An article we liked from Thought Leader Tenzin Ozaki on Medium: What Venture Capitalists Look for in an Entrepreneur — According to Harvard Three methods to elevate your pitch based on 10 years of research. I came across an article in my MBA communications course. The article, How Venture Capitalists Really Assess a Pitch, was published in Harvard Business Review.... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Nikhil Bhandari: Financial Models for Software as a Service (SAAS) Start-Ups Use MyFinModel to determine financial feasibility I. Introduction Most start-ups in the software space are, naturally, founded by folks whose area of expertise is technical and not financial; they are more likely to be comfortable writing or debugging computer code than to... Read more →

Venture Deals Spring 2021 | March 7, 2021 - April 30, 2021 A free course from Kauffman Fellows and Techstars. Instructors: Brad Feld, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Foundry Group Jason Mendelson, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Foundry Group This unique course demystifies venture capital deals and startup financing to give both first-time and experienced entrepreneurs a definitive guide to... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Alex Iskold of Startup Hacks: How much capital should you raise? When you are going out to fundraise you need to decide how much capital to raise. A typical answer we hear looks something like this: We need to build X features in our product, and we need to hire Y people to... Read more →

Carey was super excited to have Kelly Perdew on the podcast. He has been an entrepreneur, an executive, an Apprentice, and for the last several years, a venture capitalist. He’s currently Managing Partner of Moonshots Capital, an early stage venture firm. He’s been a fixture in the So Cal startup and venture community for a long time. Kelly is a... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Janelle Tam of Y Combinator: How to Build a Great Series A Pitch and Deck As YC’s Series A Program Manager, my job is to help YCombinator founders raise their Series As. After spending hundreds of hours working 1:1 with founders to workshop their pitches and decks, I’ve found myself giving the same... Read more →

Marketing and Design Firms Members: Orange County offers many innovative advertising, branding, creative, design, graphics, publicity, and communications firms that specialize in helping early stage high tech startup companies. Review the list of local firms below to find creative agencies who can help position and present your early stage company for maximum growth. These local companies serve as valuable resources... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Norm McLaughlin of StartupNation: The Importance of Authority Link Building for Startups In order for a website to rank well in Google search, numerous factors come into play. Amongst these factors is what you might call the “reputation” of the website. This reputation is enhanced when other websites have linked back to the... Read more →

If you're active in the Orange County startups ecosystem, hopefully our twice-weekly free newsletters are helping your business.... We’re a volunteer organization dedicated to supporting startup formation, investment, and deal flow for everyone in the community. Startup founders, investors, community groups, and service providers of all kinds benefit from our free press coverage. Can you do us a quick favor?... Read more →

Healthcare Tech Startups: Improving health care operations and patient outcomes through innovative new software, platforms, and services is the mission of the successful Orange County startup companies listed below. These local startup companies are busy solving problems, developing new products, and creating jobs right here in Orange County. Supporting Startup Members Ariel Precision Medicine, Inc. CareNiva Curogram, Inc. Beauty System... Read more →

Luke Cooper is the founder and CEO of Fixt, an innovative mobile device support and repair business that he sold earlier this year (for 11 times revenue!). Over the last 7 years, he’s been through a great entrepreneurial journey that was discussed on the show. Luke is the kind of entrepreneur and leader that makes you lean forward and pay... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Tomasz Tunguz: The Fastest Growing Sectors of Startup Fundraising in 2020 From time to time, I chart the fastest growing categories of startup investment in the US for seed through Series C. Here are 2015, 2017, This year, I was certain the categories would have been influenced by COVID19. I analyzed Crunchbase data... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Mohammed Elayan of OCSC GOLD Sponsor Rutan & Tucker: SPAC FAQs - What is a SPAC? A special purpose acquisition company (or blank check company), which is formed for the purpose of acquiring or merging with an operating business by a specific date, typically 24 to 30 months after the SPAC’s IPO. SPACs... Read more →

Does AWS power your Orange County startup? The OCSC can help your startup get $10,000 or even $25,000 of FREE service credits for Amazon Web Services. If your business is an AWS customer (or would like to be) these FREE AWS SERVICE CREDITS are essentially non-dilutive funding that Orange County startup company Members can use to grow their businesses. LEARN... Read more →

Thank you to Withum for upgrading to become the first Platinum Sponsor of the OC Startup Council! Withum is a forward-thinking, technology-driven advisory and accounting firm, helping clients to Be in a Position of Strength in the new reality of doing business today. A top 25 public accounting and advisory firm, Withum offers audit, tax, consulting and advisory services to... Read more →

Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs, an official Stanford Alumni Association group, is looking for new members in Orange County. If you or a friend are a Stanford alum based in Orange County with interests or experience in entrepreneurship or early stage venture investing, come join us! SAE organizes startup pitch competitions, industry panel discussions, networking events, and more. They have recently... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Michael Kimball, Esq.: Before You Launch: 5 Steps to Technical Due Diligence You’ve developed your tech product to the point it is ready for a Proof of Concept. You are about to raise a venture capital round. You’ve assessed its market potential. Now it’s time to be ready for VCs to conduct a... Read more →

An article we liked from Thought Leader Aaron Dinin of Medium: To Raise a Seed Round, Here Are the 3 Questions VCs Need Answered in Your Pitch Understanding investor needs is the best way to successfully fundraise. As a general rule of thumb, venture capitalists expect startups to take approximately 10 years after launching to reach a successful exit. Additionally,... Read more →

Happy New Year to you and yours! Let's start the new year off right! 2020 was crazy... But the OC Startup Council is still publishing to help show the world that Orange County entrepreneurs have a LOT going on – more than most people give our community credit for, in fact… And you? You’ve been a subscriber for a while... Read more →

A Thought Leader Guest Post from Nick Frost of DocSend: I Just Raised a $3M Seed Round from Top Silicon Valley VCs. This Was My Step-by-Step Process. Fundraising in 2020 was tough for many founders. Read Brent Franson's story and process of how he successfully raised a seed round for Most Days, during the pandemic. Guest post by Brent Franson,... Read more →

FinTech and Financial Services Startups: Innovative financial services, platforms, apps, and software are a specialty of Orange County startup companies, with the latest technology being applied to finance, insurance, lending, trading, portfolio management, credit, and more... These local startup companies are busy solving problems, developing new products, and creating jobs right here in Orange County. Premium Startup Members 1-800-Battery Alchemy... Read more →

New Executive Director of Long Beach Accelerator Announces Opening of First Cohort Application Andrea White-Kjoss brings over 20 years of business expertise and an extensive network of entrepreneurs to the Accelerator’s team The Long Beach Accelerator ™ (LBA), a program to support early stage startups with seed funding, key relationships and mentorship, recently began accepting applications for its first startup... Read more →

A Thought Leader Guest Post from Micah Rosenbloom of Founder Collective: The 12 Questions All Founders Should Ask VCs Entrepreneurs are often so fixated on “getting to yes” with a VC — and will go to great lengths to answer any question posed to do so — that they forget to ask the VC any questions. Here are 12 questions... Read more →

Venture Capital and Angel Investor Members: Below is our list of startup investors, venture capital firms, angel investing groups, and family offices that invest in high tech startups in Orange County, California. Review the list to find local early stage technology venture investors who can help your new startup idea or early stage company get to the next level. These... Read more →

A Thought Leader Guest Post from Wil Schroter of Startups.com: Hey Founders — Here's How to Take a Hint From Investors "How many follow up emails should I be sending prospective investors?" "How do I toe the line between being consistent on my follow up and just being a straight-up stalker? I don't want to miss my opportunity but I'm... Read more →