Yesterday FundingUniverse held another Online SpeedPitch event.  This event gives entrepreneurs from all over the country the opportunity to pitch their ideas to active investors via an online presentation.  The investors can view the presentation, ask questions, and contact companies that they are interested in.

Click above to see a sample Online SpeedPitch

Yesterday’s event was a huge success!  We had four companies and 15 investors in attendance.  All four of the companies received interest from at least two investors.  One of the presenters even received interest from six investors!

We will continue to hold these events and hope you will consider being a part of the next one!  Events are listed at www.fundinguniverse.com

1.  Passionate, experienced, trustworthy management team:  an investor is looking to invest in the jockey, not the horse.
2.  A business idea that is scalable:  ask yourself… “can I hit $10M in revenue in 3-5 years?”
3.  Traction: especially in today’s economy, you need to have established some “traction” (revenue, contracts, technology developed, patent, etc.).  In other words… it needs to be more than an idea.
4.  Sustainable Competitive Advantage: you should be able to easily explain why your product/service/company has an advantage to any one else in the marketplace (and how you can sustain that overtime).
5. Market Need: Is there a real need in the market or are you creating a “nice to have” product or service?
6.  Right valuation: Too many entrepreneurs shoot themselves in the foot by pitching an realistic (i.e. too high) company valuation.
7.  Exit Strategy: Because early-stage investing is very risky, most investors are looking to get their return within 3-7 years.  You’ll want to be prepared to explain how the investors will get a healthy 10x ROI in 3-7 years.
7.  Be Prepared: The most prepared entrepreneur (without a great company) will not be able to successfully raise capital.  However, if you have a great company and you approach investors without being prepared (executive summary, investor presentation, financial model, etc.), they will quickly throw you into the “half-baked” category and it will be difficult to overcome that stigma.

Good luck!

Congratulations to John Keller and Worldwide Book Drive, the winner of our recent Utah Social Entrepreneurship CrowdPitch event!

This event was a huge success and an opportunity to focus on social entrepreneurship.  The companies that pitched were for profit-based social ventures that aim to improve our community.

We recently spoke with John about his experience preparing for and pitching at the event, and here’s what he had to say:

“It was a great opportunity to meet with entrepreneurs, investors and social entrepreneurs alike.  All of the companies that presented were great companies that were making a positive impact on our local community.  Although the prizes were great and we’re stoked about all of cool free stuff we won, the best part was definitely meeting with the investors and other entrepreneurs at the table!”

Here’s a little about the company itself:

Worldwide Book Drive started in 2005 as a response to some substantial inefficiency that two young college students, (David Kasteler and John Keller) saw in the surplus book industry.  Every year, hundreds of thousands of books and periodicals were being discarded due to general market forces.  Because of prohibitive costs, many eligible books weren’t being recycled or donated.  John and David believed that on a big enough scale, surplus book materials could be collected and sorted to identify which books could be sold to perpetuate the company, which obsolete or damaged books should be recycled and which current and appropriate books should be donated to qualified charities.

Thus Worldwide Book Drive, (WBD) was born!  WBD currently receives and collects approximately 20,000 pounds of books per week and employees 10 full-time equivalent employees. To date, WBD has donated more than 500,000 books and recycled more than 1.2 million pounds.

Obsolete books are recycled in partnership with Life Skills Center, a sheltered workshop for disabled adults.  As a result of this program, mal-adaptive behavior among the more than 85 participating individuals has dropped more than 25% and per individual income has increased more than 200%.

The donating process includes identifying qualified recipients and managing shipping logistics.  Most domestic shipping and handling fees are paid for by WBD.

Of their funding challenges, John says:

“When (we) first started, raising money for WBD was extremely difficult.  Because of its social mission, many investors didn’t want to participate.  A lot of people told us to go and do a fundraiser.  That didn’t jive with our vision of a sustainable social venture and so we kept building the company on our own credit.  I clearly remember maxing out my credit line and thinking ‘wow, so this is what’s it’s like to really run out of money.’  Living the dream.  We went really lean and eventually qualified for an SBA line of credit and cleared all of our debts.  Now we’ve got great credit and looking to grow!  Thanks FundingUniverse!”

We wish John and Worldwide Book Drive the best of luck as the continue in the funding and growing process.  We also want to thank all of the companies that participated in the event!  We’re already excited for our upcoming pitching events in Utah, Portland, Phoenix, and Seattle to name a few.  For a full list of events and details about participating go HERE

We want to congratulate Unparalleled Energy, the winner of last week’s Phoenix CrowdPitch!

