When you’re a first-time entrepreneur, you have very few knowledge about raising money and convincing investors to bet on you.
Even if you have a MBA or are graduated from a top management school, your financial skills are… not so adequate, as startup and Venture Capital are really different.
Fortunately, there is a lot of blogs online to educate yourself quickly and hardcover books on the topic, like for instance “Venture Deals: be smarter than your lawyer and your Venture Capitalist” (which is a MUST-READ for everyone involved in a startup business – I’ve read it during Summer!).
But you can also follow some prominent investors on twitter, mostly US-based (I don’t know many European investors who blog so regularly, but I’d be please to discover – please comment below if you have some):
Fred Wilson is a seasoned Venture Capitalist, who founded 2 VC firms. He’s now Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures in New-York. His blog, AVC, is a goldmine for entrepreneurs. Fred regularly writes blog post series named “MBA Monday”, in which he explores many fundamentals to build a startup.
Brad Feld is one of the founder of TechStars, one of the best accelerating program originally started in Boulder, Colorado. As Fred, he’s in the VC business for decades and also invests in Angel rounds. He’s Managing Director of Foundry Group, and 2 other VC firms. He wrote amazing books as “Venture Deals”, “Do more, faster” or “Startup Communities” (the last one) and blogs mainly on Ask the VC.
Mark Suster is a 2-times entrepreneur based in Los Angeles and who sold his second venture to Salesforce. He’s now General Partner at GRP Partners and does some angel investments. He shares his thoughts on starting business and getting VC money on Both sides of the table, and hold a weekly web television serie called This Week in Venture Capital.
Fred Destin is a Belgian guy now based in Boston (we had the chance to have him during 2-3 years in Switzerland!), acting as Managing Partner at Atlas Ventures. He’s blogging on Freddestin.com with the mantra “Open Source Capital”. I first met him at Lift Conference in 2010, where he taught us how to hack Venture Capital.
These guys are simply amazing and I have the real impression to know them as if we would be friends (from this list, I only know Fred Destin personally). I can only recommend you to read their blogs and follow them, as you’ll benefit quasi instantly of their smartness. Most entrepreneurs love to have them on board, and I’m not an exception!
If you have other angels or VC investors you’re actively following, just mention them in the comment section below. I’d love to discover Swiss and European blogging investors!