New Business Pilot

5. Pitch You’ll probably only get 30 minutes —an hour if you’re lucky. Some investors will have read your deck beforehand, others won’t. Start with a soft check-in: “Would it be helpful if I walk through the deck or would you prefer to jump straight into questions?” Most investors know within 10 minutes  whether they’re interested. Your job is to connect, clearly show the opportunity, and leave them wanting more. 6. Price Valuation can be a tricky topic, but here’s the rule:

1. People Early-stage investing is 80% about the people and 20% about the product. Why? Because in the early days, no one can say for sure if your idea will work. But a smart, gritty, adaptable founder? That gives them confidence. So if you want to raise money, start networking like crazy . Learn everything you can about who you’re pitching to. Who are their mutual connections? What’s their background, their philosophy, their fund cycle? You’ve only got a short window to make

Cash is your fuel. Without it, your business doesn’t taxi, take off, or fly—it just stalls. You can survive a bunch of other things: bad hires, lost deals, wrong turns. But if you run out of cash, it’s game over. Just like a pilot always makes sure there’s extra fuel in the tank for diversions, delays, and emergencies, an entrepreneur needs to keep a healthy cash buffer. It’s what gives your business runway—literally and figuratively. In the early days, your business will lik

As you push the throttle and start rolling down the runway, the to-do list starts to explode—company registrations, URLs, bank accounts, insurance, building the product, launching the site, marketing… it’s a lot. And here’s what you’ll quickly notice: every step of the way, someone will have strong opinions about “the right way” to do it.  They'll speak with authority, drop industry lingo, and make it sound like if you’re not following the exact process, you’re doing it wrong

So, you’re about to push full throttle down the runway, but do you go solo, or is it better to have someone in the co-pilot seat ? This...

This is one of my favorite parts of the journey—getting your first product idea solid and figuring out how it fits into the market. I...