Mesa School of Business’ Post

I've spent multiple semesters in the SAC and learned a lot about my own investment thesis, learning the mechanics of investing and meeting fascinating startups! If you're on the fence about angel investing, this is a good starting point

What are the patterns of successful startups?🦄 Dr. Andre Retterath ran the numbers on 25k+ teams and found: 💥 Founders: 3-6 is best, single founder is worst 💥CEO: Important to be founder, external CEO is bad 💥Age: Little difference between 25 to early 40s 💥Education: Master and PhD similarly good, Bachelors and no degree both bad The chart below shows the respective SHAP values. Positive values = promoters and negative values = detractors to startup success. This work has been done by Earlybird Venture Capital, however, there's a growing group of researchers and data-centric practitioners revealing novel insights about startups including Peter Walker, Ilya Strebulaev, Yoram Wijngaarde, Anand Sanwal & more. It's difficult to stay on top of all these great studies & reports, so Dr. Andre Retterath launched Data Driven VC www.datadrivenvc.io, where they summarize it all, so you don't need to. #vc #data #venturecapital #enactus #founder enactus

As we get prepared for our Angel Conference program, we run workshops to help get things lined up for the right conversations between investors and early pre-seed startups. We have a deadline coming up on August 27th for startups. One of the places that we see companies having a bit of trouble is on the customer discovery side of things. So we have a couple of workshops on that early customer discovery and associated efforts to get traction early before your MVP. As Angel Investors, we need to think with a portfolio mindset instead of investing in one or two companies to "see how it goes". We have a panel of SAC alumni talking about their perspectives on their portfolio of companies. We also know that startups don't practice pitching enough. So we we have workshops for improving pitches before people pitch for real. You can see the upcoming workshops here: AI+Lean  Building automated content experiments for customer discovery Tuesday, August 6, 2024 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM PDT https://lnkd.in/gJMiyQZC Building Your Angel Investment Portfolio Tuesday, August 6, 2024 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM PDT https://lnkd.in/gD9ATSyG Pitch Deconstruction and Review Thursday, August 8, 2024 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM PDT https://lnkd.in/g-RRajrX Finding your first paying customers Tuesday, August 13, 2024 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM PDT https://lnkd.in/gN-DaRJ8 Angel Investing and Taxes Thursday, August 15, 2024 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM PDT https://lnkd.in/gjs9cQfy Solving Real Problems: The Key to Market Success Tuesday, August 20, 2024 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM PDT https://lnkd.in/gYkJFD-X Structuring a Pitch Deck That Engages Investors Thursday, August 22, 2024 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM PDT https://lnkd.in/geyYR4wB Seattle Angel Conference (SAC 26) Application Deadline Tuesday, August 27, 2024 9:00 PM to 9:05 PM PDT  (But REALLY … Apply early)  https://lnkd.in/gM_fSmbZ  Companies need to apply here - https://lnkd.in/gWbtkAaf Please let the folks around you know about these workshops.

The Importance of #Seed #Stage #Investments Seed stage investments are crucial for startup growth. Research shows that early funding can significantly increase a startup's chances of success. By supporting innovative ideas at their inception, investors can help shape the future of industries. Seed funding not only provides the financial foundation for developing a product but also signals to other investors that the startup has potential. This early-stage backing helps entrepreneurs build momentum, attract top talent, and refine their business models for scalability.

🚀 Exciting News for STEM students! 🚀 Join us at ODYCEO's upcoming event, "Engineering a Startup," for an exclusive workshop on "Funding A Startup" that promises to propel your ideas to the next level. 🔹 Workshop Highlight: "Funding A Startup" 🗓️ Date: April 19, 2024 🕒 Time: 15:00 - 16:00 We are thrilled to announce that Melina Mai from Big Pi Ventures will lead this informative session. Melina brings a wealth of knowledge and insight from her extensive background in deal sourcing, evaluation, and portfolio support. ✨ Workshop Content at a Glance: Grasp the essentials of VC funding stages and operations and understand the critical factors influencing VC decisions. 👤 About Melina Mai: Melina Mai is an Investment Associate at Big Pi Ventures, a technology early-stage venture capital fund. She is involved in deal sourcing, evaluation, due diligence, deal structuring, and portfolio support. Before joining Big Pi, Melina worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company and she holds an Integrated Master's in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens. 🔍 About Big Pi Ventures: Big Pi is an early-stage venture capital fund, investing in founders who are developing exceptional technologies or ingenious business models. Big Pi is anchored in Greece, targeting global markets, and supports startups with capital and advice born from experience. Don't miss this opportunity to gain critical insights into the world of startup funding from one of the industry's most astute minds. #ODYCEO #EngineeringAStartup #VentureCapital #StartupFunding #TechInnovation #Entrepreneurship #StartupWorkshop #Innovation #Engineering

