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I recently had the opportunity to attend an interesting seminar for entrepreneurs put on by a local Portland organization called Starve Ups:

Dedicated to helping founders of start ups create successful and sustainable businesses through optimized peer mentoring.

Three facts about Starve Ups:

1. Only allows company founders to be members
2. Goal of getting 1/4 member companies acquired compared to the national average of 1/24
3. Out of 57 members, only 5 received Venture Capital financing (This tends to relate to the Portland start-up scene but emphasizes the role of angel investors)

This particular gathering was around the theme of ‘Raising $1 million in this economy.’ Several take a ways from the discussion with three founders included:

• In terms of raising money, “whatever you think it’s going to take, double that.”
• “Networking is KING in fund-raising. Never burn a bridge.”
• On obtaining second rounds of funding, “Keep your investors up to date” and they will be more likely to re-up.
• “Risk profile is everything”

On the valuation side, one of the panelist threw out a figure that was somewhat disputed by the others but was what he described as ‘baseline’

If you have a $750,000 to $1.5 mill pre-valuation, you can expect to sell your first 20% for about $250,000

Overall it was a strong event owing to the contrasting personalities and attention to get straight to audience questions. It was also a packed house at the hosting venue, Nedspace, which attests to the piqued interest that Portland holds for entrepreneurial endeavors.