In October, Startup Grind-Fremont had the great fortune of hosting David Ehrenberg, CEO of Early Growth Financial Services. David is a seasoned finance executive with experience in both large companies and startups alike. He founded Early Growth Financial Services to fill a glaring void he discovered while working with startups: on-demand accounting and strategic financial consulting services specifically tailored to early-stage companies. By using this service on an on-demand basis, companies reduce the financial burden of maintaining this function in-house. Perhaps more importantly, it removes the administrative headache of financial management, allowing the team to focus on product development and customer discovery.

Today, approximately 18 percent of venture-backed startups in the U.S. use Early Growth Financial Services. Being connected to this vast network of investors and other partners helped Ehrenberg relay insights about how VC deals get made and what’s behind the investor thought process. So, what are some of the specific lessons Ehrenberg shared? He reminded the audience that an idea is “… valued at whatever someone is willing to pay for it!” He also provided strategic advice about the importance of milestone financing. Raising funds incrementally allows for a higher company valuation each time you go back out for financing. If you are interested in other kernels of wisdom like this, check out the Early Growth Financial Services blog, which David highlighted during his talk with us.

We have two events in November. On November 16, Jitendra Gupta, CEO & Founder of Punchh, will talk about funding to scaling a startup. On November 29, Ilya Semin, the CEO of Datanyze will discuss how to grow your startup using data science and predictive analytics. His company focuses on helping sales and marketing teams spend less time hunting and more time closing deals. The Datanyze team has raised $2M seed funding from a wide range of investors including Mark Cuban & Kobe Bryant. Ilya will share his startup journey. You won’t want to miss it! For additional information and to purchase tickets go to: www.startupgrind.com/fremont.