When To Close the Round Early

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In raising funding, the founder sets a target.

Oftentimes, the target is a rather large number.

It's best to break the larger raise into smaller rounds.

This lets you run a series of smaller campaigns inside the larger fundraise.

One of the benefits of breaking the raise into smaller rounds is that it gives the founder more control over the campaign.

If one of the rounds is not going well, then the founder can choose to close it early.

Instead of raising $1M, the founder could decide to close at $750K and move the remaining $250K to the next round.

The funds will ultimately be raised, but the founder does have a choice of raising them now or raising them later.

If one of the rounds is going very well, then the founder can choose to oversubscribe and extend it.

This means taking some of the raise in the following round and drawing it into an earlier one.

Consider how your fundraise is going and if you should close early or oversubscribe.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

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For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

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In this episode of Investor Connect, Hall T. Martin welcomes Michelle Leeuwon, a leader in technology commercialization at the University of Houston working at the intersection of innovation, entrepreneurship, and ecosystem development. Michelle shares how UH treats commercialization as a translational process—"cultivating deals" by asking three key questions: what problem is solved, who feels the pain enough to pay, and what meaningful proof reduces risk. She explains how her team selects the right pathway (licensing vs. startup formation), aligns technology with market needs, and helps founders narrow use cases, set realistic development and funding timelines, and define clear team roles.

The conversation also covers proof-of-concept (gap) funding to build prototypes, validate applications, support scale-up, and drive customer discovery, along with an IP strategy focused on protecting "relevant novelty" to enable licensable, investable deals. Michelle discusses early engagement with industry and investors for feedback, best practices for pairing inventors with experienced operators through UH's Innovate accelerator, metrics centered on risk reduction, and closes with her contact details for licensing and startup opportunities.

Reach out to at wwan@central.uh.edu, and on www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-leeuwon-486624170/

________________________________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https:/_/tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Avoid These Sins as a Startup Investor

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

Startup investors should act as role models for startup founders.

Startup founders are often new to the startup world and so look to others with experience for how best to play the game.

Avoid these sins as a startup investor.

Not being genuine.

Investors want startups to tell it straight, so investors should do the same for startups.

If the answer is no, then tell the founder as soon as possible.

Lack of honesty.

Investors don't like it when founders fudge the numbers.

Investors should return the favor and not overpromise or underdeliver to the founder.

Lack of transparency.

Investors don't like it when founders hold back key information about the company.

Investors should not hold back on their concerns about the startup and their chance of success.

Lack of depth.

Investors want founders to go deep on their space, in particular their market and its customers.

Investors should return the favor and go deep into the analysis of the startups' chosen market and the chance of the startups' success.

Lack of humanity.

Investors need to remember that founders are people too, and investing is more than just numbers.

It's about relationships.

Avoid these sins as a startup investor.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

_________________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.