Meet Seattle’s newest VC: This former car saleswoman and immigrant entrepreneur is on a mission to shake up the industry
A lot has to do with Hoang-To, who strikes a much different pose than the stereotypical venture capitalist. An immigrant entrepreneur who was born in a refugee camp before her Vietnamese parents settled in Silicon Valley, Hoang-To describes herself as a “super scrappy” founder.
The 3 myths that founders chasing VC believe
Fundraising isn’t for every entrepreneur. In fact, it’s not for most and I’d argue that a lot of start-ups who’ve raised money could’ve done without. Yet a lot of entrepreneurs embark on this fundraising journey dead sure that that’s the way to go, and see a successful fundraise as a symbol that they’ve made it.
Early-Stage VCs Invest in Startups, Not Businesses — Make Sure You Know the Difference
“You’re conflating startups with businesses,” the VC explained. “Remember that Apple isn’t a startup. Apple is an established company, and, in order for Apple to grow, it has to expand its products into multiple markets. In fact, Apple is so large, expanding into multiple markets is the only way Apple can grow. But a startup is different.”
How Portland’s M&A frenzy has rocked local law firms
“This is the hottest M&A market ever, and transactional lawyers are getting hired left and right,” said Brendan Gutierrez McDonnell, an M&A attorney and partner at K&L Gates. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
How to Cold Email an Investor
For many founders, getting a warm introduction to an investor might not be possible if you lack the community connections. In those cases, you may have to reach out to investors directly via cold email — here’s how to maximize your chances of getting that meeting.
I made 65 Angel investments in 2021 and I’m ‘doubling down’ on Fintech entrepreneurship and innovation.
At the end of every year I write a post and share it with other angel investors (or indeed anyone who is interested in gaining an insight into my year as an angel). I give a brief insight into the entrepreneurs I backed and also share some metrics. Fintech is a broad vertical, so I also share areas/themes where I’ve invested as well as founder diversity data.
Innovation in Venture Capital
Besides its ever inherited diversity problem, the Venture Capital (VC) industry faces new challenges: First, VC firms are willing to pay sky-rocking valuations and deploy significantly more capital per financing round. Second, investors from other asset classes push into VC financing rounds, drastically intensifying the VC industry’s competition. To master those challenges, this work fundamentally hypothesizes that innovation within VC firms themselves is needed.
More Early-Stage Funding Flows To Climate Fintech And Finance
Relative to the size and urgency of the problem, climate change-focused startups comprise a comparatively paltry portion of venture funding recipients. Over time, however, their numbers have been rising.
Decision Making for Founders
For the first time, we distill experience from 1000+ startups and blend it together with the science of thinking and the philosophy of decision making to create a framework Founders can use to find clarity as you grow yourself AND your venture.
OEN March PubTalk: Understanding the Funding Ecosystem for Scaling Startups
First up: we’ll gather at the openHAUS coworking space in NE Portland on March 9th. Stoel Rives partner and OEN Board Member Mary Hull will moderate a conversation with OEN Awardees Tisson Matthew of Skypoint, Josh Engelbrecht of Toolbelt, and Allie Magyar, founder of Hubb and now Chief Product Officer at Notified.
Portland Incubator Experiment launches PIE For Our Neighbors program to take on housing
“There is a palpable and growing sense of urgency in our community in regards to our neighbors who are living on the streets, as well as those neighbors who are experiencing insecurity in their living situations,” said Rick Turoczy, cofounder and general manager of PIE, in a written statement. “Given our established role as a community convener and support mechanism for startups with innovative and creative approaches, we wanted to start where we could have the most impact: with startups.”
