It is 2023, and the environment for funding has changed drastically in the last few years. What you do before you pitch is even more important than it has been in the past. The post 5 Things To Do Before Pitching Your Business To Investors appeared first on Gust ..read more

The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes. Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. The biggest complaint I hear from fellow investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation. The post 10 Ways To Make Your Funding Pitch More Hard-Hitting appeared first on Gust ..read more

Starting and building any business other than the very tiniest one-person shop is a complicated task. Thus, the majority of businesses that aspire to become high-growth companies of the future—are launched by a founding team of two, three, or more people. Combining the strengths, insights, experiences, talents, connections, and resources of a few people often gives a new business a greater chance of success than resting entirely on the shoulders of even a highly talented single individual. That said, there is a real difference between “founding a business” and “being part of the founding team ..read more

After reading about Peter Thiel’s IRA gymnastics, founders inevitably wonder whether or not they can use similar tactics to leverage the tax benefits associated with IRAs for the shares they hold in their own startup. We typically get this question at least once a month during Gust Launch office hours. While it’s technically possible to do it, there are important questions and serious potential consequences to consider before attempting. There are also other tax benefits available to startup founders that are considerably less difficult to navigate. The post Can founders hold shares in their o ..read more

The process of acquiring venture capital can stir up quite a few emotions in an early-stage founder: Excitement. Fear. A sense of doing something incredibly important. The incredible degree of pressure in knowing that you need this money to be successful. However, as many founders have discovered, chasing that venture capital funding can be incredibly time-consuming, expensive, and frustrating. What if there was a better way to raise capital? The post 9 Great Alternative Funding Options Every Founder Should Know About appeared first on Gust ..read more

Taxes is like the sands on the beach by my house, it is a constantly changing world molded by the tides of public sentiment and the seasons of political changes. Sometimes I walk down and there is a ton of sand and everything is smooth and easy to walk on. Other days the sand is sucked out, leaving rocky crevices where my feet are constantly at risk of a cut. The same thing is happening in the business world regarding the shifting of tax laws. We have experienced a decade of smooth regulations that have eased the way for business development, but the seasons are shifting and we are moving into ..read more

New business owners who form a corporation often wonder how to run their shareholder meetings. Answers to common questions about shareholder meetings. The post How to Run a Shareholder Meeting appeared first on Gust ..read more

Mention the term “business plan” and the image that likely comes to mind is a thick document generated by a business consultant for you to give to a banker or investor and then forget about. But since these days everyone worships at the altar of the lean startup, it’s common knowledge that a business plan is “old school” and completely useless. All you need is a slide deck and a great team, right? Wrong! The post Craft a Lean Business Plan to Serve as Your Venture’s Roadmap appeared first on Gust ..read more

Good news for startups building from within New York State! New York State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) and it's venture capital management arm, NY Ventures is providing support and capital of $30 million for it's Pre-seed and Seed Matching Fund Program to help early stage startups who are registered in New York. The program will offer early-stage businesses growth assistance starting from $50,000 and up to $250,000 for every matching dollar investment from a private sector investor (there must be at least $1 of private sector investment for every $1 NY Ventures invests). The progr ..read more

So, you’ve got a great idea for a startup. But there’s just one catch; Your startup requires machine learning (ML), and to you, that feels a bit, well, overwhelming. We’ve got some great news for you! ML doesn’t have to be either complicated or time-consuming. In fact, there are a number of ML SaaS platforms on the market today that are intentionally designed to do the heavy lifting for you. The post Why You Shouldn’t Be Afraid of Using Machine Learning for Your Startup appeared first on Gust ..read more