Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder and Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu Irina: Do you have any interesting stories? Manu: Sure. I met one founder in December 2008. I had my second and third meetings with him in January. The company had not even have been formed yet. It was only a single person or, rather, the founding team

Read Full Article »

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder And Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu Irina: And what character traits in a founder would clinch the deal for you? Manu: I will probably answer that in the negative, meaning I can definitely identify the traits of people who I would not invest in. The number one thing there would be integrity.

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder and Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu Irina: Do you think in terms of valuation when you invest in a company? Manu: Yes, I do look at valuation, and I definitely want to be the first money going into a company. And because the initial investment amount is relatively small, I also want the

Read Full Article »

Seed Capital From Angel Investors: Manu Kumar, Founder And Chief Firestarter, K9 Ventures (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Ravi Bulusu This is the seventeenth interview in our series on financing for entrepreneurs. I am talking to Manu Kumar, the founder and chief firestarter at K9 Ventures, an early-stage venture fund that provides funding and support for concept-stage and seed-stage technology companies. It is based in Palo Alto,

Read Full Article »