Aug 29, 2024 | 2024, Advising, Alabama, Birmingham, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Founders, Investing, New Dynamics in Seed Funding and Financing Series, Post-Covid Investing, Seed Investing, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
When you’re building a startup in Birmingham, Alabama—or any other non-coastal city—capital is a luxury, not a prerequisite. While the debate about the merits of this reality could go on indefinitely, I believe it’s more productive to accept it and build...
Jan 12, 2022 | 2021, 2022, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, COVID-19, Entrepreneurial Assessment, Entrepreneurialism, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups
As always with the new year, we’re taking some time to pause and reflect. First Avenue does so by compiling our annual list of funded start-ups in Birmingham, which helps us analyze the health of the city’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. I also like to take stock...
Feb 26, 2021 | 2021, Business Lessons, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, Start-Ups, Valuation
Part One of Three: Valuation[1] The question of how one should value an early-stage company is often asked, but usually has no good answers. If the opportunity is large enough (which is the goal with venture capital), a thorough valuation is perceived as irrelevant....
Jul 22, 2020 | 2020, Birmingham, Birmingham Funded Start-Ups List, COVID-19, Entrepreneurialism, Start-Ups
We provide this update every six months, and we’ve enjoyed doing so because it gives us a chance to reflect on the market that we love so dearly. However, this perspective is different, and for obvious reasons. In some ways, it’s the most...
May 1, 2020 | 2020, Business Lessons, COVID-19, Entrepreneurialism, Financing, Start-Ups
Pre-COVID-19, I told someone that I did not like SAFEs and convertible notes. I wish I could find that person now; I would assume a little more credence. Regardless, for what it’s worth, I didn’t like convertible debt or SAFEs before COVID-19. Now, I really...
