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RESOURCES


Curated resources

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RESOURCES


Curated resources

 

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LEAN TOOLS


LEAN TOOLS


Lean Tools

The software, websites, and educational resources below are intended to offer a full-stack knowledge base to anyone who is in the process of launching and/or building a startup. We’re always trying to keep this page updated with the latest and greatest in B2B tooling and knowledge-building. If your team currently uses a tool that is not listed and you’d like to recommend we add it, please reach out!

Prototyping & Wireframes
Balsamiq:  Wireframing and mock up tool
Bootstrap:  Responsive, mobile first projects
InVision:  Prototyping and collaboration
Keynotopia:  Best if familiar with ppt/keynote
Bhuma: AI-based UI design & UX workflows
Marvel: Prototype your app
Moqups:  Mockups & UI testing
Test Flight: Test IOS apps

Website Development
Built With: What tech websites use
Code Climate: Code review
Launchrock:  Create landing pages quickly
Shopify: Open an online store
Squarespace:  Simple with beautiful layouts
Strikingly:  Mobile-friendly website in minutes
Volusion:  Open an online store
Webflow: Low-code web design

Design
Canva: Graphic design for media assets
Figma: No-code design tool for teams
Looka: Logo design

Business Operations
Hightouch: Data warehouse syncing
Retool: Build internal tooling
Zapier: Workflow automation tool

Miscellaneous
CoFoundersLab: Find a cofounder
Collective Catalyst: CTO as a service
Doodle:  Find a meeting time that works
FlexTeam:  Augmented management team
GK Training:  Pitch coaching
Stacklist: Curated list of tools
Tanooki Labs: Technical co-founders
Uber conference: Free conference calls

Team Operating System
Airtable: Collaborative database platform
Notion: All-in-one workspace
Slack: Instant messaging built for business
Superhuman: World’s fastest email system

Project Management
Asana: Project management tool
Basecamp:  Project management tool
Jira: Agile project management
Slack: Team communication tool
Trello:  Project management tool

Technical/Entrepreneurial Literacy
Codecademy: Learn how to code
General Assembly:  In person classes
Khan Academy: Learn for free
One Month: Online classes
TechSpeak: Learn to manage tech teams
Thinkful: Online mentorship
Udemy: Online education marketplace

Legal
Cooley Go:  Resources & education
Hire an Esquire:  Legal Labor Marketplace
Orrick Total Access:  Resources & education
Traklight: Track and protect IP
Upcounsel:  Hire legal professionals

Domain Name Generators
Domain Name Soup
Hipster Business
Panabee

Contracting
Dribbble: Find and contract designers
Fiverr: Freelancer marketplace
Upwork: Freelancer marketplace
 

 

User Feedback / Engagement
Curalate:  Measure social media marketing
Optimizely:  A/B testing for websites
Survey Monkey: Create surveys
Unbounce: Build and A/B test landing pages
Usertesting:  Get feedback on your site

CRM / Marketing
Animoto: Create animated videos
Appboy: Engage mobile customers
Customer.io: Send email based on behavior
Hubspot: marketing and sales-focused CRM
Mailchimp:  Email Marketing
Muckrack: PR Software
Powtoon: Create animated videos
Sailthru: Email Marketing
Salesforce: enterprise-grade CRM
SendGrid:  Email Marketing
Streak:  CRM inside Gmail 
Zoho: CRM software

Data / Analytics
Baremetrics: Metrics for SAAS businesses
Chart Mogul: Subscription analytics
Crashlytics: Mobile crash reporting tool
Data.ai: App analytics
Equals: Data analytics for startups
Metabase: UX-friendly biz intelligence tool
Mixpanel: Analytics for mobile
Tableau: Business intelligence and analytics

 

 

 

ACCELERATORS


ACCELERATORS


Programming

One of the best parts about the startup and venture capital world is the many sub-communities that can be found nestled within a broader ecosystem. Below, we’ve aggregated New York City-based accelerators and co-working spaces around the US that we think are building great communities. If you lead or are involved with a program that we haven’t listed below and you’d like to recommend we add it, please reach out!

Accelerators

Interested in accelerators outside of NYC?  Take a look at these lists by F6S and Seed-DB.

