Fundraising is Physics, Not Art: Pitching is just a signal; the real work is the structural integrity of your business.

Paulo Andrez, angel investor and author of "Zero Risk Startup," joined me to unpack how founders can create clarity, reduce risk, and massively increase their odds of success.

Most founders dive headfirst into building their product—only to realize later that nobody wants it. Instead of building first and hoping for customers, David shows how founders can sell before they build—and avoid the mistakes that sink most startups.

Most people who ever dreamed of starting their own business never did anything about it.

Fear holds them back. The good news? You can conquer it.

The freemium business model is popular, but is it right for your startup?

What if you could pivot before building your solution or going to market? Imagine the resources you could save!

In the world of startups, success stories often steal the spotlight. Yet, failure is a far more common companion on the entrepreneurial journey.

Your elevator pitch is more than just an introduction; it’s the gateway to potential investment and growth opportunities.

Sales strategy is often a neglected aspect of many tech startups, especially those led by technical founders.

Raising money from investors is a long, arduous process, so many founders seek help.

In response, a whole cadre of people specializing in that sprang up, often called fundraising facilitators. The problem is that most of them appear to be ineffective at best and harmful at worst.

In this interview, Sabir Ibrahim, an attorney and entrepreneur, provides valuable insights on the implications of privacy and privacy policies for startups.

There's a paradox that impacts most startups early in their journeys. You can't make your product without money, and you can't get money without a product.

You want to attract and, more importantly, retain top talent. but you can’t pay top dollar. So what can you do?

In this interview, Caroline Arzoo, Director of Partnerships at OmniSync, and I discuss the different options for funding a startup, with a focus on non-dilutive funding.

Once you decide to start angel investing, your first challenge is finding strong dealflow. You need access to a large number of companies looking for funding that meet your general target criteria, because most won’t be worthy of your money.

Most successful startups will eventually outgrow their founding CEO. If you handle it correctly, you can have a good experience and an even better long-term outcome. Here’s what happened to me.

Sometimes when you pitch, the technology won’t cooperate. Learn to handle it so you look as good or better than you would have if everything had gone perfectly.

Almost every startup finds itself in a dark place where it seems they have few options. Even if things are going well for you now, keeping these strategies in your back pocket will probably help at some point.

Profitability Master Ruth King, the award-winning author of 5 books including “the Courage to be Profitable” and “Profit or Wealth?”, talks about the lifecycle of startups and surviving a phase she calls “No Man’s Land.”

Most investors just skim pitch decks in a few seconds. This technique ensures they still get the key information about your startup.

In startups, resources are critically limited. What are you going to build, and more importantly, what will not get built?

Most investment pitching now happens over video conferences, so mastering remote fundraising is critical.

Startup advice, in the form of a recipe or template for success, can cause more harm than good. Learn what to look out for.

Why should you put off automating business processes as long as possible? Learn the benefit of doing things by hand in the early stages of a business.

I want to talk about a different way of thinking about your competitive environment. Your competition isn't just the other companies in your space.

Intelligence, skill, and hard work are necessary for your startup to succeed, but they are often not enough. In my experience, you need to be lucky too.

When you pitch to investors, your audience will only remember a couple of ideas. Learn what about your company will wow investors.

Lisa Tamayo, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, CEO/Co-founder of Scollar, talked about their pivot from product to platform, and shared her hard-won experience about the startup process.

If you need to choose a problem to solve, identify your customers, and settle on a solution. This framework will help you through the process.

Iris Fujiura, Chapter Lead of the Silicon Valley chapter of Golden Seeds, and an engineer/executive working on rockets and launch systems, provides great insight into angel investor priorities, and what makes for a successful funding pitch.

Che Voigt, co-founder and CEO of AltWork and chair of the North Bay Angels, talks about their innovative workstation and how the work from home trend is driving sales and their experiences with a China based supply chain during COVID.

I interviewed numerous angel investors to create this list of nine things angels want to learn in your pitch.

Elizabeth Gore, co-founder and president of Alice (helloalice.com), shares numerous insights that will be of great help to any small business owner..

The busyness trap is when you get caught in a pattern of doing a lot but accomplishing little. I share some approaches to escaping from that trap.

When you talk to an investor, they expect you to show financial projections. How can you do that when you are pre-revenue?

Learn how to launch a company without savings or investment.

During an economic crisis, companies need to take immediate and radical action to stay alive. These five moves can save your startup.

What’s the difference between an intentional pivot and just having no clear direction? Learn to achieve focus with flexibility.

Why are so many strong startups failing to raise their A-Rounds?

Almost all successful companies share one thing in common: a pivot. Learning and adapting can be the best path to growth and success.

Passion provides a gigantic competitive advantage. Learn how to connect your business to your passion.

When you are raising funds for your startup, one of the biggest questions is, “How much should I ask for?”

One of the most frightening moments as an entrepreneur is when you finally quit your day job. You can risk reduce that transition and improve your chances for angel funding at the same time.

As a human, you don’t scale well. That means delegating, which can be painful but is the only path to growth.

Making a video while evacuated from a massive wildfire helped me think about my priorities and when to push through difficulties.

Virality is the holy grail of business models. Learn the three different kinds of virality which you can use in your startup.

Most blockchain pitches I see are terrible. Learn how they go wrong so you can avoid those mistakes.

You want to keep control of your startup, but that does not mean you need to keep 51% ownership. Learn what really matters here.

What are the best ways to use stock options to motivate employees?

What are stock options, and how do you explain them to your employees so they appreciate them?

What is the difference between pre-seed, seed, A, B, and C rounds?

Why do investors want to hear about your ability to execute more than your idea?

Why do angels & VC demand 20X or better returns? It all comes down to the economics of startup investing.

I don’t care about your technology when you are pitching me as an angel investor. What should you be focusing on instead?

Sometimes you need to make a sacrifice to get your big dream off the ground. What’s it worth to you?