Do you know just how much we love to take care of starting entrepreneurs? We love helping startups out in the process of starting a business, which is why we’re giving you info today on how to start up a business: 5 videos you need to watch. 

The videos we list below are our recommendation for anyone in the process of starting a business, of course. Yet, they’re moreover a fine selection of what we think business people should be watching first, before any other startup material. 

Over the course of these 5 videos, our TEDx, DreamIt and 500 Startup experienced CEO, Caya, talks about:

• The secret of how to create a pitch deck
• What you’ve been missing on seed funding
• The earning potential of stock options
• The often-overlooked and confusing convertible notes
• What nobody’s saying on founder’s salaries, and 
• He even discloses how to use a financial model for a business. 

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If you’d like summaries, especially, read further for a recap to each of these to know where to head first.

1. How not every startup turns into a small business

Here’s the first in our playlist on how to start up a business: 5 videos you need to watch. This video is one in which Caya clarifies the difference between starting a small business and getting a startup off the ground. 

In “Starting a Small Business vs. Starting a Startup: what’s the difference?”, our CEO clarifies the diverse notions between the two. And he makes it clear how a multibillion unicorn company might not be the result or real possibility to every single starting business. Airbnb and Slack help drive that tiny opening point as an example alongside smaller impacting companies that are also profitable and successful on their own right. 

As a juicy characteristic of this video, Caya also directs viewers to a few blog recommendations for further info, in case you also want to expand on these 7 minutes with further reading. 

Listen to it if you’d like to be better aware of the characteristics that differentiate one type of startup business from another. There’s a reason why this video’s required; the differentiation might not always be entirely clear to all rising business people.

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2. Start your co-founder relationship right

And yes, we say this as we would any meaningful relationship. The idea is that you’ll go through thick and thin with these people with whom you’re now binding in holy business matrimony.

Caya says he learned about co-founding conditions and vesting the hard way. And that’s when we think people should listen to each other the most. There are tons of efforts to spare from learning about someone else’s failure story. 

The relation with co-founders and vesting is a critical item for anyone trying to start a business. And Caya stresses that at the beginning of what’s number two of our endeavor on how to start up a business: 5 videos you need to watch. 

Starting a business: startup founder salary and stock vesting is a reference that clarifies for anyone how failing to set up salaries before starting a business is not such a good idea. Use it to debate this for yourself internally, or to share it with your potential business partners. Either way, we know a lot will come from it if you give it a go. 

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3. From bootstrapping to lessons on how to raise VC capital

From May 2013 through October 2014, Slidebean bootstrapped to get the startup up and running. That plus a prior failed attempt at scaling a business gave Caya and his co-founding team a tiny piece of the overall startup business experience this CEO now shares.

Yet, his expertise in raising capital also comes from a proven record of a successful $800,000 seed round to a profitable company of 25 team members now. And that also came at a price of 142 investor pitches with a no at the end of many doors. Talk about growing the hard way!

So, over a flowing 11:11 minute video, Caya now touches upon seed funding for startups: how to raise venture capital as an entrepreneur, material in which he discusses:

• Traction requirements
• Pitch decks
• Alternative funding sources, and, ultimately
• How to find investors 
  

Watch this video.

4. Look for investment with awareness

Before you enter investment conversations with VCs, it’s best if you understood quite well the entire range of options your business has. Venture capitalists eat stock options and possibilities for dinner, so it’d be great if you could follow along and bring essential considerations to your business table. 

For that, we did research and couldn’t find the video we were looking to make. So Caya took it upon himself to explain:

• Stock
• Convertible notes
• Preferred stock
• Options
• Other fundraising instruments
  

Of course, you can’t speak of above without going over certain financial aspects to any starting business. That’s how Caya also goes over traction, valuation, assets, margins, and revenue with concise startup examples such as Uber and other companies. 

Invest 15 minutes of your time in learning the different instruments to which you or investors might want to resort. If you’re in the tech startup business, there are parts of this video you’ll simply love, we hope, as they address that market precisely. 

Honestly, having convertible notes, equity, and startup funding explained in a way that’s easy to understand should be seen as a gift. Yet, it’s also just a precious knowledge stack to your internal set of entrepreneur tools altogether. 

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5. Go straight into pitch deck essentials

To all this, what’s your door to investors? A fabulous and well-considered pitch deck, of course! To achieve that, and because we’re masters in the pitch deck business by now, we created an audiovisual aid that should be golden to most startup entrepreneurs. 

All bragging rights have been entrusted upon us through more than 30,000 happy customers. Since 2014 to this point, Slidebean has helped over half a million users in creating more than 8 million slides, so we genuinely think we’ve earned the right to impart a bit of knowledge on what we do so well. 

That’s partly why our CEO has crafted a startup pitch video on how to create a pitch deck for investors. This watch is like a 10 minute one on one meeting with a knowledgeable professional in the business startup presentation niche. Can it get better than that? 

Just as you would go to a doctor for a health-related matter, you should go to Caya on questions pitch-deck related. Trust us! Take a look at this two-part video and help yourself in the process, especially if you’re just getting started.

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Last piece of advice: Don’t risk it!

Whether you resort to a pitch deck template or hire pitch deck design services such as our own, one thing is for sure: You can’t risk not having an excelling pitch deck when your company gets ready to pitch to investors. 

Fortunately, we have over 100+ presentation templates for small businesses and startups, from fundraising pitch decks to investor updates. So make the best of them. 

And, if the task seems too grand or if you truly want to make sure you diminish the learning curve by hiring professionals right from the start to get the job done, take a look at our design services process and get a quote. We’ll be more than happy - and well-prepared - to give you a hand!‍