Coworking spaces

FEMALE FOUNDERS


FEMALE FOUNDERS


Female Founders

While 37 Angels invests in both male and female founders, we have curated some resources specifically for female founders. We’re thrilled that increasing amounts of resources have been allocated specifically to support women throughout the startup ecosystem and are excited to highlight some on our radar for you here. If you support female founders through funding, programming, or otherwise, and would like to be featured on this page, please reach out!

Funding for female founders

500 Women:  Funding Flawless Female Founders
Amplifyher Ventures: Invests in early-stage businesses built by outstanding women
Angel Academe: London-based angel investor network and fund investing in women entrepreneurs
Angel Hive: Investment community supporting women-led startups
Artemis Fund: Invests in high-growth, tech-enabled companies led by women
Astia:  Network that offers access to capital and training/support for women entrepreneurs
Avestria Ventures: Invests in women’s health and female-led life science ventures
BBG (Built By Girls) Ventures:  Invests in consumer internet startups with at least one female founder
Bumble Fund: Invests primarily in early-stage businesses founded and led by women of color and those from underrepresented groups
Capita3: Early stage VCl fund investing in women startup founders
Chloe Capital:  Seed stage VC firm focused on women-led companies
Citrine Angels: Angel investing group for women by women
Curate Capital: Accelerating the success of companies by women for women
DigitalDx Ventures: Invests in health technology companies using AI to better diagnose + treat illness
Fearless Fund: invests in women of color-led businesses seeking pre-seed, seed level or series A financing
Female Founders Fund: early-stage fund investing in technology companies founded by women
GingerBread Capital: invests in the next generation of women founders and entrepreneurs leading high-growth businesses
Global Invest Her: Empowering women entrepreneurs to get funded
Golden Seeds:  Angel investor network and fund investing in women entrepreneurs
Graham & Walker Venture Fund: Invests in early-stage women-founded tech companies bettering how we live, work, and coexist.
Hypatia Capital: Private equity firm focused on female founders
Intel Capital Diversity Fund:  Fund that invests in female and minority led startups
Mergelane:  Accelerator and investor of women led startups (Boulder, CO)
Next Wave Impact:  An innovative learning-by-doing early stage venture fund
Pipeline Fellowship:  Women investors investing in women led social enterprises
Plum Alley: Invests in forward leaning technology and healthcare companies that will improve our lives and the planet
Tory Burch Foundation Capital Program: Loans for small business founded by women
True Wealth Ventures: Invests in women-led companies improving environmental and human health
Valor Ventures:  Fund based in Atlanta that funds female founders
Women’s Venture Fund:  Helps entrepreneurs through courses, counseling, credit and more
Victress Capital: Invests in mission-inspired companies with gender-diverse management teams
WOCstar Fund: Invests in women of color tech startups
Womens VC Fund: Invests in early stage companies led by management teams inclusive of women
WXR Fund: Invests in the next gen of computing + female founders
XFactor Ventures: Pre-Seed and Seed stage capital for companies founded by women

Support for Female Founders

Accelerate-Her: Aims to address the under-representation of women in the technology industry to drive business growth
Blooming Founders: Content, media, and training company that helps female founders succeed (London-based)
BroadMic: Redefining what it means to be a successful entrepreneur through a community of accomplished women
Cartier Women’s Initiative:  International business plan competition for women entrepreneurs
Coding Bootcamps For Women: Learn how to code (global offerings, in person, online)
Co-working Spaces for Women Founders:  Global directory of women-Owned coworking spaces
Digital Undivided:  Programming focused on Black & Latino women founding tech companies
Elpha: Online community for women in tech.
FastTrac NewVenture:  Workshop that helps women turn their business idea into reality
Female Founders Fund:  Invests in female-led startups in e-commerce, platforms, and web-enabled services
FlexTeam:  Add a "right-hand woman" team for founders and CEOs; also matches mid-career women with project opportunities
Get Sh!t Done Accelerator: 7-week program designed for female entrepreneurs who want to scale $1M+ companies
Halo Incubator:  Incubator for female founders
Her Corner:  An accelerator for Women Entrepreneurs
Launch with GS Entrepreneur Cohort: A 6-week experience that provides access to resources while building relationships with investors.
Lioness:  Digital magazine for female entrepreneurs
Million Dollar Women: Membership-based education platform to help founders scale their companies
Monarch Incubator: Incubator for women-led startups
Project Entrepreneur: Aims to accelerate the growth of female-founded companies by connecting them to capital and investor networks.
Refinery:  Transforming women-led startups into scalable businesses
Rise: Connects self-starting women to independent consulting projects that lead to success
Springboard Enterprises:  Accelerator for women-led growth companies                                      
So Gal:  Global platform for young female entrepreneurs and diversity investors
The 85-Percent:  Strategic branding & marketing consultancy, targeting women consumers
WBENC:  Get certified (as >51% women-owned) and have access to business opportunities
Women 2.0:  Content, community, and conferences for women innovators in tech
Women In Tech NYC:  Education, networking, mentorship and career development
Women In Wireless:  Empowers and develops female leaders in mobile and digital media
Women's Startup Lab:  2-month or 2-week accelerator for female founders (Silicon Valley)

