Navigating Early-Stage Funding

SUMMARY Tech startups should typically pursue friends-and-family and angel funding before approaching venture capitalists. This sequence offers crucial advantages: founders retain more equity (giving up 5-15% versus 20-30% to VCs), gain negotiating leverage through early traction, maintain operational autonomy and use simpler legal structures like convertible notes. Early capital provides time to experiment without board … Read more

AI Business Planning for Tech Founders

SUMMARY AI business planning tools empower tech founders by automating market research, financial modeling and strategic planning, delivering data-driven insights and efficiency. Engineers leverage their analytical skills to critically evaluate and refine AI outputs, ensuring alignment with technical realities and investor expectations. This hybrid approach enhances accuracy, scalability and adaptability in business plans, bridging the … Read more

Business Plans: A Complete Guide, Part 2

Part 1 covered the strategic and operational aspects of business planning. However, the legal foundation of an entrepreneur’s business also requires meaningful attention. Overlooking these elements can result in costly problems that threaten a business’s survival. A separate post will deal with the use of AI in creating business plans. Intellectual Property Protection Trademarks: Entrepreneurs should … Read more

Business Plans: A Complete Guide, Part 1

Part 1 focuses on why an entrepreneur needs a business plan and what makes one effective. Part 2 will deal with legal considerations and other essential business matters. A separate post will discuss the use of AI in creating business plans. Why Your Business Plan Matters More Than You Think Many new entrepreneurs view business … Read more