Archive: Pre-IPO Profits
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Later Stage Startup Valuations are Rising
Most of the deals I get invited to online are early-stage ones — pre-seed, seed, and Series A. But I do see a fair number of Series B and C deals as well. And I’ve noticed that the later the deal is, the higher the valuation tends to be lately. Some of that naturally results from the company being slightly more mature. But the jump in valuations that I’m seeing goes beyond just maturity. Deals that…
A Unique Startup Investment Opportunity
By Vin Narayanan on January 12, 2021
As many of you know, the Early Investing team joined forces with KingCrowd last year. KingsCrowd is a startup whose goal is to provide all investors with institutional grade ratings and analytics for the startup space. In essence, it…
The Strength of Early-Stage Companies
By Adam Sharp on January 5, 2021
We live in a remarkably disruptive time. New technologies are changing the way almost every industry operates. There’s a lot of opportunity for innovative companies to make a big impact. But we also live in a very unique time when it comes to finance and monetary…
Investing in Startups Without Traction
By Adam Sharp on December 22, 2020
As a general rule, I prefer to invest in companies that are growing quickly. That means startups with plenty of traction. However, sometimes I do break that rule — and doing so recently produced a great outcome. Back in 2016, I invested in a…
Rolling Funds Transforming AngelList
By Adam Sharp on December 15, 2020
Rolling funds on AngelList are continuing to pick up steam. And I’ve been thinking about what the long-term impact of these funds could be for a while now. I believe that — like I said back in September…
Look Beyond the Lockdowns for the Best Deals
By Adam Sharp on December 8, 2020
At the beginning of the pandemic, I thought startup investing volumes would drop dramatically throughout its duration. I was wrong. Venture capitalists and angel investors seem to be funding more companies than ever. And much of that funding is going to startups that are benefiting from…
The Truth About Investment Sizes
By Adam Sharp on December 1, 2020
I’ve made well over 100 startup investments since 2014. Looking back, there are some mistakes I made early on that I wish I had avoided. One big one is I would get way too excited about some of the startups. I invested too much in my first 10…
The Trick to Evaluating Market Size
By Adam Sharp on November 17, 2020
One of the most important (and trickiest) factors to evaluate in startup investing is the size of the opportunity. How big can a startup become? How big is the market it sells into — and how fast is it growing? Before investing in any startup, you…
Big Changes for Non-Accredited Investors
By Adam Sharp on November 10, 2020
Last week the SEC announced that it was increasing the limit on Regulation Crowdfunding (Reg CF) deals from $1.07 million to $5 million. In case you weren’t aware, anyone can invest in Reg CF deals. You don’t have to be an accredited investor like you do…
Don’t Miss Out on Startup Deals Like I Did
By Adam Sharp on October 27, 2020
A few years back, I was invited to invest in Calm.com — a meditation app. “Meditation app?!” I thought. And then I quickly dismissed the deal. It’s gone on to be an absolutely massive winner. The company has grown incredibly — it’s now reportedly raising at…
How To Invest in Complex Concepts
By Adam Sharp on October 20, 2020
I sometimes get invited to participate in deals in areas I don’t understand well — like biotechnology. In almost all these cases, the science is over my head. So I generally don’t invest in startups that are in complex areas (for me). However, there are certain investors who I respect…
Investing in Indian Startups
By Adam Sharp on October 13, 2020
India has a very intriguing startup scene (and overall economy) — lots of innovation, high economic growth, a good and improving education and good demographics. It can be hard to find good investment opportunities unless you live in India. But those opportunities do exist. And I believe they’re worth the…
Choosing Between Startups and Tech Stocks
By Adam Sharp on October 6, 2020
Today we’re going to briefly compare tech stocks with startup investments. We’ve reached a point in the public market where many tech stocks are overvalued by what I would guess is a multiple that ranges from 2x-to-10x. The valuations at this point are simply silly, as…
Don’t Be Tempted by More Liquidity
By Adam Sharp on September 29, 2020
AngelList is rolling out a new feature called Transfers, which will make it easier to sell private startup equity. This has been in the works for a while now. Multiple platforms are working on similar “secondary platforms” to make it easier…
The Future of Venture Capital
By Adam Sharp on September 15, 2020
AngelList’s new rolling funds — which we discussed a few weeks back — are likely to change how the platform operates considerably. The current system involves syndicate leads raising money on a deal-by-deal basis. I think…
Where the Best Deals Are
By Adam Sharp on September 8, 2020
Just after the COVID-19 lockdown began, startup deals slowed to a crawl. And they stayed at that pace for a few weeks. Now, things are roaring back. Many new early-stage investment funds have formed over the last few months. Competition for “hot” deals is crazier than…