DIVERSE FOUNDERS


DIVERSE FOUNDERS


for Diverse founders

Below we have listed additional resources for founders with diverse teams. We’re thrilled that increasing amounts of resources have been allocated specifically to support diverse founders throughout the startup ecosystem and are excited to highlight some on our radar for you here. If you support diverse founders in the startup ecosystem and your fund or program isn’t listed below, please reach out!

Funding Sources

Authentic Ventures: Invests in early-stage companies with diverse teams
Backstage Capital: Invests in companies led by underrepresented founders (e.g. founders identifying as Women, Person of Color, and/or LGBTQ) 
Black Angel Tech Fund: focuses primarily on early stage tech companies with black techpreneurs at the helm
Colectivo: supporting Latino founders, investors, and operators in tech with the power to drive change
CMFG Ventures Discovery Fund: invests in early-stage fintech companies led by BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women founders
Debut Capital:  Early-stage VC fund focused on investing in Black, Latinx, and Indigenous Founders
Diversecity Ventures: Invests in scalable, tech-enabled companies with positive social, economic, or environmental impact and inclusive teams
Elevate Capital: Invests in underserved entrepreneurs, such as women and ethnic minorities
FirstGen: Dedicated to providing immigrant and first-generation founders with a comprehensive support experience
Gaingels: Venture investment syndicate in support of diversity, inclusive of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies
Harlem Capital Partners: Early-stage firm that invests in seed-stage tech-enabled startups, focused on minority, and women founders
Inicio Ventures: Early-stage impact investment fund that backs US-based Latinx founders across markets and industries
LAT VC: VC firm focused on investing in Latino-owned, early-stage companies with high-growth potential
LatinxVC: A group of experienced venture investors focused on growing and supporting the Latinx venture capital ecosystem
Latitude Ventures: Latitude Ventures is a B2B Technology Venture Capital Fund
LEAP Global Partners: Primarily focused on talented LatinX founders and startups that view LatinX markets as critical to their long-term success
LGBT Capital:  Financial services company that provides investment management, financial advisory, and wealth management services
SoGal Ventures: Women-led firm investing in underrepresented founders, from undercapitalized geographies, solving underserved problems
True Wealth Ventures: Venture capital fund for investing in women-led businesses improving environmental and human health
Ulu Ventures: VC firm that actively seeks and funds women and diverse founder teams
Unshackled Ventures: Early-stage venture capital fund for immigrant-founded startups
Vamos Ventures: VC fund that invests in early-stage tech-enabled companies led by Latinx and diverse founders
VamosVentures: VC fund focused on Latinx and diverse founders leading early-stage tech-enabled companies in the United States
Visible Hands: VC firm that funds and empowers underrepresented founders launching high-growth startups
Zane Venture Fund: invests in companies led by diverse teams building tech-enabled solutions

Additional resources

BLCK VC: Venture capital and private equity firm that connects, engages, and empowers black venture investors
First Close Partners: Invests in venture capital funds owned and led by underrepresented managers (URM)
FounderFamilia: Community of VC-Backed Latinx founders and soon to be backed founders, created to stimulate collaboration and belonging
InNYC: Accelerating inclusive innovation by helping underrepresented founders of NY’s best tech startups
Latino Founders Fund of Google for Startups: $5M fund providing awards, Google Cloud credits, and hands-on support to help Latino founders
Pygma: 12-week accelerator program for pre-seed tech companies based in Latin America
Transparent Collective: Nonprofit helping diverse founders access the resources and connections needed to build successful tech companies
VCFamilia: VCFamilia brings Latinx cultures into the venture community and increases representation in investment roles

READ & LEARN


READ & LEARN


Read & Learn

Below, you will find a glossary of terms you’ll commonly see in startup investing. Additionally, you’ll find a compilation of some of our favorite writers and content creators on all things investing, operating, and more.

