| Help Needed |
- capital raising versus company building in the early stages and managing that balance
- marketing costs versus development costs and managing that balance
- free and lots of users versus paid and less users (but more revenue) and managing that balance |
| (1) Whether to bootstrap (2) Raising Capital (3) Building a team/technology issues |
1. I need advice on how to bootstrap the membership of a consumer facing website launch to reach a critical mass of users with no substantial marketing budget.
2. I'm looking for advice on how to communicate with our membership...is it better to be completely transparent with our problems? or always focus on the bright side and not reveal what's actually going on?
3. I'm looking for strategic partners that would consider Mix technology to add real world interaction to their existing website community.
4. I'm looking for a new CEO |
| 1. Protecting IP 2. Seeking funding 3. Building a team |
| 1. Raising capital from angel investors 2. Strategies for operating as virtual organization 3. Building early partnerships with potential acquirers |
1. We are at a stage where a relatively small angel investment is critical in getting the additional market traction needed for raising a Series A funding and/or signing strategic partnerships with large media companies. Thus, at this juncture, any help in introducing relevant potential angel or strategic investors will be greatly appreciated.
2. We have started to gain initial traction through various methods we have used to seed some initial IT experts. Additional relevant partnerships (with other IT publications, portals, etc.) to build the base of IT experts for reviews as well as direct syndicated traffic to ProCompare is very important. |
| Building a team Online direct marketing Enterprise sales and marketing SaaS business models |
| Building a team Raising capital Marketing Strategy |
| Critique and creation of business plan. |
| Exposure to angels and VC's , meet potential partners, employees, service providers. I would particularly like advice from someone who has started a consumer-oriented web business from the ground up. |
Go to Market Strategy
Building the Management Team
Raising Venture Funding |
| Growing traffic, increasing visibility, forming partnerships, advertising for web + email. |
How much money should we raise and who should we raise it from (angels/VC's/Other).
-Getting feedback from experts on the business models we are considering
-Top things to have in mind as we launch the proof of concept.
-Dealing with the press and building relationships with reporters.
-Managing and recruiting a board of directors. |
I am looking for customer acquisition input, as well as general marketing and business model advice.
Genotrope is now working on the Hiring Company features and would benefit from hiring manager input. |
| I am looking for guidance, advice, possibly team building, ideas to enhance my business concept, making connections, ask experts questions and express some concerns that I may have toward issues like intellectual property on the internet. I am also in need of assistance for financing, accepting angel investment, or other funding. I would like to know how I can maintain self-sufficiency and my expenses while building the business. |
I am wearing too many hats (and I know it!)
There is good growth out there and we are not growing commensurately, even though we were some of the early ones
I need both a team and capital. But I also need to run the business while we are doing it. |
| I need a better understanding of the details of raising money? What happens when the different rounds of funding come it? What business operation that exist in the background are needed (i.e. HR, accounting, benefits) at different stage of the company? Basically, I need to understand everything other than the science that goes into creating a biotech company that is not racing to get a drug through the FDA (I have done that). |
| I need help building a sales pipeline and clarifying my product offering. |
| I would like to brainstorm about raising capital and better defining our pitch. |
I would like to hear war stories from entrepreneurs who have been there/done that in consumer businesses.
I would like to hear from panels describing the financing process and network with the crowd to meet potential investors. |
| I would like to meet individuals who could contribute by helping us connect with mechanical designers (familiar with Solidworks), vehicle builders, and other skilled talent to help us help people have the freedom to move with less difficulty, more enjoyment, and greater personal dignity. |
| I would like to meet with someone who is a wiz at understanding life-science marketing. How do we best create a business model that fully leverages our value, and enables us to monetize our technology. Our tests are available either on a paper card or through the internet - so there is minimal cost of goods, but a high clinical value. |
| I would love to see a session focusing on problem-solving. |
| Internet Marketing, Marketing Materials, Sales, |
| Learning from other business leaders how to navigate the start-up process. How to raise funding. Issues of IP control and protection. Delivering a SaaS set of services to the market. |
looking for help in the following areas:
- talking to the press / connecting with the right bloggers
- developing our go-to-market strategy
- refining our revenue model |
Market entry strategies
Help on growing a tech company
Long term mentoring help
Finance |
|
Marketing to consumers and small businesses
Specifically, channels (online (including search-engine based and specific campaigns), trade shows as well as physical) and the advantages/disadvantages of each
The best ways to demonstrate "traction" in the market of SMB buyers and consumers
Raising capital
Demonstration traction (for a targeted, niche Internet site) needed to effectively be able to raise capital
Planning early on for exit strategies in today's market
|
| My biggest obstacle right now is breaking into the business/enterprise market. I'd like guidance and/or leads into the Fortune 1000 group for pilot and beta customers. |
| Protecting Intellectual Property Seating a CFO Raising Capital |
| Protecting Intellectual property, raising product awareness through traditional and non-traditional means, building a team, financing through government grants, angel investors and other avenues. |
