If you’re just beginning your journey as an entrepreneur in the pre-seed startup round, competition can be fierce. It’s crucial to know how to go about gaining support so you can go from pre-seed to fully funded startup with plenty of venture capital backing your product. Read on for seven of the best tips to succeed as a pre-seed startup provided, in part, by our friends at Y-Combinator, Crunchbase & DocSend.

Pre-Seed Changes

Several years ago, pre-seed companies needed a minimal PowerPoint pitch deck and a solid idea to present. Beyond that, they required very little to secure funding for their venture…

At EpicAi we help founders build the future — developing, investing and advising early-stage companies. We’ve seen companies go through incredible changes being forced to adapt. Small businesses and Startups have been hit hard by mandatory state business closures required to slow the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19).

There are many resources that have become available for relief including business loan deferment, eviction, and emergency funding. Particularly banks have been encouraged by the FDIC to provide assistance for both personal and business finances during these times.

As we gather updates we will share them:

Corporate Assistance Programs

1. Facebook Small Business Grants Program

Facebook has committed to offering up…

A lot of adult children seek out information on getting life insurance for their elder parents or parents who are unable to shop for and purchase their policies. While you can typically buy coverage for yourself and a spouse without much difficulty, buying a policy for a parent is a little more difficult and may require some extra steps.

Ultimately, your goal should be to sit down and discuss life insurance with your parents so that you can work together on this matter. These can be difficult discussions to have, but they are necessary. Here’s what you need to know.

Consent First

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If you’re newly married, a new parent, or even the parent of young children, it might be time to think about life insurance. Why? Because it could be the best financial protection you can offer them.

Life insurance would protect your family — commonly your spouse and children — if something were to happen to you. If you are the sole breadwinner and your spouse or children depend on you financially, it’s crucial to make sure they would be able to survive financially if something were to happen to you.

Life insurance is all about protecting those you love from…

How this report was created

Investor Intelligence recognizes the need for insight into how startups can secure the funding they need. That’s one of the reasons we created this report. Over the years, we’ve helped connect companies of all types with investors. We’ve helped them raise over $100 million during that process. Because companies can easily upload and share their pitch decks with potential investors with ease using our service, they gain insight and support on their fundraising path.

To create this report, we gathered email open rates and clicks, along with time spent viewing pitched decks and the amount raised by companies like your…

A non-disclosure agreement sounds like a very good thing when you are a startup looking for help building your business. Yet, many investors, including VCs, have no intention of signing one.

Can you trust a VC, then, to not tell the world about your product or service? How do you know your investment strategy, pitch deck, and needs are not going to be shared with competitors?

Why They Won’t Sign Your NDA

It’s not common to find a VC that’s willing to sign your disclosure statement, even if they think you have a pretty amazing product or service. …

If you can build a 10-slide PowerPoint deck, then you can raise millions of dollars from investors. OK, OK, that might be a bit of hyperbole, but the reality is that some of the most famous unicorns in the tech industry right now have done exactly that.

For example, consider the original Airbnb pitch deck, widely available all over the Internet for any startup founder looking for inspiration. This pitch deck is a thing of beauty. It will make you swoon over the company, open up your wallet, and hand over every last dollar you have. It is brief, elegant…

There’s the elevator pitch, which is a 30-second or less verbal explanation of what your startup does and what makes it unique. There’s the pitch deck, which is anywhere from 10 to 15 PowerPoint slides organized into a very compelling presentation. And then there’s the e-mail pitch — you can think of this of what would happen if you condensed your very best elevator pitch into just a single PowerPoint slide and sent it out via email.

There are a time and occasion for each of these pitches. Elevator pitches are best reserved for elevators (or any other place where…