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Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

Bio

Silicon Valley entrepreneur and start-up veteran - Founder of 7 killer tech companies since 1995, 3 acquired, 1 IPO - active advisor and angel investor in big ideas and passionate teams

Recent Answers

Fundraising

I'm looking for health care business angel investors for my startup. Does anyone have any suggestions on where to look?


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

There are 3-5 healthcare specific crowdfunding platforms - I would start there. -MD

Entrepreneurship

At what point should an entrepreneur give up on their venture?


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

Never. If you go into a startup with any other mind-set than your going to make it work "no matter what" you will never survive the grind.

Fundraising

When should the founders lose majority control?


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

Having done over 35 different financing rounds over 7 companies I've built in Silicon Valley - you should be giving up 15%-25% dilution in each round with a plan to never raise beyond a Series-C. Investors get equity for money invested, don't start doing "special deals" or it could poison the well for future investors. If you want to "slightly" sweeten it for a truly early investor , then put them on your advisory board for 1/4 a point equity ( vesting over 2 years). Then they have to deliver some value for that equity. -MD

Website Monetization

I co-founded an online newspaper/entertainment blog in NYC with a writer and we can't find a way to monetize it.


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

The realities of media and publishing are such that it requires massive audience to effectively monetize any content. It's awesome you guys have built up 25-50K in visitors monthly , but realistically the cost of actually building a 10-15MM unique user audience (profitable) monthly is WAY out of the range of possible for most people/start-ups. Your sweet-spot and skill so far has been to CREATE CONTENT, and arguably content that a group of people (25k-50k) want to consume. You will need to look elsewhere for audience - you need to syndicate your content and get paid by larger trafficked properties who are looking for solid programming around specific topics your covering. This is a very real and tangible way to create predictable revenues month-2-month from your publication. Happy to give you examples. -MD

Marketing

How much equity should I ask as a CMO in a startup?


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

Likely you should only be getting 1-4% max as a CMO in a tech start-up.

Project Management

What is the best project management tool for a startup developing and scaling a mobile application?


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

Pivotal Tracker, no question.

Sales

If the goal is to be an entrepreneur, given the digital age we live in, what skills should sales professionals develop?


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

To be an entrepreneur successfully is essentially to be a great communicator and motivator of people, to identify great opportunities and relentlessly pursue them while enlisting other smart people to join you in the adventure. - I learned more about sales, human psychology and human nature from selling cutlery door-to-door in high-school than just about anything else ( i know sounds crazy) - The basic notions of how to convince, motivate and "sell" people will apply no matter what technologies come along - so these are crucial - But if you don't have a strong command of basic technological tools necessary to build a business, the struggle will be harder (email, CRM, CMS, Demand-Gen, Analytics, and the world of software development - Lean, Agile, Scrum, etc)

New Business Development

How do you determine if a business idea is worth pursuing?


Michael Downing

Silicon Valley Serial Entrepreneur & Investor

99% of the time Start-ups fail because there is no tangible "market" for what they are creating...this is why it is SO important to validate that the market demand truly exists and can power a business. I see over and over again this is the mistake a HUGE number of entrepreneurs make in the first 90-Days. You have to be diligent about testing your hypothesis and quantifying market demand - before you tae a single step.

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Areas of Expertise

Growth HackingStart-upsProduct StrategyMarketing StrategyVenture CapitalDigital MediaSoftwareEarly-stage StartupsNew MediaAngel Investor