup venture.

PDF slides for the learning material titled: "Video ~ Transformation of Technology to a Startup Company".

In this video, Paul Buchhei of Y Combinator discusses the Y Combinator model (that acts as an incubator for early-stage startups) and contrasts it to the traditional model for venture capital.

How Plug and Play Tech Centers are bringing innovation and creativity to an unsuccessful and unimaginitive venture capital industry.

How entrepreneurs in Hong Kong can win grants, as well as receive valuable incubation, promotion and support services by Cyberport, a science park owned and operated by the Hong Kong government.

This voice narrated slideshow looks at the methods of valuation used by Venture Capital and other investors, when assessing the value of seed and early stage startup companies.

This voice narrated slideshow looks at methods of Valuation used by Venture Capitalists and other investors when assessing the value of Seed and Early Stage startup companies.

This voice narrated slideshow looks at the valuation methodologies for companies in later stage funding. As a Company starts to generate sales revenues, valuation methods focused on earnings and revenue performance may start to become relevant.

This voice narrated slideshow looks at the valuation techniques that are useful for assessing the value of companies, under various scenarios.

Video explains the difference between Pre-Money and Post-Money valuation.

This portion of the book, Zero-to-IPO, by David Smith, outlines various valuation techniques. There are a number of techniques available to value technology companies today. The easiest technology companies to value are the large, mature corporations with years of financial history and shares that are traded on the public markets. True market forces come in to play when large numbers of investors buy and sell shares on the stock market—so the market value of a publicly traded company is arguably the most accurate valuation metric you can find. On the other hand, how do you put a value on a small, immature private company with virtually no financial history at all? You have to revert to looking outside at the valuations of similar companies and apply simple rules of thumb. As the company matures, its financial performance can be analyzed and more sophisticated valuation techniques can be employed.

Valuation techniques, such as comparable earnings multiples and revenue multiples, are not relevant to startup companies where there are no earnings, and often no revenues to compare. Without a history of sales revenues, venture capital and other startup investors rely on other techniques for startup valuation. This portion of the book, Dollar Value, written by David Smith, looks at how Venture Capital Investors perform “Valuation” calculations in early stage startups. It also provides information regarding how to assess the value of Startup Companies by using the following approaches: Comparables approach, Cost-Based approach, as well as Income-Based (Discounted Cash Flow) approach.

What is crowdfunding and how does it work for startups and new businesses?

Video reveals the hidden costs associated with bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and personal loans.

Video outlines the best crowdfunding methods for different types of businesses.

Video highlights steps needed in order to land equity investors for your crowdfunding campaign.

Video provides insight on how crowdfunding has revolutionized the way to launch a business.

Video provides tips for managing a successful crowfunding campaign, including the need to drive as much traffic to your site as possible.

Video provides tips that will enhance your Crowdfunding Pitch.

Video outlines the parts of a Crowdfunding campaign. You will get tips that will enhance your Crowdfunding campaign.

Video highlights best practices to drive traffic and bring attention to your crowdfunding campaign.

Video explaining SeedInvest business model. SeedInvest is one of the leading broker-dealers matching investors with startups.

Regulation Crowdfunding enables eligible companies to offer and sell securities through crowdfunding.

This article provides an outline of Equity Crowdfunding Websites for Startups. Some of the websites mentioned in this article are: AngelList, Early Shares, Crowdcube, Fundable, Seedrs, and CircleUp.

BBC article: A crowdfunding campaign for a razor blade which its US creators claimed could remove facial hair with a laser beam has been suspended by Kickstarter.

Story of a Kickstarter campaign and the lessons learned.

What happens when a crowdfunded project goes wrong? And do those who back ideas on platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo have any rights when they do not deliver on their promises?

BBC article: The beleaguered Zano mini-drone project, which was Europe's most successful Kickstarter idea, has been shut down by the company behind it.

Reference materials on startup investing from SeedInvest.

Total cash costs: A good guide is to expect cash costs of approximately 12%* of the capital raised (this only holds true on raises that are above about $8 mill, because fixed costs for things like the securities attorney and audits become a larger factor for smaller raises).

The sale of Securities is highly regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rod Turner, Founder & CEO of Manhattan Street Capital explains how Regulations A and CF can be used by startups.

The definition of the term "security" according to section 2(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933.

Reg A+ of Title IV of the JOBS Act is a type of offering which allows private companies to raise up to $50 Million from the public.

All transactions under Regulation Crowdfunding to take place online through an SEC-registered intermediary, either a broker-dealer or a funding portal. A company is permitted to raise a maximum aggregate amount of $1,070,000 through crowdfunding offerings in a 12-month period.

Rule 506(c) permits issuers to broadly solicit and generally advertise an offering, provided that: all purchasers in the offering are accredited investors the issuer takes reasonable steps to verify purchasers’ accredited investor status and certain other conditions in Regulation D are satisfied

Hiring an intermediary to raise finance for a startup company can be a compelling idea for an inexperienced founder, however, there are some serious considerations.

An active and effective intermediary can bring structure to the fundraising process and provide introductions to investors that you would never reach on your own. If you do not have the resources to put together your own in-house fundraising team, and you find a good team of specialists prepared to take on the assignment, it can be worth the expense.

This guide summarizes some of the significant provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and its rules. You will find information about whether you need to register as a broker-dealer and how you can register, as well as the standards of conduct and the financial responsibility rules that broker-dealers must follow.

Video provides an introduction to SBA Loans.

If you are planning to start a business or expand an existing business, you might need financing help. SBA participates in a number of loan programs designed for business owners who may have trouble qualifying for a traditional bank loan. To start the process, you should visit a local bank or lending institution that participates in SBA programs. SBA loan applications are structured to meet SBA requirements, so that the loan is eligible for an SBA guarantee. This guarantee represents the portion of the loan that SBA will repay to the lender if you default on your loan payments.

The SBA offers a variety of loan programs to fit every stage of business development.

Video outlines important issues that you need to address when you want to raise growth capital.

Video offers insights for companies that are considering seeking for growth capital.

In this article, former AOL Chairman/CEO Barry Schuler explains the term “Growth Equity”.