In this video, the Wall Street Jounnal looks at the risks involved with one-click Angel investing. One site that lets startups post profiles warns, “Expect to lose your money.”
World’s First Brewery Incubator Gets Kickstarter Funding
Over at Fast Company, Zak Stone writes that Brewery Inc. in Houston is looking to support and grow new “nano-breweries.”
We cultivate these nano-breweries through business workshops, networking events, co-marketing, investor pitches, and co-working until they are fully ready to launch their own brewery,” reads the Brewery Incubator’s Kickstarter. The project is actually an incubator within a more established incubator, Kitchen Inc., which provides food entrepreneurs with affordable commercial kitchen space and a café to sell their wares.
According to Stone, Brewery Inc. has six brewers in a space that could fit 10. A successful Kickstarter campaign has just completed to outfit the facility for training microbrewers on macro production. Read the Full Story.
Ayasdi Big Data Startup Delivers Digital Serendipity
Ayasdi today announced that it has received $10.25 million in a Series A funding led by Khosla Ventures and FLOODGATE. Ayasdi has created the world’s first Insight Discovery platform, a technology that combines advanced mathematics, computer science, and visualization to help organizations find breakthrough insights in large and complex datasets that lead to impactful outcomes.
The answers to today’s most important scientific, business and social problems lie in data,” said Gurjeet Singh, CEO of Ayasdi. “The biggest challenge in Big Data today is asking the right questions of data. The power of Ayasdi is its unique ability to automatically discover insights–regardless of complexity–without asking questions. Ayasdi’s customers can finally learn the answers to questions that they didn’t know to ask in the first place. Simply stated, Ayasdi is ‘digital serendipity.”
Read the Full Story.
Video: How AngelList Connects Startups and Investors
In this video, Ash Fontana discusses how AngelList connects Startups and investors.
Kickstarter Funding New Documentary to Rewrite Science Fiction History
A new Kickstarter campaign intends to produce a documentary about historical visionaries that paved the way to modern science fiction. Cities in the Sky: Science Fiction’s Forgotten Visionaries is currently in preproduction with their funding campaign running through February 5, 2013.
Writers like Verne and Wells get a lot of attention and they were no doubt great minds and visionaries, but a shocking number of other creative men and women stand largely unknown or forgotten; we deeply hope that we can help play a role in changing this situation!
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Video: Oculus Rift Device Delivers on the Promise of Virtual Reality
Over at New Scientist, Niall Firth writes that the new Oculus Rift gaming headset maybe the device that finally brings convincing Virtual Reality to the home.
In the demo at CES, I walk around the medieval scene using Xbox controllers, able to look all around me just by turning my head. The only downside is a slight feeling of sea-sickness if you move too quickly, something I experience as I try to turn on my heels and move quickly off in a different direction. But the exhilarating feeling it provides is undeniable. Virtual reality might be on its way back, after all.
The Oculus Rift began as a Kickstarter project that has garnered nearly $2.5 Million dollars in pledges. Read the Full Story.
Video: Six Trends Startups Must Cope With in 2013
In this video, Bloomberg Contributing Editor Paul Kedrosky discusses his 2013 predictions for technology Startups.
Video: Fireside Chat with Naval Ravikant from AngelList
In this video from TwilioCon 2012, Naval Ravikant from AngelList discusses raising capital in a fireside chat. More TwilioCon 2012 sessions and keynotes are available at the conference site.
How to Get Funded in 10 Minutes
Over at the Up and Running blog, Caroline Cummings writes that you can pitch and get funded in 10 minutes if you do the right preparation.
If there’s one thing I can’t stress enough, it’s the importance of rehearsing your pitch. I’ve seen too many entrepreneurs think, “oh, I know my business inside and out – pitching will be a breeze!” Good luck! I’ve also seen many entrepreneurs crash and burn when delivering their investor pitch – and ramble on and on. There’s nothing more frustrating then telling someone “I only need 10 minutes of your time,” and 20 minutes later you’re still on slide #5.
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New Funding 101 Site Provides Educational Resource for Entrepreneurs
This week Startups.Co launched Funding 101, a free educational resource to guide entrepreneurs through the process of raising capital. Developed by veteran entrepreneur Wil Schroter, the new site aims to fill a gap in resources available for startups beginning their fundraising journey.
The truth is that fundraising is hard,” said Schroter, a guest columnist here on inside-Startups. Most people try and fail, no matter how great their preparation, their perseverance, or their idea. That’s because there are far more people looking for capital than there are people writing checks, and therefore an entrepreneur needs to do everything possible to ensure they can successfully fundraise. Funding 101 is our effort to give every entrepreneur resources to educate themselves on the funding process and the options that are available.”
Read the Full Story.
Tip: Practice Pitches on Fellow Entrepreneurs
In this story from VatorNews, Hardeep Walia from Motif discusses lessons learned in Startup fundraising. He suggests practicing your fundraising pitches with other entrepreneurs before going to investors. Read the Full Story.
Video: How Small Investors Get Access to Tech Startups
In this video, Secondmarket Chief Strategy Officer Jeremy Smith discusses angel investing and partnering up with AngelList.
