I’ve invested in several companies on Seedrs and Crowdcube, and there are a couple of major challenges I face: I don’t have enough tools and data to conduct my research and due diligence prior to investing in a company, After… Continue Reading →
From a few thousand cases in East Asia in early January to a global pandemic that’s shut down the world economy in a matter of months, the novel coronavirus COVID-19 has indisputably been the focus of attention for individuals, markets,… Continue Reading →
How many languages do you speak? Three? Five? One? If your native language isn’t English, it is extremely likely your second language is. We can deduce that because you’re reading this in English, but also by the high prevalence of… Continue Reading →
On 30 June 2019, we completed 5 years of our darling – CityFALCON. Over the last 5 years, I’ve followed my passion (not “worked”) – a lot. On average about 60 hours a week, 50 weeks a year. That gave… Continue Reading →
We’ve been working hard backstage to improve what we offer, from the basic watchlist to analytics. We often update our products, too, so they’re at the forefront of best practices and (mostly) bug-free. We’re quite proud of what we’ve created… Continue Reading →
We have been exhibiting at the Master Investor Show in London for the last 3 years. We thought we’d share with you why we attend these kinds of events and what they mean to us. We also thought we’d give… Continue Reading →
Disclaimer: in no way were any developers harmed in the process of researching this article. Some days they are trying to squeeze ridiculous amounts of money out of you. Other days, they are your older, protective siblings solving your problems… Continue Reading →
There are three sources of cash for startups: customer money, investor money, and government money. The first one comes from many individuals or clients in small payments, the second tends to come in larger payments but from fewer individuals, and… Continue Reading →
You must be wondering what a baseball hit has to do with a company’s valuation but this is the first thing I let most of our investors know – we are going for a home run even if it means… Continue Reading →
You must be wondering what a baseball hit has to do with a company’s valuation but this is the first thing I let most of our investors know – we are going for a home run even if it means… Continue Reading →
The Polar Bear Pitch, held in Oulu, Finland in the dark cold days of mid-February, is an annual event for startups pitching their ideas for the chance to win the 10,000 euro prize and, more importantly, get coverage and interest… Continue Reading →
If you’re sitting somewhere outside of the start-up ecosystem, the media can make you believe that there is tons of liquidity floating around the UK that’s waiting dormant to be utilised by green-eyed entrepreneurs. But the unfortunate reality is that… Continue Reading →
Imagine someone going to a woman and saying – “You will fail because you’re a woman…how many women do you see in the boards of big companies?… clearly the stats prove that you’ll fail if you’re a woman”. If you… Continue Reading →
Disclosure: I’m an investor in Seedrs, and CityFALCON has business relationships with Seedrs. If you depend on the media you may not realise this but fundraising at an early stage remains a real challenge in the UK unless you have a strong… Continue Reading →
As expected, in the first week we were settling down, and the real action started in the last week, week 2 of the program. Also on the business front, we had a very positive week at CityFALCON (touch wood!). We… Continue Reading →
Why join an accelerator program again? Whether accelerators are helpful or a waste of time depends on several factors, and we, at CityFALCON, have declined a few of these that have approached us in the past. Apart from whether they can… Continue Reading →
As a value investor, I look to buy assets quoted below their ‘intrinsic’ value. If you’re in London, come down to the London Value Investing Club, where we have over 800 active members and hold 2-3 events each month. At… Continue Reading →
Our goal is to make our fundraising campaign one of the most transparent crowdfunding campaigns ever…
On June 24th, 2016, the geopolitical landscape in Europe shifted in such a way that plunged global markets into chaos. The United Kingdom held a referendum…
I’m a typical London professional. I have a small portfolio in stocks, mutual funds and start-ups, not unlike many other London professionals. After launching my own fintech start-up…
Acquiring start-ups is risky business. No matter how good an idea sounds, or how simple a solution a start-up offers, the acquisition may never pay off…
In 2014, I launched CityFALCON from my bedroom, raised £200K in seed funding, hired a few people, and started to build a scalable product…
Please sign the petition here if you agree with the points highlighted below. This petition is based on my experience as an entrepreneur for last 2 years running CityFALCON and also based on discussions with other entrepreneurs. We hope that…
Unfortunately many people in the start-up space do not understand the difference between PRODUCT and SERVICE start-ups. User/revenue traction, i.e. “how many users do you have or how much revenue…
For service businesses where you can target customers from month 1 and even start making revenue, funding can be less important. But for ‘product’ businesses where-in you have to build for 2, 3, 6 months before you can start making… Continue Reading →
12 August 2015 – the date I and my team can never forget. In the midst of the painful fundraising process, we realised that we had an opportunity to differentiate, get validation for what we are doing and strengthen relationship… Continue Reading →
If you as an entrepreneur are running a service business or you belong to any of the categories mentioned in “Abundance of start-up funding in the UK but not necessarily for YOU”, you probably have not faced any serious issues with… Continue Reading →
Before I ventured out to launch my start-up, every morning when reading about start-ups raising 1, 2 or 10 million pounds, I was positive that there was abundance of liquidity in the market. Further, with equity, bonds, property markets at… Continue Reading →
At CityFALCON, we believe in hiring the best people irrespective of their location. Over the last 18 months, we have used eLance to work with several freelancers including developers, designers, business analysts and copywriters. We currently have people in Ukraine,… Continue Reading →
HMRC (HM Revenue and Customs) and the UK government have provided much better incentives for start-ups than in most other countries – SEIS, EIS, R&D Credit, Entrepreneur’s relief, etc. We at CityFALCON have taken advantage of most of these benefits, and… Continue Reading →
I had highlighted the benefits of starting a business in the UK in an earlier article – 11 UK start-up benefits that may make you wonder why you are still in a corporate job. A couple of the aspects of… Continue Reading →
Learning to code, as I did in three months before setting up CityFALCON, can be an extremely daunting prospect. But I fully believe that the effort that I have put into it has been entirely worthwhile, and that there have… Continue Reading →
While raising funds, I was asked these questions countless times: 1) Will you raise more money and dilute my stake in the company? 2) You said you wanted to raise £150k and now have raised £200k. You have already diluted… Continue Reading →
Governments around the world have realised that start-ups are critical to socio-economic progress. The UK Government is no exception to this rule. Thus, there are a wealth of start-up benefits provided by UK Government and other organisations which will collectively… Continue Reading →
“It’s impossible to fail when your goal is to try and make an effort to improve the World“ – Eric McAfee The concept of success can be extremely diverse. Some entrepreneurs end up as billionaires, while others are just happy… Continue Reading →
One of the first lessons that we learned at CityFALCON was that it is essential to stay as lean as possible during the fundraising stage. This enables you to keep fundraising to a bare minimum, and ensure that you will… Continue Reading →
During CityFALCON’s first year of trading, we were fortunate enough to secure £200K worth of funding from a series of high profile angel investors. Every one of these people have our undying gratitude, as without them, we could not have… Continue Reading →
Coding may seem like a daunting prospect for the uninitiated. Most people would doubtless think it is impossible to learn to code competently in only three months. While I can understand this conclusion, I know for a fact that it… Continue Reading →
Let me be clear – the purpose of this post is not to criticise anyone but to be honest and transparent, and to give some food for thought to stakeholders. I’m lucky to have some great people that work with… Continue Reading →
Founding a start-up is a big undertaking, and one that also necessitates a lot of risk. Unfortunately, in the competitive world in which we live, and particularly in the sometimes perilous economic state of the world at the moment, many… Continue Reading →
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