Novel approach to funding your start up

A short article from Francine Hardaway's Blog "Stealthmode Blog" on a novel approach to bootstrapping your start up, "GET MARRIED" by the way Francines Blog is an excellent read and would recommend her to anyone interested in start up a business:



Novel Way to Fund a Startup

by Francine on August 25, 2009

I met Drue Kataoka through her blog, Valley Zen. Only later did I find that she, a recent Stanford grad, is from a distinguished Japanese family and is an accomplished artist in a traditional Japanese medium. And that’s the end of my expertise about things Japanese. But I got a message from Drue yesterday saying she was getting married on August 29th, and directing me to the First Ever Startup Registry.

Drue and her fiancee are starting a company called Aboomba. It is, of course, in stealth mode, which is why she thought I should know about it:-) They have decided that they don’t need silver and crystal and all that stuff I’ve had in boxes and shlepped from home to home without unpacking since the days of Mad Men. Instead, they have asked their friends to give them gifts like food for their engineers ($273), lunch for a VC $291), a desk upgrade for a developer ($49.90), an hour of a Silicon Valley lawyer’s time ($385) and so forth. In this way, they have backed into a budget:-)

Maybe I should have just tweeted a link to it, but I thought the letter from the bride and groom was worth re-printing:

The big date of August 29 is quickly approaching. However, we realized we didn’t need blenders, silverware or champagne glasses. So we had two options: (1) create a wedding registry with objects that we don’t really need, but are expected for the retail-industry-imposed Wedding Registry Ritual or (2) surprise everybody and do a different kind of registry—one that is non-conventional, humorous, genetically Silicon Valley—and actually useful.

We decided that the future belongs to the bold—so below is our non-conventional Start-up Wedding Registry. As you know, besides starting our life together, we are excited to be starting a new Internet company called Aboomba. Instead of buying us silverware and kitchenware, we invite you to participate in nurturing this new internet organism. The list below is as much humorous as serious—you could indeed be feeding engineers and accountants; providing coffee, pizza and online hosting.

Many of you are entrepreneurs, venture capitalists or start-up lawyers yourselves.so you have already been through the exciting experience of starting a company and seeing it grow. We promise that Aboomba’s journey will be filled with creativity, excitement and drive. You will see your contributions to this non-conventional wedding registry result in building an amazing company!

But the wedding is not about the presents—it is about the guests who have played a special role in our lives. That’s why, the last and most important item in our registry is Your Attendance—the gift that we will cherish most.

Is this not the cleverest way to fund a company using the traditional 3Fs? What friend, family member, or fool can resist contributing under these circumstances? Like all early stage investors, you’d be buying a pig in a poke, but at least you would be kicking off the marriage in a useful way. Did you really like giving traditional brides a single china dinner plate or a blender?

And a word of advice to entrepreneurs: next time you think you need to raise money, perhaps you should just get married.

Preparing a Pitch

This article from www.growthbusiness.co.uk is a good introduction to prepping for a pitch, I have been asked these questions a few times...ok loads of times..as trying to raise money in these days is like finding the proverbial "Hens teeth" ....Well not that bad, what I would say select the VC funds carefully, make sure they are investing, they have an interest in your sector and look for a weakness in there portfolio companies, where you could bring something to the party









A lack of preparation will kill any presentation before you even enter the room. Here's how to make sure you have everything in place to wow your audience.

Start by asking yourself the following:

* What is the purpose of the pitch?
* Who are you pitching to?
* What are you likely to be asked?
* What could go wrong?

What is the purpose of a pitch?
Before you begin your research or start writing the presentation, you need to clearly define what you hope to achieve from the meeting or pitch and what the ideal outcome would be. This will ensure you have a clear approach and are consistent across your presentation. It is important to clarify your objectives: are you looking for investment or a partner? Are you trying to sell yourself, your product, or your company?

Who are you pitching to?
Research is the foundation of any successful pitch, and is not just limited to the market you’re operating in. It sounds obvious, but you also need to ensure you have a thorough understanding of the company you are going to be talking to and the sector it operates in. In addition, you should also find out exactly who you are going to meet and get some background information about them. This can be done very easily using internet search engines and will allow you to engage with them on a much more knowledgeable and personal level.

What are you likely to be asked?
When you see senior executives of the world’s biggest companies, they often seem to know the answer to everything they are asked, whether that is the financial position of their business or the name of the cleaner’s niece. It’s impressive to watch, but do they really know the answer to every question about their business? The answer in most cases is ‘no’ – they have just done their research and prepared thoroughly based on their audience and subject – you should do the same.

Think about the types of questions that you may be asked, particularly those that may be difficult to answer. Questions vary depending on the type of audience, but here are a few examples:

* What does your company do exactly – the overarching pitch?
* What is the value of the market for your product?
* Is your intellectual property protected in any way?
* How much money do you need? How far will that go?
* What is your marketing strategy?
* Who is on your management team and what is their experience?

What could go wrong?
It may sound negative, but you have to think about everything that could go wrong and have contingencies in place. This can include basics like:

* Having business cards
* Ensuring you have all the leads for your computer
* Having a backup copy of your presentation (on a memory stick or DVD)
* Printing off and binding colour copies of your slide deck
* Having the exact location of the pitch and the contact details of the people you are meeting

Rehearsal
Your ability to present in a clear, concise and convincing manner is vital in any pitch situation. Remember that everything you do sends out a message – people focus consciously on what you are saying but unconsciously on how you are saying it.

While there are always a few naturally gifted speakers who can present without practising, there aren’t very many of them. And even they rehearse. As a result, for those of us who don’t have the ability to ‘wow’ off-the-cuff, the more you rehearse your pitch the more natural it will become and the more confident you will be in delivering the content. Confidence is critical for any pitch, as it puts everyone involved at ease – including the presenter, who will give a more convincing performance as a result.

Anyone can feel a little nervous and silly rehearsing in front of others, particularly colleagues, but this is essential because we never get anything right without practice. Think about the pitch as going on stage, rather than just a way of imparting information and think what would happen if musicians, singers or actors had the same attitude – they would never perfect their art.

Getting it right: Ten questions to ask yourself before a pitch
1. Do you know what you want to achieve from the pitch?
2. Have you rehearsed the pitch?
3. Are you passionate about what you are presenting?
4. Are you comfortable with the content, especially any figures?
5. Do you know who you are pitching to?
6. Are you prepared for any difficult questions that may be asked?
7. Has someone else looked over the presentation?
8. Have you checked all of the facts?
9. Are you going to excite your audience?
10. Are you going to enjoy the pitch?

If you ask yourself the ten questions below and can answer ‘yes’ to them all, you are on your way to a great pitch; any ‘nos’ and there is still some room for improvement.