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How VCs Think About Midwest Startups with Sramana Mitra
Rating: 4.6 out of 5(5 ratings)
13 students

How VCs Think About Midwest Startups with Sramana Mitra

Case studies of Investors (Angels and Venture Capitalists) in the US Midwest on Venture Capital Fundraising
Created bySramana Mitra
Last updated 6/2023
English

What you'll learn

  • Through in-depth interviews with prominent investors, learn how investors think about Midwest startups.
  • What investor-entrepreneur fit is and how to look for it before looking for funding.
  • Why 99% of entrepreneurs who seek funding get rejected by VCs.
  • Why traditional VCs only invest in hyper growth startups.
  • What the key considerations are for investors when they evaluate startups.
  • How entrepreneurs can position themselves for success while building a startup.
  • What some of the common mistakes are that entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups to VCs.
  • The fastest way to find the relevant sources of funding when building a startup in the Midwest.

Course content

2 sections • 11 lectures • 2h 43m total length

  • Introduction1:27
  • How Do Investors Think About Midwest Startups?3:13
  • Finding Investor - Entrepreneur Fit10:36

    Discussion on how to win the low probability game of startup fundraising.

  • Heartland Ventures Founder Max Brickman's Investment Thesis16:38

    Max Brickman, Founder at Heartland Ventures, talks about his firm’s investment thesis.

  • What Investors Are Looking For With Mark Achler, MATH Venture Partners31:33

    Mark Achler, Managing Director, MATH Venture Partners, discusses their investment strategy and the industry trends. This discussion took place in 2017 and the next lecture is our next conversation in 2021.

  • Discussing Entrepreneurs From Smaller Cities with Mark Achler, MATH Ventures29:19

    Mark Achler, Managing Director at MATH Venture Partners, focuses on B-to-B selling as a key factor in startup success.

  • Small Midwestern Startups with Mark Hasebroock, Dundee Venture Capital22:38

    Mark Hasebroock is Founder at Dundee Venture Capital, based in Omaha, Nebraska. During this podcast interview, Mark tells us the firm invests in the Midwest, likes small, capital-efficient deals and are open to early exits.

  • Venture Activity in the Midwest with Ira Weiss, Hyde Park Venture Partners24:31

    Ira Weiss, General Partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners based in Chicago, talks about venture activity in the Midwest during this podcast interview.

  • SaaS Companies in the Midwest with George Spencer of Seyen Capital20:33

    George Spencer, Senior Managing Director at Seyen Capital, invests in SaaS companies, mostly in the Midwest, from a small fund out of Chicago. This podcast interview includes an excellent discussion on ideal levels of capitalization for good exit prices.

Requirements

  • The only requirement for this course is an open mind and a willingness to learn.

Description

I really find Midwestern investors very interesting to talk to. While the broader trends are the same throughout the US, I find Midwestern investors to be uniquely pragmatic. Their feet are much more firmly planted on the ground. We see a lot of investors in the Midwest very interested in good fundamentals business. They’re often more interested in capital efficient startups. Early exits at modest multiples are much more acceptable with Midwest investors.

If you want to build a Unicorn startup or get financing from outside your own geography, that is perfectly acceptable today too. As an entrepreneur building your startup in the Midwest, however, you may have more financing options within your own geography with investors looking for more reasonable investment and outcomes.

Raising money is a low probability game. You need to understand how investors think to be able to raise money successfully for your startup.

During this course, I will be teaching how investors in the Midwest of the United States think about and analyze startups. We will have in-depth conversations around startups with several real world investors.

Designed for tech entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs interested in building startups in the Midwest, this course provides insights into the minds of several investors operating in this region for many years in their own words.

We hope you will join us.

The 1Mby1M courses are all heavily based on interview-based case studies on Innovation, Business Models, Go To Market Strategies, Validation Principles, and various other nuances of an entrepreneur's journey. We offer extensive opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn the lessons from the trenches from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and Investors who support their ambition.

Who this course is for:

  • Ambitious entrepreneurs who want to pursue ideas for which they have both passion and expertise.
  • Engineers who want to turn their tech knowledge into multi-million dollar revenue businesses by becoming startup founders rather than remain employees.
  • Aspiring Midwest founders who want to increase their chances of being accepted into top startup accelerators such as Y Combinator, Techstars, and 500 Startups.
  • Any entrepreneur who wants to learn from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and from investors who have supported them.
  • Professors who are teaching technology entrepreneurship courses.

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