We had the opportunity to have a Q&A session with Cary Lovins about the company and the experience they had presenting at this event:

• FundingUniverse – Tell us a little about your company.
• Cary – We produce the world’s only protein bread, an energy drink (which tastes fantastic and lowers cholesterol and tryglercides), and a delicious energy/protein bar.  After receiving the funding we need, we will launch our products to over 5 Billion people.

• FundingUniverse – That’s impressive.  How did you get started?
• Cary – I have always been good at formulating things.  I made the ingredient list for three other energy drinks.  Two years ago, I started another healthy energy drink.  It translated very poorly in other countries, so I sold it.  I then created another energy drink.  4 months later, I created the protein bread and the energy/protein bar.

• FundingUniverse – Why do you feel your product is unique?
• Cary – Our products are the only ones like them in the world and cannot be reformulated.

• FundingUniverse – What funding challenges did you face as you were trying to get your idea off the ground?
• Cary – I had no challenges really, I used all of my own money from the sale of the other company.  I am now just having a problem with getting an investor to make the product.

• FundingUniverse – How did you hear about FundingUniverse and the Phoenix CrowdPitch event?
• Cary – While online looking for angel investors.  Thanks to a gentleman in your company named Darren, I was penciled into CrowdPitch.  I honestly believe Darren is a true asset to your company and should be commended.

• FundingUniverse – Describe your experience pitching your idea in front of a live audience and panel of experts at the CrowdPitch event.
• Cary – I loved pitching the idea, because I truly believe in my products and want the world to be a healthier place.  My heart and my mind are 150% committed to this.  However, it was very scary and I had never done anything like that
  before.  I really did not know whether to look at the panel or the crowd.

• FundingUniverse – Did you get any new insights or ideas from the Q&A portion of the event?
• Cary – Everyone loved the product and the pitch, however I could have spoken a little louder.  The other companies I heard received a lot of help though.

• FundingUniverse – How does it feel to know that those in attendance liked your idea and gave their “funny money” to you?
• Cary – It made me feel great to have complete strangers enjoy my products.  The funny money is an excellent way to determine the winner by being unanimous.

• FundingUniverse – What is the next step for your business?
• Cary – Upon completion of funding, we will begin filling our orders to get these three products out to the world and have people eating healthy food that is very good for them.

Thanks again to Unparalleled Energy and all the other companies that pitched at this event.  We are already looking forward to similar upcoming events in Utah, Seattle, Portland, and San Diego (to name a few).

If you are in the Phoenix area, get excited.

FundingUniverse is expanding every day and we are taking Arizona by storm!  One of our first orders of business is the Phoenix CrowdPitch this Wednesday, October 28th.  This FREE event will bring pitching to a whole new level as the best-of-the-best entrepreneurs pitch their big ideas to a panel of expert investors and a live audience (think Shark Tank meets American Idol!)

Everyone (including the audience) will get to invest play money into the company of their choice, and the winner will get some fabulous prizes.

It is all topped off with a FREE networking luncheon.  You can’t go wrong!

To RSVP and for more information go HERE

Click HERE to watch the podcast discussing what FundingUniverse is doing to bring entrepreneurs and investors together in the Phoenix Area.

Not sure if you have heard the news, but President Obama unveiled initiatives to help small businesses get more access to lines of credit.

“There is still too little credit flowing to our small businesses. There are still too many entrepreneurs who can’t get the loan they need to open their doors and start hiring.  There are still too many who are struggling to make payroll and stay open. And there are still too many successful small businesses that want to expand further and hire more but just don’t have the capital to do it.”

I’m singing to the choir here, but this welcome news!  The first government attempt to help small businesses with the current economy was the ARC loan.  Unfortunately the ARC loan has really been a weak band aid without a lot of results.  The amount of paperwork that was required to be able to apply for the $35k-max loan was over the top.  As a result, there were very few banks that really ended up pushing the loan.  We work with hundreds of banks across the United States and very few of them were approving the government-created loan.

Here are the rumored proposals of this change:

• The maximum size of the SBA 7(a) loans would rise from $2 million to $5 million
• The maximum size of the SBA 504 loans would rise to $5.5 million
• The maximum size of SBA microloans would increase from $35,000 to $50,000
• Community banks with less than $1 billion in assets (which make the bulk of small-business loans) could receive new capital at an initial dividend rate of 3% (the current rate is 5%)
• Community Development Financial Institutions (they do the bulk of their small business lending in under-served rural areas) would get access to capital at a 2% rate

I’m stoked to hear of the new plans and have been long awaiting an announcement like this.  I, for one, believe that the economy is 99% dependent on the success of small businesses — and so that’s where our focus should lie.  Growing businesses create jobs –> jobs create income –> income purchases homes, consumer products, etc. –> economy gets back on track.