It's a short work week for many of us 🥳 Before you sign off, take a moment to read these THREE lessons innovators can learn from Theranos' mistakes, shared by Christina Tamer, head of our Venture Development Program → https://lnkd.in/ewjwN5Zr Student innovators: don’t miss your chance to apply for our E-Team Program! Applications are open through January 29. Apply via the link in the comments! #Innovation #Entrepreneurship #Startups

Calling all University of Florida investors 🐊 UF Innovate's GatorPitch Miami is two weeks away! UF Innovate and Mana Tech announce GatorPitch Miami, an inaugural pitch event, to be held on Thursday, November 7. The competition will feature the best University of Florida startups, providing Miami’s influential investors a first look at the burgeoning talent at the university. UF is Florida’s premier university, producing smart, driven graduates and innovative technologies. These startups based on those technologies are on the cutting edge of their industries, including high-tech, computer software, engineering, artificial intelligence, space, agriculture, and climate. Their developments have the potential to disrupt their markets. At GatorPitch, investors will see a curated lineup of startups vetted by the University of Florida with CEOs who have received tailored mentorship from Mana Tech’s head of ventures, Etienne Gillard, an internationally experienced entrepreneur, investor, and mentor. Powered by billionaire Moishe Mana, Mana Tech’s programs empower international startup founders to thrive in the USA, offering access to a vibrant community and valuable resources. For South Florida-based founders, Mana Tech’s Downtown Miami platform goes beyond co-working, providing startups with direct connections to investors, customers, corporate partners, and expert mentors. This opportunity for investors to get in on the ground floor is sponsored by: DeepWork Capital Bilzin Sumberg Memorial Healthcare System One Park Financial J.P. Morgan Private Bank This panel of experts will participate in the pitch presentations: Zack Ellison, CFA, CAIA, Applied Real Intelligence LLC ("A.R.I.") Melissa Medina, eMerge Americas Pablo Casilimas, OneSixOne Ventures #UF #GoGators #GatorNation #UFInnovate #VentureCapital #VentureDebt #StartupPitch #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #Technology #AI

Amazing Learning Experience at Antennae Ventures Capstone Workshop 2 I attended the second finance workshop of the Capstone Project by Antennae Ventures led by our mentor Rushabh Dedhia It was an eye-opening session where I learned some incredible concepts that are so crucial for startups. One of the most interesting topics we covered was CM1, CM2, and CM3—metrics that help track a startup's profitability: CM1 (Contribution Margin 1): This shows how much profit is left after deducting only direct costs (like manufacturing costs) from revenue. CM2 (Contribution Margin 2): This takes it a step further by also deducting semi-variable costs like logistics or marketing expenses tied to sales. CM3 (Contribution Margin 3): This is the final layer, where all costs (including admin and overheads) are deducted showing the net contribution to profitability. These metrics gave me a new perspective on how startups can analyze their costs and improve efficiency at every level. We also went in-depth into topics like: Startup Valuation Methods: Understanding how startups are valued using different approaches. Cash Flow Projections: Learning how to forecast cash flows to ensure steady growth and attract investors. This workshop really helped me strengthen my understanding of startup financials, and I’m excited to apply this knowledge in real-world scenarios. #LearningJourney #StartupFinance #Valuation #CashFlow

What does a VC look for when "Funding a Startup"? Join our Associate, Melina Mai, at the below workshop to learn more about VC funding fundamentals! ⬇ #BigPi #BigPiVentures #Odyceo

With the number of young entrepreneurs continuing to grow each year, #ECells have the exciting opportunity to identify and shortlist the most promising startups for their initiatives with the help of a jury. As part of our IvyConnect Series, Rupesh Gupta from our investment team recently conducted a session for E-Cell, IIT Bombay to share insights on this. A few key highlights are – - Clearly defining the types of startups to target to ensure focused selection. - Designing effective shortlisting criteria by leveraging patterns and trends from previous years. - Use specific questions in the form with defined ratings to efficiently filter large datasets. - Leverage mentors' experience to design metrics for moving startups through each selection round. As the E-Summits are approaching, if you are looking to refine your shortlisting process, reach out to us at rupali@ivycamp.in Anju Gupta | Meera Radhakrishnan | Rupali Chowdhary | Gokulakrishnan Kumar | Siddhant Jain | Atharv Jain