Glossary

Accelerator:  Designed to support the development of startups through resources (office space and mentorship). Oftentimes a seed investment (usually $20-50K) is made in return for equity. Startups are admitted in classes and work in groups for 3-6 months, learning to pitch and develop their startup. Accelerator programs end with a demo day in which startups pitch to investors.

Angel Investing: Investing with own money in early stage companies in exchange for ownership equity. An angel typically invests $25-$100K per deal.

Average Revenue per User (ARPU): The measure of revenue generated per user. This measure allows management of a company as well as investors to refine their analysis of a company's revenue generation capability and growth at the per-customer level

Bridge Loan: A short-term loan (up to one year) that a company uses in between times when financing is needed. For startups, this type of loan is intended to fund the company to an anticipated future event e.g., long-term financing.

Burn Rate:  The amount that a startup is spending, typically expressed as a monthly figure.  For a deeper dive, check out what Mark Suster has to say.

Capitalization Table (Cap Table):  Denotes how much stock ownership is held by each entity/person. Typically includes founder/investor equity, and employee stock option pool.

Churn rate:  Sometimes called attrition rate, this is the percent of customers leaving a startup in a specified period (usually monthly or annually).  It is the opposite of a retention rate.  More on how a small change in churn rate has big impacts.  

Common Stock: A class of ownership that has lower claims on earnings and assets than preferred stock. It is riskier to own common stock because in the event of liquidation, common stock shareholders are the last to claim rights to assets.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC):  Calculated by dividing total sales & marketing cost by the number of customers acquired in that period.

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV):  Sometimes referred to as life-time value (LTV).   This is the total amount of value that a customer brings in while they remain a customer, taking into account things like number of repeat orders and churn.  Note that some experts define the "value" as revenue, and some as profit, so make sure to clarify how this is computed.  Case study for reference.  

Daily Active Users (DAU):  Total number of users that engage in some way with a web or mobile product on a given day.  Sometimes founders also track Monthly Active Users (MAU).  Read this article for how this number can be manipulated.  

Demo Day: Where the graduating class of an accelerator is given a chance to pitch to investors.

Dilution: Issuing more shares of a company dilutes the value of holdings of existing shareholders.

Dividend Preference: Preferred stock holders receive dividends before common stock holders. Dividends can be cumulative or non-cumulative.

Drag-along Rights:  Majority shareholders can force minority shareholders to join in the sale of a company. Minority shareholders will receive the same price, terms, and conditions.

Early Stage: The key characteristic is market development. The business is focused on sales and marketing and proving business viability.

Friends and Family: A common way for a startup to fund their initial round of capital before raising an institutional round.

Fiduciary Responsibility: Refers to the legal responsibility (often times of a board member) to act in the best interest of the start-up.  

Initial Public Offering (IPO): The initial sale of a privately held company’s stock to the public.

Liquidation: When a business is bankrupt or terminated, its assets are sold and the proceeds pay creditors. Anything left over is distributed to share holders.

Mezzanine Financing: A blend of debt and equity financing, requiring no collateral and does not necessarily involve giving up interest in the company. This capital is typically used to fund growth or to enable management to buy out company owners for succession purposes. The interest rate is high, ranging from 20-30% and lenders can convert their stake to equity or ownership in the event of default.

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR):   Measure of the predicable and recurring revenue components of a subscription business.  Not to be confused with monthly revenue, which includes one-time and one-off sales.  

Minimum Viable Product (MVP): A new product that most easily provides a greater understanding of the customers. 

Net Promoter Score (NPS): A score between -100 and 100 used to calculate how loyal your customers are and how likely they are to recommend your product or service.  Learn more here.  

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA): A legal agreement between parties not to disclose confidential information that they have shared with each other.

Preferred Stock: A class of ownership that has a higher claim on assets than common stock. In the event of liquidation, preferred stock shareholders have priority over earnings and assets and generally earn dividends, but forego voting rights.

Pre-Money Valuation: The company’s value immediately before funding. If post-money valuation = $2.5M and the company raised $500K, then the pre-money valuation = $2M.

Post-Money Valuation: The company’s value immediately after funding. If pre-money valuation = $2M and the company raises $500K, then the post-money valuation = $2.5M.

