"The Backers Who Made It Big" Have a Start Up that you need funding?...Read this.
I have been working on a start up venture at the moment, Don't want to get too into the details because I haven't taken all the necessary procedures to protect it. It involves a mobile app andthe passion i have (fishing) and if all goes to plan i'll be rich and so will the fishermen.
The other start up is a retail chain that is more of a novelty joke than a profitable business.
Below is a great article, I am sure most of you have read it in todays Wall St. Journal. I always find it hard to ask people for money because I am skeptical of lending myself and above all else I am awfully shy.
Do's and Don'ts of Asking Friends for Money :
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304…
Any advice or helpful hints would be great.
This is a pretty cool article on fund raising... http://www.paulgraham.com/fundraising.html
Access to venture capital is so much easier today than it was even 15 years ago. Angels are literally lined up waiting to fund the next 25 deals in the hopes that one might work out.
If you think you have a viable product (and you'd better have an MVP or there's no point in even talking about it), Kickstarter has become the de facto back door to angel funding. In the absence of a really viable crowd-funding community yet, Kickstarter is putting a ton of deals together. If you can't put your best foot forward on the Net, you don't deserve funding. And being shy is no excuse because you don't even have to meet your seed investors any more.
What stops Joey BoomBats from seeing my idea on the 'net and taking them when i have nothing more than a Notebook filled with thoughts and diagrams? No legal counsel in this matter yet, just thoughts in a notebook.
Think song lyrics to an song with no instrumental or band.
Not much you can do, unless you have some type of IP protection in place. With song lyrics it might be easier because if they steal your song and it blows up you can document when you wrote/posted it, but I'm guessing that you would just put up one verse and then talk about your album and sound and feel.
The best part about kickstarter is that you don't even have to give up equity.
On the flip side, you are publicly disclosing a roadmap on how you plan to build your product that might be easily knocked off. Additionally, it has gotten really hard to get noticed unless you already have a large network or following.
I was discussing the merits of kickstarter projects with the founder of a gaming company last week. He basically said that (at least in gaming) if you haven't already had one hugely successful game then it isn't worthwhile to put your idea out there as there is too much supply on the gaming side. He also noted the merit of having this built in marketing team of your early "investors" if you do manage to have a successful project...the big winners in these fundings are guaranteed to have smash hit games due to the network effect of their kickstarter fans.
It's certainly an interesting time to be a start-up. As I've mentioned before, I am pursuing one right now. We have weighed the value of doing a kickstarter project, but aren't pursuing it at this time. We don't want to lay out too much detail on our plan in that public of a forum, and we also aren't building something that is a tangible product to give to people as an award (like a game or watch). The most successful projects tend to be those that give out something real to the funders.
So you're saying get all the legal BS out of the way and start getting future customers to feel out your project? or get Angels to follow me?
I'm not sure exactly what you are asking, but most of the people on kickstarter aren't actual angels. They are generally normal people who like seeing new products and want to feel a part of turning ideas into reality and helping people get ahead with their ideas. People give $5 - $1,000+ to contribute to each project in return for some type of award. In the case of a game, you get an advanced copy. For something less tangible, you might get a t-shirt.
My reference to having a large network/following as a means to easier funding is more about already having a name in the market you are targeting. Again with the gaming concept, if you already have had a successful game that people like, they are more willing to pony up to get an advanced look at your next game. It's essentially a pre-sale in this case. Whereas, if I were to put up a game concept with no prior history of execution, people are much less likely to take me seriously.
@TechBanking Very true about the "prize" aspect of Kickstarter. I had my first real E-Commerce launch this week and I would love to pull in some funding from Kickstarter, but it just doesn't fit the mold.
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