47x Return for Companion Medical is Fourth Highest Exit in TCA History
By John Harbison, TCA Chairman emeritus TCA members who invested in the Series A Round of Companion Medical in 2014 realized a 58x return when the company was acquired by [...]
Do you even know what questions to ask?
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels Great executives and managers seem to intuitively know what they don’t know. But it is not at all uncommon to not even [...]
Reduce five risks: Increase your valuation
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels Why five risks? In the creation of a young company, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. Professional [...]
Leadership for the Pandemic and the New Normal
By Dan Rosen, Tech Coast Angels member and Chair of Alliance of Angels The COVID-19 Pandemic has caused every startup to assess how to survive and plan to thrive in [...]
How Angel Investors Survive the COVID-19 Economic Crisis
By Dan Rosen, member Tech Coast Angels and Founder of Alliance of Angels After publishing my companion piece, “How Startups Survive the COVID-19 Economic Crisis” in this blog on March [...]
What’s the minimum information to give your fellow investors?
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels Every investor wants regular information from companies taking their money. And most of us investors are frustrated by the lack of regular [...]
How much of a business should go to investors?
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels Financial History and Projections Let’s start with the basics. If you are investing in a going business with a track record of [...]
Could the company have created a “dirty cap table?”
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels Oh, I know. When an entrepreneur started the business, s/he took investments from friends and family in small amounts just to get [...]
Think ahead when raising early investment rounds
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels Some businesses just can’t fit within the angel capital or friends and family model for raising funds. Sooner or later you may [...]
What to Expect on Timing of Outcomes in an Angel Portfolio
By John Harbison, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels As one gets into angel investment, it is important to have realistic expectations on how long it takes to see exits, and [...]
Oh, go ahead and ask for a five-million-dollar investment in your startup.
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to [...]
Seed is the New Series A, and Series A is the New B
By John Harbison, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels More money is being raised before Series A, and companies which receive Series A rounds are further along in terms of being [...]
Investors, the board, and you: Who controls strategy?
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels You’re building a company from your vision and a passion, and lots of people are going to tell you that you have [...]
How do you pay an early stage board?
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels Give one percent equity to each outside board member vesting over four years of service. Many early stage CEOs and board members [...]
Selling a portfolio business? Find the emotional buyer
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels This is one of my favorite insights, since I lived this one in a positive exit from my computer business. Types of [...]
Timing is everything in a sale.
By Dave Berkus, Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels
Almost anyone who has sold a company has a story to tell about their good deal, the 
problems with the buyer, a last-minute change of terms, or more.
I have saved this next story until now because it is one of my favorites, and certainly illustrates the point about timing being a combination of luck and skill as well as anything I could devise from fiction.… Read the rest