SAFE Notes: A Simple Agreement for Future Equity

SAFE (or simple agreement for future equity) notes are documents that startups often use to help raise seed capital, a.k.a the initial amount of money an entrepreneur uses to start a business. Essentially, a SAFE note acts as a legally binding promise to allow an investor to purchase a specified number of shares for an agreed-upon price in the future.

Today we highlight one tool and one tip we give founders in our programmes when they’re considering raising capital.

First time raising capital? Checkout this free guide. It will help with the mountain of jargon heading your way.

5 things we learned from Leanne Ross. 

5 things we learned from Leanne Ross. 

Award-winning marketer, published author, and stalwart of the Dunedin startup ecosystem, Leanne Ross has a lot of serious accomplishments under her belt, and with those accomplishments comes good wisdom (and some great stories). A recent alum of the Startup Dunedin Board and originally from Ireland, Leanne began her career in Dunedin as a freelancer in Digital Marketing. Within 6 months she had given that up to take a role with a games studio in the city that was growing fast, citing it as just too exciting and too welcoming to not get in amongst it.

5 Things we learned from Jason Lindsey.

5 Things we learned from Jason Lindsey.

5 Things we learned from Jason Lindsey.

Earlier this year, Startup Dunedin’s board said goodbye to long-standing member and dedicated advocate for the Otago region’s small business sector, Jason Lindsey.

If you’re one of the rare few in Dunedin who hasn’t yet come across Jason Lindsey, here’s a brief rundown on him and why we were so lucky to have him on our board. In 2006, Jason & Kate Lindsey moved to New Zealand from Los Angeles, both having been working in the Film & Television industry.

Test Your Business Name

Naming a business is hard. Even Phil Knight, the Founder of Nike, struggled. He was one short conversation away from calling his shoe brand “Dimension Six”. Hard to imagine that becoming the household name of a now $34B company!

If you want to read how Phil accidentally stumbled onto his name and logo, you can check out that story here. Otherwise, stick around for one tool and one tip we give founders in our programmes when they’re naming their startups.

Startup Dunedin: 2021 Wrapped

Startup Dunedin: 2021 Wrapped

It's pretty hard to quantify how massive this year felt. It certainly hasn't been a year of plain sailing - but amidst the chaos, ups, downs, and even bigger ups, 2021 has shown up and the resilience and determination of Dunedin founders has shone through.

Now that the year is over, we're looking back on how far we've come, as a team, as an organisation, and as a community.

Over the 4 years, Startup Dunedin has supported 411 students through Audacious, 233 people in our community with startup basics, and 16 Startups through incubation.

Startup Weekend 2021

Startup Weekend 2021

Every year, Dunedinites blow us away with the quality, conscience, scalability, cleverness, and innovation of their ideas. It just keeps getting better, and this is absolutely due to the participants willingness to get outside of their comfort zones, take risks to build their skills, or go out on a limb and launch a startup. Here’s a brief rundown of the results of Startup Weekend 2021 - keep reading to hear who won!

How to understand and protect the most valuable asset in your business – Intellectual Property

How to understand and protect the most valuable asset in your business – Intellectual Property

What’s the most valuable asset in your business – or your employer’s business? You might say expensive buildings, vehicles, machinery or stock. But often the most valuable assets in a business are the ones we can’t see or touch – the “intangible” assets. In this article, we’ll look at understanding and protecting one of your key intangible assets – intellectual property.

Audacious Showcase 2020

Audacious Showcase 2020

With Semester 2 of Audacious 2020 drawn to a close, we’d like to take a moment to congratulate our amazing Audacious prizewinners. We were gutted that our tech failure meant we weren’t able to video or live-stream this semester’s showcase, so we’ve decided to make a break-down of the evening for you in blog format.