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Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Pinned

You need one of four things to make your startup a candidate for VC investment

Yes, there’s just four. No, they’re not easy to achieve but here they are. — I spend most of my consulting days with founders and teams ranging from idea stage to minimum viable product (MVP) to early commercialisation, so I get asked one question a lot, “What will angel or venture capital investors want to see from us before we’re good candidates for investment?” The long answer is: every investor is different

Startup

4 min read

You need one of four things to make your startup a candidate for VC investment
You need one of four things to make your startup a candidate for VC investment

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·May 26

Getting deals done

Startups grow through creating technology that solves valuable problems for customers but another way is by cutting smart deals with other companies. Here’s what I’ve learned about how doing better deals. — The first few deals I negotiated were content licensing deals, first for Microsoft’s online efforts and then for Yahoo, back in the mid-to-late 1990s. Since then I’ve cut maybe a hundred deals or so, and helped startup founders negotiate a hundred or so more.

Startup

7 min read

Getting deals done
Getting deals done

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Jul 29, 2021

An open letter to Michael Stutchbury, Editor in Chief of the Australian Financial Review

Update: now with more signatures (see end) Over the past few years, many of us in the Australian startup community have been shocked observers of a campaign of sustained bullying in print, as Australian Financial Review columnist, Joe Aston, used his readership to discredit and belittle one of our industry’s…

Gender

3 min read


Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Jan 22, 2020

Will investors think I’m too old/young to be a successful startup founder?

There’s always been a lot of time wasted over whether younger or older startup founders are more investible, or more likely to succeed. …

Startup

2 min read

Will investors think I’m too old/young to be a successful startup founder?
Will investors think I’m too old/young to be a successful startup founder?

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Sep 30, 2019

Summer can be a hard time to raise capital in Australia

We’re approaching the fourth quarter of the calendar year and once again, I’m warning founders hoping to raise: the next four months can be a hard time to close an investment round in Australia. Here’s why. — Most investors wouldn’t admit it – and some wouldn’t even be aware that they do this – but deal negotations start slowing down from about Melbourne Cup Day onwards and basically go nowhere from 1 Dec.

Startup

2 min read

Summer can be a hard time to raise capital in Australia
Summer can be a hard time to raise capital in Australia

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Sep 10, 2019

The law of small, surprising, memorable numbers

One of the hardest things about being a tech startup founder is getting people to remember anything about you for long enough to act or commit to you. …

Startup

3 min read

The law of small, surprising, memorable numbers
The law of small, surprising, memorable numbers

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Sep 3, 2019

How growing a tech startup culture could help rural and regional Australia thrive

Australia’s rural and regional communities depend on industries that are being automated fast, and employing fewer people as a result. We’re currently in the midst of the worst drought in recorded history. And we can see that global demand for our coal and gas will be much less in future…

Startup

10 min read

How growing a tech startup culture could help rural and regional Australia thrive
How growing a tech startup culture could help rural and regional Australia thrive

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Aug 30, 2019

‪Why do VCs all give me contradictory advice?

Founders wishing that VCs wouldn’t contradict each other’s advice should understand that being a VC is all about being contrarian. The job and incentives are designed and attract and reward people who question everything, especially majority opinion.‬ Nobody fulfilled and happy in investment management, banking, law, business or tech would…

Venture Capital

1 min read

‪Why do VCs all give me contradictory advice?
‪Why do VCs all give me contradictory advice?

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Aug 12, 2019

If my startup’s marketing budget is only $500, how should I spend it?

The truth is, $500 is not going to get you very far on most marketing platforms. …

Marketing

3 min read

If my startup’s marketing budget is only $500, how should I spend it?
If my startup’s marketing budget is only $500, how should I spend it?

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

·Jul 18, 2019

On the Apollo moon landing and the future hitting you in the face

This week it’s the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. I watched the first Apollo moon landing live on black-and-white television, in my parent’s living room in Canberra, just after my after-preschool nap. It was the first global television event. It relied upon so many revolutionary technological advances that…

Space

5 min read

On the Apollo moon landing and the future hitting you in the face
On the Apollo moon landing and the future hitting you in the face
The M8 blog

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Editors

Alan Jones

Alan Jones

I’m Alan Jones, coach for accelerators, partner at M8 Ventures, angel investor. Earlier: founder, early Yahoo product manager, tech reporter.

Emily Rich

Emily Rich

Director Microsoft for Startups, APAC. Partner @M8Ventures. Product Person. Early Stage Tech. Mentor @Startmate @Techstars etc. Former Founder.

Elaine Stead

Elaine Stead

Reads, sings, travels, cooks. VC but not the Patagonia vest & khaki kind. Views are her own

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