Jun 2, 2020 On Our Blog

Black Lives Matter

We are grieving the tragic murder of George Floyd in Minnesota.  Mr.Floyd is one of many Black Americans who have been senselessly killed. Ahmaud Arbery. Eric Garner. Tamir Rice. Breonna Taylor. These are just a few of the names and precious lives lost.  For the privileged, the killings are shocking events. For the Black community, last week’s tragedy was yet another example of long-standing, systemic racism and injustice they encounter on a regular basis. 500 stands steadfast with our Black colleagues, founders, families and community.    #BlackLivesMatter 

PUBLISHED BY
May 22, 2020 On Our Blog

Launch Your Business in Georgia (The Country, not the State)

The following post is written by Nato Chakvetadze, Program Associate for 500Georgia. Gavin: Here everything is so expensive. Look at the numbers. If we move to Georgia, we can save a fortune and get a further investment. It’s the only way. Denpok: Well, I have heard good things about the food scene in the Dirty South. Hoover: Stankonia. Freaknik. Might be nice to be around more people of color. Gavin: What? Not Atlanta. Tbilisi. The country of Georgia, not the state. -Silicon Valley (Season 6, Episode 2) Yes, you heard it right – this is an article about Georgia, the country, not the state.  500 Startups recently launched 500Georgia, the first international accelerator in the country, in partnership with two …

PUBLISHED BY
May 15, 2020 On Our Blog

Taking our Flagship Accelerator Virtual-First

There is not a single business that is not affected in some form or another from COVID-19, and 500 Startups is no different. When news broke of COVID-19 entering in the US, we were one of the first major accelerators to turn the Demo Day experience completely virtual, and since then, we have focused on collecting data from investors and founders to help the community at-large through reports like our COVID-19 Investor Survey and Female Founders Survey.  We’ve also seen our portfolio companies step up to the challenge with everything from helping frontline workers to bettering remote work for thousands. Our founders continue to inspire us, and in the true nature of putting their safety and wellbeing first, we are …

PUBLISHED BY
May 12, 2020 On Our Blog

5 Tips for Pitching VCs in Virtual Times

Guest Post: The following post is a sponsored guest post by JD Weinstein, Oracle for Startups. All views and opinions represented in this post are the views and opinions of Oracle for Startups and do not represent those of 500 Startups or any of its staff or affiliates. What do Airbnb, Uber, Slack, Pinterest, WhatsApp, Square, and Venmo have in common? These highly successful technology startups were all founded during the Great Recession in 2008-2010. Entrepreneurs and small businesses are once again fighting through difficult times to both survive and transform the world.  There is no doubt that venture funding has begun to slow. The silver lining here is that transformative startups will persevere. As the world continues to turn, …

PUBLISHED BY
May 9, 2020 On Our Blog

Look Outside of Silicon Valley to See How Founders Can Be Successful Post-COVID-19

500 Startups kicked off a new series called Innovation Coffee Breaks. Experts from leading companies, venture capital firms and startups join us every week to discuss how to innovate during this time of uncertainty.  We caught up with Alex Lazarow, the investment director of Cathay Innovation, a global fund affiliated with Cathay Capital. Lazarow also teaches entrepreneurship at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies and is out with a new book called “Out-Innovate: How Global Entrepreneurs from Delhi to Detroit are Rewriting the Rules of Silicon Valley.”  He believes that the best entrepreneurs in Chicago, Amsterdam or Bangalore have more in common with the best entrepreneurs in São Paulo than they do with those in San Francisco, but no one …

PUBLISHED BY
Apr 28, 2020 Official Announcement

Why Investing in Female Founders Matters Now More Than Ever

Long before diversity and inclusion became buzzwords, we decided to make venture capital inclusive from day one at 500 Startups. They became our guiding principles, because we know that great talent exists in all forms, no matter your gender, race, nationality, age, or background. Since 2010, we have expressed our commitment to those values in multiple ways. 500 actively invested in founders who were diverse or were building for diverse customers; we shunned manels by making sure to feature female speakers at our events, so that it wasn’t predominantly men doing the talking.  This extended to policies 500 implemented. We offer 12 weeks of fully paid leave for all parents in the U.S., which, sadly, puts us in the minority …

PUBLISHED BY
Apr 9, 2020 On Our Blog

Understanding Omni-Channel Opportunities with Square at Founders Day

Guest Post: The following post is a sponsored guest post by Square, Inc. All views and opinions represented in this post are the views and opinions of Square, Inc. and do not represent those of 500 Startups or any of its staff or affiliates. For many startups in the 500 portfolio, understanding how they can make the easiest, most seamless transactions possible is a top priority. They don’t want to have to worry about their customer not being able to find an easy way to complete a sale due to credit card processing issues. Instead of just introducing them to some of the top credit card point-of-sale companies, we wanted to bring together both parties for a conversation around what’s …

PUBLISHED BY
Apr 9, 2020 On Our Blog

How We Created our Digital Demo Day Experience

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting the entire startup ecosystem, and in the name of safety and support of our founders, we hosted our first-ever Digital Demo Day. This was a whole new take on demo day for us, and the end result was a unique and inspiring experience for both our startups and investor community. Making the switch to an online demo day was no easy task. However, as concerns grew over our international founders needing to return to their home countries and not being able to attend Demo Day in-person, we made the decision early on to have all of the startups pre-record their presentations remotely. To help them with this process, we created a Zoom Guide so that …

PUBLISHED BY
Apr 6, 2020 On Our Blog

How Startups Can Navigate the Change in Investment Climate Due to COVID-19

With the rise in regulations and restrictions surrounding COVID-19, we’ve entered unprecedented times on a global scale. On our end, we hosted our first-ever Digital Demo Day to ensure the safety and protection of our team and founders. Using YouTube Live and recorded presentations, as well as an investor-founder Slack channel, we found success in this new format. We registered over 5K unique views during the Demo Day live stream, and over 1,300 investors joined the Slack channel to chat with our founders. If you missed the event, watch it here. The challenge remains, however, of navigating the current investment climate, and we want to help our founders as much as possible in this unknown landscape. To do so, we …

PUBLISHED BY
Apr 6, 2020 Official Announcement

5 Ways Startups Can Make it Through Periods of Uncertainty

Guest Post: The following post is a sponsored guest post by Nik Adhia, Senior Director of Global Operations, Oracle for Startups. All views and opinions represented in this post are the views and opinions of Oracle for Startups and do not represent those of 500 Startups or any of its staff or affiliates. Founders and employees alike have been on edge given uncertain economic conditions, so let’s just get right into a few ways startups can think about running leaner.   Distinguish between needs and “nice-to-haves” At times of challenge, it is important to examine activities and decide which are critical in the current moment. It is important for startups to operate lean in general, as it may not be easy …

PUBLISHED BY