Archive: Traction

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Behind the Pick: A Game Changer for Sports Fans

By Early Investing on October 7, 2022

Sports fans are some of the most passionate people on the planet. They care deeply for their teams and follow them religiously. But for most sports fans, going to a game in person or watching it on TV is the closest they ever get to their teams.  One crypto is tapping into sports fans’ passion to bring them closer to their teams than they ever could have imagined. Chiliz (CHZ) aims to make sports…
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Behind the Pick: Naming and Solving a Real World Problem

By Early Investing on August 5, 2022

What’s in a name? While William Shakespeare’s message in the famous “Romeo and Juliet” soliloquy may be that names are meaningless, they’re actually quite useful in the crypto world. You’ll understand if you’ve ever had to type out a crypto wallet address. Crypto wallet addresses…
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Crypto Insider: A Common Crypto Investing Misconception

By Early Investing on June 13, 2022

Crypto investing and startup investing have a lot in common. When evaluating startups and crypto projects (many of which are startups themselves), investors need to consider the technology or service being offered, its customer base, traction, scalability and — perhaps most importantly — its founding team.
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Behind the Pick: The Importance of DeFi Diversification

By Early Investing on May 26, 2022

Memorial Day is rapidly approaching. So we expect many of our Crypto Asset Strategies subscribers to be preparing for a long weekend of relaxation.  With that in mind, we won’t keep you too long. We’ve got a lightning-fast version of Behind the…
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The public markets are a mess. The private markets are a mess. The precious metals markets are a mess. And the crypto markets are a mess. Those are the facts. I fully expect the crypto markets to be highly volatile and continue to bottom out over…
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Our Five Criteria for Evaluating Startups

By Vin Narayanan on May 10, 2022

Hopefully you’ve noticed the changes at Pre-IPO Profits recently. We emailed you an interesting startup investment opportunity last month. This month, we’re bringing you an exclusive webinar about investing in the KingsCrowd Capital Fund. In June, we’ll…
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Focus on Traction When Investing in Startups

By Adam Sharp on May 4, 2021

Traction is by far the most important signal for startup investors. That may seem obvious. But when I started out, I was more excited about investing in breakthrough technology. I often overlooked a company’s traction when I made my investment decision. But really, there’s nothing more…
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Investing in Startups Without Traction

By Adam Sharp on December 22, 2020

As a general rule, I prefer to invest in companies that are growing quickly. That means startups with plenty of traction. However, sometimes I do break that rule — and doing so recently produced a great outcome. Back in 2016, I invested in a…
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The Trick to Evaluating Market Size

By Adam Sharp on November 17, 2020

One of the most important (and trickiest) factors to evaluate in startup investing is the size of the opportunity. How big can a startup  become? How big is the market it sells into — and how fast is it growing? Before investing in any startup, you…
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Startup Insider: The Importance of Traction

By Early Investing on October 12, 2020

As angel investors, we’re told to look for startups with traction. We’re told that startups with real revenue, customers and growth are the best startups to invest in. But when investors don’t like a startup, they find reasons to ignore traction. Some of them are good…

Lessons Learned from More Than 100 Investments

By Adam Sharp on August 28, 2020

I’ve been investing in startups online for six years now. I’ve made small investments in more than 100 companies so far. I’ve also been part of three funds which invested in another 32 startups. Today I’m going to share some of the key lessons I’ve learned…

Startup Investors: Watch Out for These Five Red Flags

By Adam Sharp on February 7, 2020

Adam Sharp lists his top five red flags to watch for when evaluating startup investments.
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Why We’re Looking for More Series A Startup Investments

By Andy Gordon on September 16, 2019

The First Stage Investor team is on the lookout for more Series A companies to recommend. And we’re also keeping an eye on escalating valuations.
In this week’s Mailbag, the Early Investing team talks Silicon Valley investments and equity crowdfunding portals.
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Startup Investors: Watch Out for These Five Red Flags

By Adam Sharp on September 10, 2019

Adam Sharp lists his top five red flags to watch for when evaluating startup investments.

Mailbag: How to Tell if Your Startup Is Flourishing

By Early Investing on August 25, 2019

This week, the Early Investing team addresses the first thing it notices about a promising startup and how to tell if a startup investment is flourishing.