Invisible Ink

What if you want to be your own boss but the whole founder thing isn’t your cup of tea? What does it take to hit the ground running and take an already good business and make it great? How do you find the money, the resources and the network to find and buy the right business for you?

In this episode, Allegra Stennett, cofounder of New Majority Capital, tells you everything you need to know about the “Buy Then Build” model of entrepreneurship.

Listen to her great insights on why the purchase path is attractive to many new majority entrepreneurs, how you can build your chops to become an entrepreneur through acquisition, what it takes to find and buy a high-potential business, and much more.

Episode Highlights:

1. NMC's unique model and why it's right, right now for underrepresented entrepreneurs
2. How the ETA model multiplies success for women and underrepresented entrepreneurs versus the vc model
3. What makes a successful ETA entrepreneur
4. How to get NMC funding when buying a business
5. How to build your business chops prior to your business acquisition
6. How to increase your odds of finding the best business for you to buy
7. Insider tips and secrets in your business acquisition search
8. The one thing you must master so you don't overpay for your purchase
9. How to improve your negotiating skills - in two steps
10. How to use both head and heart for long-term negotiating success
11. How to earn your way to full business ownership in the NMC model
12. The one metric that signals success for entrepreneurship through acquisition
13. How to make smart work/life choices when buying a business
14. How to get the support and resources you need to succeed as an entrepreneur through acquisition

How do you go from being an insurance actuary to a speech therapist to a health tech startup as a nontechnical founder?

How do you recognize the right time and place to bring your idea to the world?

How do you walk the tightrope between what inspires and drives you and what the market is telling you about the opportunity?

In this episode, founder and CEO of SMARTCharts, Corinne Vargas, talks about what prompted her to change careers from numbers to words to ideas, how her unique background and experiences led to her startup idea, how she stays motivated and true to mission while still being pragmatic, and much more.

Episode Highlights:

1. How to let our current realities guide you to the future
2. How to use big, shared problems to create entrepreneurial opportunities
3. How to validate good ideas early and cheaply
4. How to recognize key inflection points in the development of your idea
5. How to transition from a paying career to entrepreneurship the financially smart way
6. How to clarify and test your "it" with the least risk
7. How to minimize funding needs when developing your product
8. How to evolve with agility when big, worldwide events hit
9. How to learn critical entrepreneurial skills quickly and effectively
10. How to effectively build a tech startup as a nontechnical founder
11. How to balance vision and economic reality effectively
12. How to create and expand long-term strategic growth options

What’s even more important than an MBA when you’re a founder on the lookout for funding?

What’s one obvious mistake many founders don’t even realize they’re making when fundraising?

What simple exercise will help you find the best sources of capital for where YOUR startup is right now?
In this episode, Marie Meslin, former president and Executive Director of The Capital Network, talks about the one critical factor founders must focus on, easy-to-avoid mistakes founders make, tips to sharpen your fundraising strategy, and much more.

Episode Highlights

1. The one secret you MUST understand as a founder, even more than having an MBA
2. How to improve your fundraising effectiveness with one mindset change
3. Two critical components of leadership in fundraising
4. The one blindingly obvious thing founders miss when pitching, and how to avoid it
5. How to instantly increase your confidence AND your odds when fundraising
6. The core element every investor is looking for about how your startup solves the problem
7. How to get better at the uncomfortable conversations around money
8. What one element to n ever ignore when getting funding
9. How to apply the investment mindset in your network building and pitching
10. The one rule you must never forget when taking advice, even from investors

How do you start from where you are, and do what you can with what you have, especially if you feel like they don’t add up to much?

What is the right path to the right business for YOUR combination of skills, resources, and aptitudes?And how do you stretch your entrepreneurial gas as far as possible so you can get to positive cash flow and far beyond?

In this episode, two-time author on small business and entrepreneurship, Elaine Pofeldt, talks about the surprising paths successful entrepreneurs have taken to build their million dollar businesses, hacks you can use to make the most of your slim resources, the importance of keeping you and your priorities straight when external investment is involved, and much more.

