Start-ups springing up all over
This week tech start-ups are once again in the news, with the BBC highlighting the UK tech start-up scene (although sadly ignoring start-up activity in Scotland) and Tech Crunch providing a practitioner's guide to preparing to pitch to venture capitalists. We've summarised the stories below, but it begs the question 'How healthy is the Scottish start-up scene and what can we do to improve it ?'
UK tech start-up scene boosted by new investments
The UK tech start-up scene has been boosted by a flurry of deals in London, Belfast, Milton Keynes and Sheffield. The announcements include investments by Vodafone and Barclays designed to support start-ups; and the opening of a video games studio by one of Japan's richest businessmen.
The news was timed to coincide with the Olympics to maximise publicity. It follows recent announcements from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Intel and Skype about new projects in London.
Read the full story at BBC Technology
What Startups Should Do Before They Get Into The VC’s Office
Guest post on TechCrunch by Eze Vidra, Head of Campus London
An experienced VC would have heard thousands of pitches in his day. The good ones would tell you that they have developed a “pattern recognition”. After a while, they are able to determine (at least in their own minds) what startups would succeed or fail in a matter of minutes. There’s obviously lots going on in a pitch – verbal and non-verbal communication, chemistry etc. In this post, I will outline both platforms and tools startups should consider to improve their pitching success, before they get into the VC’s office.
FUNDRAISING TIPS FOR STARTUPS
1) Put your startup on AngelList – if you’re on to something solid, you should have no problem getting noticed by the top guys. Best way to get noticed is to be referred by a member – let me know if you need help with that (angel.co)
2) Spend $19 and treat yourself to this course on raising capital for startups and what to include in your pitch slides. This online course consists of 8 lectures and over 6.5 hours of content (including a sample pitch deck) . Speakers include Naval Ravinikant (co-founder of AngelList), Dave McClure (500 startups) and Adeo Ressi (founder Institute) providing different angles to the pitch. It’s cheap coaching to nail the structure you need in any fundraising presentation.
Read on at TechCrunch