Need help on raising a seed round

Hi,

I am co-founder of a tech startup. We are currently looking to raise a seed amount.
We have recently released the beta version and have received good reviews and press coverage ( Mashable etc)

Our problem is that we are located outside US and so fund raising is not so easy. I wanted to know if there are firms which can pitch on our behalf ( on a % commission basis) in the US ?

 

Would crowd funding/investing be an option for you? Most developed countries have several active platforms with volumes starting at 50k and up to at times 200k per round (USD/EUR). A few examples:

U.S. / global - kickstarter and many more

Netherlands: - crowdaboutnow

Germany: - companisto - seedmatch - fundsters - innovestment

Several more mentioned here: http://www.ibusinessangel.com/2012/03/crowdfunding-websites/

 

@Edmundo Braverman We are located in India.

@BlackHat Still it is better than India :)

@brutalglide Obviously we are looking to hire someone who will raise the funds for us. I created the thread to check if anyone here can connect us with a firm/person who might be interested in the job. Since we are bootstrapped we can't make upfront payment.

 

Raising money for a store like you're talking about would be almost impossible. Without some strong traction in your market, you wouldn't get any responses from VCs. PE firms and Growth Equity firms deal with later stage businesses.

It's extraordinarily difficult to get funded with just an idea. It almost always requires some form of traction or prototype.

 
TheKing:
Raising money for a store like you're talking about would be almost impossible. Without some strong traction in your market, you wouldn't get any responses from VCs. PE firms and Growth Equity firms deal with later stage businesses.

It's extraordinarily difficult to get funded with just an idea. It almost always requires some form of traction or prototype.

This. An idea is worthless; it's all about the execution.

Unless you've started a business like this before and succeeded, you're not going to get funding until you show some type of traction.

Cheers.
 

There's almost no chance a PE fund will give you money for your idea - they deal with later stage companies. With only an idea/business plan, you will likely raise money from friends/family who really really love you, and then from angels, who really really believe in you. A VC will likely not even look at it at this stage.

This isn't to discourage you, however. If you're passionate about your idea, I say go for it.

 

You have no successful track record. Why would they invest in something like a sporting goods store when there is nothing new or innovative about that and they will barely make any returns considering its retail and expenses are much higher versus some random iOS app that all they have to fund is marketing and pay for people working on it typically

Frank Sinatra - "Alcohol may be man's worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy."
 
timpson:

are a not very far into the process of getting their startup up and running?

This will be a bigger issue than no previous startup experience (assuming you have some other directly relevant experience). If you aren't far along, you should be applying to incubator/accelerator programs. Those won't care about your past experience and are structured for early stage companies. You can also apply to various angel groups. These two paths will start to get you ready for VC funding and will help progress the business.

VCs do not invest in companies that are just a business plan, outside of the very rare exception.

 

No it's not illegal, your friends or family or whoever really can buy equity in your business in exchange for an investment or in some cases get it for free for consultant type work and guidance they can provide you at the early stages. Apart from these sources, you can also get government or start up grants or investment from early stage or seed capital funds, but you have to have something to show them first, so initially you might need to use your own money if you don't have access to family and friends money.

cubiclecrowd.com blog.cubiclecrowd.com
 

There are plenty of VCs in New York. That is not your problem. That said, plenty of VCs won't bite until you've already started moving, i.e. after an angel round or two. Look up groups of Angel Investors in your product area, and get them on board. Otherwise, take the "dumb" money and find mentors who can take the angels' place in advising you as you start.

"There are three ways to make a living in this business: be first, be smarter, or cheat."
 

Realistically, the minimum seed capital we think we need is 250k, but would ideally like to raise more than that for a variety of reasons. If we do an angel round the blocks of capital will likely be in 50k increments. Ideally the demand will push well over the minimum of 250k to give us more flexibility. As of now, we are looking for investors who do not view this round as 'let's give them minimum amount possible to get by on' but instead 'the more we put into this in terms of capital & connections, the more we will get out of it'

I am going to make an effort to send PM's; I am new to the site, and as of now it is saying I do not have enough points.

 

Realistically speaking, unless you have SIGNIFICANT operating experience + strong references, with no revenue/no product and only an idea, you will have close to 0 percent chance of getting venture capital funding. Your best choices are finding angel investors / accelerators / incubators to invest.

Also, you will need to eventually need to change your LLC to a C-corp if you plan on raising institutional capital. Typically LLC's are for small businesses, not start-up companies. Read this article for more details with regards to different entities:

http://www.startupcompanylawyer.com/2009/03/12/what-type-of-entity-shou…

 

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