| raising capital in New England, channel development for software in particular SaaS products, building sales teams and or strategies |
| Raising Capital incl. friends & Family Strategic Partnerships Founders Equity / Capitalization Plan |
| Raising Capital, Attracting professionals to join team, building brand identity |
| Raising capital, building a team & recruiting, complying with regulations |
| raising capital, online marketing and user growth, building a sales team, building an engineering team |
| Raising capital, whether to boostrap, protecting intellectual property, business plan review |
| raising capital, whether to bootstrap, building and marketing a consumer brand |
Review the business model, organization and current strategy to determine:
1. Viability
2. Feasibility of execution
3. Determine realistic exit goals |
| stategic growth |
Strategic advice:
raising funds
dealing with third-party interests
the advertising world
growth models
Network
for recruiting
more advisors
other entrepreneurs in a similar space
potential investors |
| Team building (specifically VP Sales of SaaS based system in Financial services). Raising capital/bootstrap |
| Team Building, Raising Capital |
| The proper building of a board of directors (Industry big names? Government people? Local names? Job functions?) Tax consequences of various stock compensation and tips for minimizing or delaying required taxes Cash flow issues during growth and when certain financing methods and when they don't Things to watch out for when being offered an acquisition offer (and how to "not give too much information" during the process) Best practices for increasing sales revenue and reducing sales cycles |
| To connect with experts in telecommunications infrastructure, hospitality industry, entertainment, media, and financial sector who can provide some insight as to financial models, what investors would be looking for, guidance as to business plan formation,etc. |
| Transitioning from angel to vc funding. Sales Pipeline development in healthcare. Developing a healthcare sales team. |
Trying to identify how to move this from concept to executable:
1. How to identify appropriate team with relevant experience to cover technical basis (clinical SME, web/development, etc.)
-- should this be a partnered/OEM deal for development? Are there grants or other public money available to start given the Healthcare initiatives underway in the U.S?
2. What shape/stage does this need to be in to make it fundable (angel or VC) |
We have built a solid technical foundation and we have some initial customers and success stories. We're now trying to figure out how to grow that into a repeatable, self-sustaining business. One of the challenges I'm looking for help on is simply how to do that (i.e. what sorts of opportunities to pursue, how to prioritize them, what sorts of infrastructure to focus on, etc.).
How to balance the long-term and short-term views at this stage. We've discovered many things that we can tell would help us succeed over the long term (e.g. working harder to build a strong community amongst our customers), as the months and years pass we never seem to get to those things because we end up focusing on the short-term (e.g. landing the next sale, fixing the next bug, etc.). This has reached the point where it feels like a significant missed opportunity so I'd like some ideas about how to make some room to work on the long term while still taking care of the short-term. |
We have core team, demo, and finishing prototype with working code.
Soon will be fundraising for large seed / pre-A round, or possibly for an A round with demo/prototype in hand.
Need help with Financing Strategy!
- Get large seed round, $0.5-1.0M? Go straight to A round?
- What type of investors to target? Traditional VC? Boutique early-stage VC? Established angel group? Prominent deep pockets angel?
- Start talking to potential customers at this early stage (before next financing round), risking engaging too early and creating additional competitors? |
| We need a variety of help, including: 1) legal help in setting up customer contracts, ASP contracts, licensing, etc.; 2) Dealing with FDA, 3) Advice on shortening sales/setup cycle with big organizations, such as hospitals? 4) Discuss ideas regarding extensions or products of wider scope in healthcare, 5) financing for the next year, since we should reach break even within a year. |
| We need general assistance in new venture resources, particularly raising seed capital. |
| We need help finding partners who can help us take our technology to the next level. We also need help navigating the startup road in an emerging market (and in a potentially very troubled economy). |
We would like help with the following:
Value proposition
Finding lead customers
Funding advice |
| Wisdom from others who have started companies and brought technologies to market. I'm looking forward to hearing about others' experiences. I'm also looking forward to hearing experienced opinions about what I should do to build out my management team and bring our technology to market. |
| I would like advice on potential alternate financing methods available to maintain the current growth path while undercapitalized. We are maintaining a small but positive margin and find our growth challenging that while seeking outside capitalization. What type of bridge options are available? Is it wise to start going negative by adding additional key players as we seek the right VC opportunity, or do we stay conservative, and not risk losing our profitable status? |
Comments (3)
Pascal Marmier said
at 8:36 am on Sep 30, 2008
International entrepreneurship - going international --> global
How does a successful company carry the success to another market. What are successful mechanisms for partnering here inside the US with foreign companies or when expanding abroad? Is there a good stage, a good startegy?
steve@... said
at 3:29 am on Oct 1, 2008
I would like to run/participate in a session regarding "going it alone" meaning starting a company with no intention of raising capital. I built my internet company as the sole shareholder and recently sold it.
Marcia McLean said
at 4:18 am on Oct 1, 2008
I'm a software developer/technical resource seeking an entrepreneur with a great idea who is starting to build a technical staff.
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