January 31, 2007
After many invites, I finally made it to the Fight Club Dinner. In it’s simplest form, the fight club dinner is essentially an entrepreneurial networking dinner here in Utah founded by Jeff Barson. It was good to see some other entrepreneurs that I haven’t seen for a while including:
There wasn’t any arm-wrestling or fight stories… just some great discussion about some of the up and coming start-ups. Money had a great suggestion for us at FundingUniverse: he suggested that we start to sponsor/organize more entrepreneurial events — and I think that he makes a great point. It doesn’t have to be anything big or formal, just an opportunity to have like-minded entrepreneurs get together.
A while back, we used to get together for a weekly entrepreneurial breakfast and I think that I’ll get that started again. Anyone interested? I’ll be talking to my partners and we’ll come up with a schedule. Again, nothing formal… just opportunity to get together.
Stay tuned…
January 19, 2007
When I hear an entrepreneur say that his company is "stuck" because he can't raise any money, I cringe because he's probably right. This statement, more often than not, is the outward expression of a mental/creative block.
The fact is that start-up companies are rarely "stuck" -- with the exception of most pharma and biotech-type companies that require a ton of R&D and ramp-up time.
For example, I spoke with an entrepreneur the other day who has a great web-based idea and relationships with the right people to help him make it happen. He has already done a ton of work on the project and he's ready to roll.
One problem -- His website (as he put it) is hideous. When you're a web-based company, that's bad. He can't afford to pay web designers to fix it for him, so he says he's stuck.
Not really though. There are web designers out there who will work for equity and little or no pay if the idea is right. It takes work to find them, but they are out there. If you can't find them, there are people on the other side of the planet who will design a good-enough-to-start-raising-money website for a few rubles a day.
That's just one example. Here are a few examples of entrepreneurs who understand how to make things happen without funding:
- I spoke with a great entrepreneur the other day who set up a meeting with a few potential investors and convinced a local real estate office to host the event for him and provide his guests with lunch. The dude was so broke that he had to go to a friend's house to print up the last of term sheets because his electricity had been shut off.
- A great entrepreneur right here in Utah was completely out of money when he convinced a publicly traded company to give him a $100k contract for a service he hadn't even created yet.
- Carolyn Duncan's Hundred Dollar Business experiment
The skill is part hustle, part bootstrapping, part salesmanship and part gusto. Most of the time it's a skill that comes out when your back is to the wall and your only other option is to close the doors.
When entrepreneurs dig deep and find ways to push forward through the lean times, they often discover on of the most important truths of entrepreneurship: The best way to finance your company is sell stuff and have your customers pay the bills. It took me a while to figure that one out.
Bottom line: Successful entrepreneurs make things happen with or without money. If you ever find yourself thinking "Until we raise money, we're stuck!" you're probably right.
If you have any war stories about making things happen with little or no money in the bank, leave a comment!
January 18, 2007
Today all of our AngelReady members chatted with angel investor Marc Nathan. Marc, an influential and active investor in Houston, offered incredibly valuable advice and insight into an entrepreneur’s relationship with angel investors.
During a portion of the chat, Marc spoke of avoiding investors who could cause problems for your business down the road. He pointed out warning signs to watch for in investors who have certain characteristics or unreasonable expectations. Not all investors are ideal to get capital from, according to Marc.
If you are already an AngelReady member, and missed the chat, we have recorded this and all previous weekly chats. As a member, you have access to both the audio and visual portions of the presentation by logging in to your entrepreneur console.
To all users on the FundingUniverse site: Take advantage of these weekly chats. Every week, I learn more about an industry, I feel, I am already familiar with. In addition, having the ability to ask questions to an angel is a priceless opportunity. Every angel will do their best to openly and honestly answer as many questions as they can.
We want to provide you with all the tools necessary to improve your plan and get you in front of investors. What topics would you be interested in having our Angels “chat” about? Let us know. We truly value your feedback.
If you are not an AngelReady member, feel free to contact us at 877.638.3616 to get more information.
January 16, 2007
I just read an excellent article titled Lure of Entrepreneurship Beckons Boomers, on BusinessWeek.com. The article describes the increasing number of baby boomers who are becoming entrepreneurs. As I have worked on our Speedpitching team, many of the presenters at our events seem to fit into this new category of entrepreneurs. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues in the future.
As a side note, Bill Payne, who serves on FundingUniverse’s advisory board, provides commentary in the article.
