On this episode of Investor Connect, Hall welcomes Gavin McCulley, President and CEO of Morgan 6 (M6). Located in Charleston, South Carolina, Morgan 6 is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business and HUBZone-certified government services and technology firm supporting critical U.S. defense, intelligence, and national security missions by providing technical, logistics, professional, and management services across irregular warfare, special operations, intelligence operations, cybersecurity, agile software development, digital transformation, IT support, training, and sustainment.

Gavin shares his "backwards" path from leaving the military in 2008 to learning early-stage investing, launching local angel groups, and later acquiring Morgan 6 and scaling it from five people to about 70, while also discussing how his team invests in defense tech via Heroic Venture Partners and helps startups navigate requirements, funding, contracting pathways, compliance constraints, and long government sales cycles.

Visit Morgan 6 at www.morgan6.com/the-company/

Reach out to at www.linkedin.com/in/gavinmcculley/, and on gavin.mcculley@morgan6.com

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For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

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Screening Criteria – the Fundraise

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In screening startups for funding, consider the fundraise terms.

Here's a list of key issues to review:

Valuation.

Is the valuation in line with the current market?

Can the founder justify the valuation with the current value of the business?

Comps.

Does the valuation point to comps or comparable companies and their valuation?

How similar are the comp companies to the startup?

Fundraise amount.

Does the amount of funding requested match the stage and goals of the startup?

Raising too much or too little funding is a red flag.

Previous fundraises.

What did the founder accomplish with previous fundraises?

Did they make good use of the funds?

Current investors.

Are the current investors following on?

If not, do they still believe in the company, or are they not in a place to make an investment?

Skin in the game.

How much of the investment is coming from the founders?

Skin in the game is a strong factor toward a successful outcome.

Consider these points in screening deals for a startup investment.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

_________________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.

Screening Criteria – the Market

Hello, this is Hall T. Martin with the Startup Funding Espresso -- your daily shot of startup funding and investing.

In funding a startup, it's important to understand the target market.

Here's a list of key criteria to consider:

The market is large and growing.

Small markets will make it difficult to scale the business.

The market has many sectors and segments.

This provides more opportunities to build products and provide services.

It's often the case that the product built doesn't resonate with the customers in that segment.

The startup can pivot into other segments to find a better fit.

The competition is clearly defined.

Avoid startups that think they have no competition.

Competitors may not be solving the problem in the same way, but they do take customers away.

TAM and SOM.

The total available market is large, and the service obtainable market is clearly defined.

The SOM is the size of the market the startup can reasonably expect to close.

This must be large enough to build a self-sufficient business.

Consider these factors in reviewing the target market of a startup.

Thank you for joining us for the Startup Funding Espresso where we help startups and investors connect for funding.

Let's go startup something today.

_________________________________________________________

For more episodes from Investor Connect, please visit the site at: http://investorconnect.org

Check out our other podcasts here: https://investorconnect.org/
For Investors check out: https://tencapital.group/investor-landing/
For Startups check out: https://tencapital.group/company-landing/
For eGuides check out: https://tencapital.group/education/
For upcoming Events, check out https://tencapital.group/events/

For Feedback please contact info@tencapital.group

Please follow, share, and leave a review.

Music courtesy of Bensound.