Episode Highlights:

1. Special challenges women face starting up
2. How to improve your odds of building a million dollar business
3. How to pick your sector
4. Smart ways to tackle the extra burdens you face as a woman starting up
5. The two funding strategies that give women entrepreneurs an edge
6. How to know whether and when to scale your business
7. How to be realistic about your entrepreneurial timeline
8. Smart ways to stretch your cash when starting up
9. How to develop products on a shoestring budget
10. How to speed up cash generation on the revenue side
11. How to spend money to help you make more money
12. How to transition to entrepreneurship for the first time

• How can you evaluate and find the right support for YOUR startup - one that fits your industry, your stage and what you need most right now?
• What preparatory steps can you take early on to protect your interests before ever stepping into an accelerator program?
• How can you get the most bang for your accelerator buck and continue to build your business once you enter an accelerator?

In this episode, Charla Triplett, Managing Director of Suncoast Ventures gives you the low down on everything you always wanted to know about accelerators but were afraid to ask!

Episode Highlights

1. An overview of the accelerator landscape
2. How an incubator differs from an accelerator
3. How to research an accelerator
4. How to intelligently evaluate the terms of an accelerator program
5. How to get the most value from your accelerator participation
6. How to vet the fundraising support promised by accelerators
7. Pitfalls facing women founders when negotiating terms, and how to avoid them
8. How to improve your VC search as a founder
9. How to tell the difference between real interest and a polite "no" from VC's
10. How to assess true fit when evaluating VC's
11. What to expect from a VC funding process
12. Keys to maximizing your fundability as a founder

What are the hidden dangers that lurk in the unsexy foundations of your business that can trip you up?How can you make smart and strategic decisions about the most basic steps, like how and where you register and incorporate your business?

What do you need to do before you take the first outside dollar to protect both yourself and your company so you don’t get blindsided down the road?What simple steps can every founder take to make potential investors happy, and your own life much easier?

In this episode, Heidi Abdul, co-founder and COO of Afissio, LLC, provides an easy-to-understand and actionable guided tour of the basic legal and corporate infrastructure you need, to be successful as a founder and fundraiser.

Important note: The views and opinions expressed during this episode are those of the presenter and do not represent legal advice. The podcast episode is based solely on the professional opinions and experience of the interviewee and is made available for information and experience sharing purposes only.

Episode Highlights

1. An overview of the most important corporate topics every founder needs to know
2. How to select the right organization structure for your business, and why it matters
3. Common mistakes most entrepreneurs make in the early days, and how to avoid them
4. What you should know about organization structure if you plan to take outside investment, or even if you don't
5. Why it's important to engage a tax professional early, and why their input matters
6. Why jurisdiction matters, and how to select the right jurisdiction for your business
7. The big mistake many entrepreneurs make with capital, and ways to avoid it
8. Why you should be careful after getting the first check, and why many entrepreneurs fail because they don't pay heed
9. How to improve your odds of getting a favorable valuation
10. What you need to know about structuring equity, and how it can hurt you if you don't
11. A primer on the single biggest tool for fundraising, the cap table, and how to use it to strategically improve your funding outcomes
12. External risks that can tank your fundraising, and how to prepare yourself and your startup for rainy days
13. A primer on the commonly used funding instruments in early stage ventures, and what to know about each
14. How to make due diligence and fundraising easy on yourself from day one
15. The simple secret to getting the best funding terms you can, that anyone can learn, and how it pays off

How do you take a runaway viral movement and transform it into an effective and sustainable organization on a global scale? How do you create a culture and work environment that protects and safeguards your highest values as an organization? And how do you do all of this with the slimmest of budgets, all powered by unpaid volunteers spread across the world?

In this episode, Isvari Maranwe, ex physicist and cyber securities lawyer, and CEO of Dweebs Global and DG Sentinel, talks about how an early pandemic experiment to help others turned into a global movement, the challenges and rewards of building an enduring organization by taking yourself entirely out of the picture while still working full time on it, recruiting and motivating a global volunteer force, and much more.