Pro Rata Rights: A right to partake in future rounds of funding, oftentimes to maintain initial percentage ownership of the company.

Right of First Refusal: A right is given to enter into a business transaction before others. For example, preferred stockholders have the right to purchase additional shares issued by the company.

Run Rate: Annualized revenue. The result of extrapolating recent financial results for a period shorter than one year (e.g., results for the most recent quarter or half year) to represent a full-year period; that is, the result of annualizing recent results.

Seed Stage: The key characteristic is product development. A venture in this stage is sometimes (but not always) generating revenue, and customers are interacting with the product. The business model is not yet fully developed, and seed capital is needed for research and development. This stage generates the first round of capital for the venture.

Series A: A company’s first significant round of venture funding (though angels often participate in this round).

Stock Option Pool: Shares of stock reserved for employees of a company. The option pool is a way of attracting talented employees to a startup company - if the employees help the company do well enough to go public, they will be compensated with stock. Employees who get into the startup early will usually receive a greater percentage of the option pool than employees who arrive later.

Tag-Along Rights: A right that allows a minority shareholder to sell his/her minority stake in the company in the event that a majority shareholder sells his/her stake.  

Terms Sheet: A non-binding document that outlines the terms of the deal. Once the parties agree, more detailed legal documents are drafted consistent with the terms laid out in the terms sheet.

Venture Capital: Capital provided to early-stage, high potential, high risk, growth startups. 

Vesting: A process in which you “earn” your stock over time. The purpose of vesting is to grant stock to people over a fixed period of time so they have an incentive to stick around. A typical vesting period for an employee or founder might be 3 - 4 years, which would mean they would earn 25% of their stock each year over a 4 year period. If they leave early, the unvested portion returns back to the company.

resources for emerging investors

Venture Hacks
Sample Startup Pitch Deck
16 Startup Metrics That Matter (Andreessen-Horowitz)
Fundraising Checklist - 13 Proof Points For Series A
Term Sheet Wrap Up (Brad Feld)
4 Startup Valuation Methods and How Early Stage Investors Value a Startup
Advice on Advisor Option Grants

blogs written by investors

Ben Horowitz (Partner, Andreessen-Horowitz in Silicon Valley)
Bill Gurley (General Partner, Benchmark Capital)
Brad Feld (Partner at Foundry Group in Boulder Colorado)
Charlie O'Donnell (Partner, Brooklyn Bridge Venture, 37 Angels Mentor)
Elizabeth Yin (Founder and General Partner at Hustle Fund)
Fred Wilson (Partner, Union Square Ventures)
Jalak Jobanputra (Partner, FuturePerfect Ventures)
Jeff Bussgang (HBS lecturer, Partner at Flybridge Capital in Boston)
Jeffrey Finkle (Arc Angels Executive Committee, 37 Angels Mentor)
Li Jin (GP at Variant Fund, former a16z Partner)
Mark Peter Davis (Managing Partner, Interplay, 37 Angels Mentor)
Mark Suster (Partner, GRP Partners, LA-based VC)
Rex Woodbury (Partner, Index Ventures)
Tomasz Tunguz (Founder and former Managing Director, Redpoint)

blogs Geared towards founders & operators

The Generalist - deep dives into the most impactful companies in tech and crypto
The Pragmatic Engineer - highly relevant for software engineers and engineering managers, useful for those working in tech
Lenny’s Newsletter - operator-focused startup newsletter about product management, growth strategy, GTM, and more

Other great startup & vc-related content

Accelerated - written by Justine and Olivia Moore (consumer partners at a16z), focused on current events + consumer tech
Axios Pro Rata - daily deep-dive into the world of dealmakers across VC, PE and M&A
Contrary Research - deep-dives into private companies, written by Contrary Capital
The CQ - blog about consumer trends and behavior by Forerunner Ventures, a Tier 1 consumer-focused VC based in San Francisco
The Diff - a newsletter tracking inflections in finance and tech, aiming to track the companies and trends that will matter over the next five years
FemStreet - newsletter focused on the latest from female founders, startup operators, and investors
Newcomer - newsletter on the inner workings of the startup industry written by Eric Newcomer, longtime tech industry journalist
Not Boring - written by Packy McCormick, about what’s going on in business and the strategy behind the decisions companies make
Stratechery - by Ben Thompson, on the business, strategy, and impact of technology
Term Sheet by Fortune - Fortune's daily email about deals and deal-makers