Unfortunately, they haven’t announced a time frame to the roll out.  Let’s hope that it comes sooner than later!

FundingUniverse’s next Utah CrowdPitch event will be a little bit different than most.  We will be focusing on social entrepreneurship, and we’re looking specifically for profit-based social ventures that aim to improve our community.  There are two criteria that every pitching company must meet:

1 – You must be a viable, for-profit company

2 – Your business model must benefit the Utah community by solving local social problems, for example:

• Green energy and environmental solutions
• Local sustainable agriculture & small-scale agri-products processing
• Address social and economic problems using private sector approaches as an alternative or complement to non-profit approaches
• An organization set up to incubate, mentor, and create more for-profit companies run by minority or women entrepreneurs.

The rest of the event will go the same as our other CrowdPitch events

• Entrepreneurs pitching their business to a panel of experts & a live audience, with feedback from the experts (think “Shark Tank” meets “American Idol”)
• Everyone “investing” $100 of Monopoly money into the company of their choice
• The winner will be awarded the opportunity to pitch to Innoventures Capital Partners.
• It will all be topped off with a free networking luncheon for all in attendance!

We have a great panel of experts set for this event, and if you want to apply to pitch or RSVP as a spectator (both free!) go HERE!

When & Where:

• November 4th
• 11:30 am – 1:30 pm MDT
• Lone Peak & Red Pine Rooms
• Karen Gail Miller Conference Center
• 9750 S 300 W
• Sandy, UT

This past Tuesday (October 6) FundingUniverse hosted another SpeedPitch event in Utah, with a record number of investors and entrepreneurs in attendance

Investors from The Utah Angels, Staker Ventures, BYU Center for Entrepreneurship, University Venture Fund, Utah Fund of Funds, Innoventures Capital Partners, Park City and Olympus Angels, and Blue Diamond Capital were represented, among others.

During each of nine rounds, the presenting companies had 4 minutes to pitch their idea, followed by 3 minutes of Q&A. The investors voted and the three favorite companies were invited to do a second round of Q&A with the entire group. The companies chosen this time were Zoobies, Dr. Tim’s, and Heated Coating.

The event concluded with a networking luncheon catered by Tucanos Brazilian Grill. It was a great success and we wish everyone the best of luck as they move forward in the funding process!

We recently had the opportunity of working with Monica Beeman to help her secure debt financing for her new company. The company, called Vines to Vino, is Baltimore’s only winemaking establishment where you make the wine! Using grapes from the world’s finest vineyards, you crush, press, barrel, and bottle the wine under the guidance of a master winemaker.

Monica dropped us a line and talked about the positive experience she had with FundingUniverse:

“I found FundingUniverse while searching for a way to connect with angel investors and peer-to-peer funding websites. I quickly called and spoke with Darren Lunt (he made such an impression on me that I will never forget his name!) to ask questions about which level of service I should consider, as I was still unsure of how to structure investments in my business.

I knew I had major obstacles to overcome because I had a bankruptcy 5 years earlier. Darren very bluntly instructed me to consider debt financing, which is what I wanted to pursue anyway. He suggested that I purchase the risk profile report. Having lost my job back in February and living on unemployment (with a newborn baby), I had NO money to purchase this. After begging a family member to borrow the money, I started my process with FundingUniverse and purchased the Risk Profile Report.

I was a little disappointed to read information that I already knew (I stay very current on my credit reports), but I was somehow energized to make the necessary changes to go from an 11% chance of funding to a 90% chance. Once again I was at a speed bump, as I now needed actual cash to make the changes to my personal credit and start building the business credit. I spoke with Jordan in the Finance Dept and we made arrangements for me to start pursuing a microloan to accomplish this.  We did this, understanding that with these changes, I would have a better chance of getting the funding I really need.

I have since secured a $5,000 loan through and have been able to incorporate the business, build a website and print marketing materials, and I am now working with the legal group to dispute the negative information on my credit.  Shortly, I will return to FundingUniverse and re-apply for financing for a larger amount to bring Vines To Vino to operation!”

We wish Monica the best of luck in her new venture!

Check out the website here – http://www.vinestovino.com