Episode Highlights

1. How a pandemic experiment accidentally became a globally recognized nonprofit
2. How to use non-scalable activities to create sustainable processes
3. How to recognize and leverage attractive adjacencies in your business model
4. Why addressing organizational and legal issues early on is the secret to sustainability
5. How to build high-performing teams even on a purely volunteer model
6. Why backstop positions matter in nonprofits, and hoe to design them for maximum effectiveness
7. How to create an ethical and mission-appropriate fundraising strategy for your nonprofit
8. How to design nonprofit marketing that pays for itself
9. Fundraising challenges to be aware of as a diverse founder
10. A perspective on balancing money and meaning when designing a fulfilling career
11. The secret to building your organization's brand so it lasts way longer than you
12. How to find great volunteer professionals for your nonprofit
13. How to manage global operations without burning out
14. How to find meaning and stay the course when running a nonprofit

• What invisible traps lurk in the shadows that could trip you up as a new entrepreneur?
• How can you stay grounded in reality and uncover all the predictable but hidden reasons that might cause your startup to fail?
• What’s the one thing you MUST do to ensure you stay in business long enough to start making money?

In this episode, seasoned entrepreneurial educator and mentor Donna Rockin taps into her experiences with countless entrepreneurs to discuss the make-or-break factors that many entrepreneurs miss in building their startups, the surprising, non-obvious ways to give your startup its best shot at success, sources of startup cash that most entrepreneurs never learn about, and much more

Episode Highlights:

1. Thttps://achiiv.co/ep-24-cracking-the-cash-code/he top 3 mistakes entrepreneurs make when starting up a business
2. Why entrepreneurs significantly underestimate cash needs starting up, and how to avoid this error
3. The critical outside factors that determines if your startup will be successful
4. How to estimate your market size for free
5. Common sense methods many entrepreneurs miss to assess if the business is viable
6. The simple tool that significantly increases the odds of your startup's survival
7. Revenue enhancement levers many entrepreneurs miss
8. How to rent space the smart way - things your relator never tells you
9. How the production cycle can drain your cash, and one tool that can help you retain cash
10. The secret to finding and maximizing free grant money
11. Sources of cash-saving services most entrepreneurs don't know about
12. How to reduce revenue risk
13. How to hire and fire talent
14. Inside tips on working with vc's and investors
15. The one document you should never do without when starting up

How do you create a viable business by scratching your own itch? Can you really build a tech business as a nontechnical founder? And in a world made noisy with “disruptive unicorns” how do you buck the trend and manage your business for profitability and longevity rather than explosive short-term growth?

In this episode, repeat founder and tech entrepreneur Melissa Kwan talks about how she capitalized on her long-standing frustration to start e-webinar, how she orchestrated its development with smart resourcing and an eye on revenue and cash flow from day one, and how she used her authentic definition of success to shape every aspect of her business.

Episode Highlights:
- How to find great startup ideas right where you are
- How to validate your market opportunity without spending a fortune
- How to startup your company without a huge bank balance
- How to prepare yourself for the early years of your startup
- The real secret to finding your earliest customers
- How to avoid the danger of scope creep and feature bloat in your product 
- The surprising traps that can trip up your product - and how to fix and find them before they cause damage
- The fail-proof way to become great at selling
- How to price your product to suit your business vision and align with the market
- How to find financing that's a good fit for your business model
- How to find and manage the right technical talent at the right price
- How to ensure that your funding is a right fit for your business AND your personality
- The risks and rewards of a revenue and profit-led startup

How do you banish the fear and dread you feel when you’re pitching investors? What’s the one mental switch you can make to instantly gain power and confidence when pitching? How can you use your knowledge of the human brain and the investor mindset to make your pitch much more compelling?

In this episode, entrepreneur and founder Allison Byers talks about the key mindset shifts you need to increase your odds of getting funding, how to equalize the power balance when you’re seeking capital, how to avoid the hidden pitfalls that lurk unseen in every investor conversation, and much more.

Episode Highlights:
- How gender impacts you when you're pitching
- How and why Allison started Scroobious
- How to approach investors from a place of power when fundraising
- Why it's difficult to get honest feedback on your pitch, and how to address it
- The three things that matter most for early stage founder pitches, and why
- How to use human psychology to make your pitch more compelling and memorable
- Why it's not smart to present financials too early in the process
- What to watch for when presenting financials, and why
- The hidden question in every section of your pitch deck, and how to answer it powerfully
- Why investors are challenged to invest in diverse founders
- The invisible hurdles women entrepreneurs face when pitching, and how to overcome them
- How to choose the right investors to pursue when fundraising, and why that's critical not only to your funding, but also to the success of your startup