January 12, 2007
I love talking to our AngelReady Members! Almost every time I talk to one of them, they are talking about how much they are enjoying the learning experience. It sounds like one of the most popular features of their membership is the Weekly Chat with an Angel webinar (click here to access the archive). I love them too.
Each week, we get the help of an experienced angel investor to present a webinar on a certain topic. For example, yesterday we had Greg Peterson give a webinar on Preparing Yourself for Investor Due Diligence. Greg presented for about 30 minutes after which we opened it up to our AngelReady members for question & answer. There were some great questions! Here are a few examples:
QUESTION: Under the “Financials section” of the Due Diligence binder, should the previous years be broken down into three-month periods or just end-of-the-year financials?
QUESTION: You mentioned a non-disclosure statement… I’m raising money from VCs — do we need to push for a NDA?
QUESTION: We have a company that has been around for just 5 months. Do our financials need to be audited or produced by an accountant or can we give them financials we’ve created internally?
QUESTION: You mentioned a non-disclosure statement… I’m raising money from VCs — do we need to push for a NDA?
QUESTION: Can you list a few specifics that you would expect to see in the operations section of Due Diligence Binder?
After 2 months, we have had some webinars on many valuable topics… including:
AngelReady Members: which event have you enjoyed the most? What topic would you like us to discuss?
January 8, 2007
With the overhaul/launch of the new FundingUniverse website, there were a few things that slipped under the rug. One of the things that some people have asked about is our “FundingUniversity” page (don’t worry…it’ll be coming back with a vengeance).
The other was our 10,000 Company Histories. The amount of valuable content that is included in our company histories is enormous. For example, are you interested in learning the early beginnings at Google? Did you realize that Motorola was founded in the 1930’s during the great depression?
Of course, this is a shameless plug for the company histories… but, honestly, it is more than that. The reason that we have collected this content is because we believe that it is a valuable resource for our entrepreneurs. Personally, I love to learn. I love reading about the struggles and successes of many well-known companies. I hope that you enjoy the resource as much as I do!
Finally, if you find an interesting story in one of the company histories, please make it known by commenting in this entry. Enjoy!
January 5, 2007
A while back,
Chris and
Matt went
toe-to-toe about an
article Matt wrote for Connect Magazine that advised readers to leave Utah and learn from the best in the Bay Area. While it is obvious that there is a ton of action in the Bay Area and a boatload of very intelligent entrepreneurs and investors, VentureOne's
report on the the biggest VC exits of 2006 suggests that there is plenty of action outside of the Valley for the rest of us.
Here's a breakdown of the locations of the purchased companies. Note that only two of the top ten are from the Bay Area.
- YouTube -- Bay Area
- Flarion -- New Jersey
- Xspedius Communications -- Missouri
- Healthfield -- Georgia
- CorSolutions -- Illinois
- Corus Pharma -- Washington
- Mobile 365 -- Virginia/DC
- LANDesk -- Utah
- GlycoFi -- Massachusettes
- Wily Technology -- Bay Area
Congrats to the local boys from
LANDesk and
vSpring Capital for cracking the list at #8!
I'm originally from California and my job revolves around angel investors and VC, so you know I've got nothing but love for the Bay Area. However, I'm glad to be outside of the Valley learning from some of the best here in Utah.
January 4, 2007
Brock Blake said that
I would get a million dollars from Bill Gates if I wrote a post about five things people don't know about me.
Here goes ...
1) I was the singer for a rock/roll band called
Aberdine back in my glory days. We were kind of a blend between Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam and the Black Crowes. It was just something we did for fun, but we ended up selling about 1,000 CDs and playing enough gigs to pay for a couple months rent.
2) I graduated from high school with a 2.15ish GPA. Although I was able to rebound from my high school daze and obtain a university degree, I still have a bad taste in my mouth for university and high school education systems. Good things happen in schools, but not often enough.
3) My unfinished, non-air conditioned attic was the first headquarters for FundingUniverse. It was at least 90 degrees up there for most of the summer of 2004. Trent and I had some great meetings up there. Good times, good times ...
4) When I grow up, I'm going to a sportswriter. When I was in school,
I covered BYU men's basketball for the Daily Universe and I loved it. I can't say I was very good at it, but if it payed better, I'd be doing it right now.
5) In 1996 I danced with Lauryn Hill backstage at the Smokin' Grooves tour stop at Fresno State University. Okay, maybe it would be more accurate to say that I danced very near her but she probably didn't even notice I was there. Either way, me and my buddy Brian Cotta sneaked back stage while Ziggy Marley was playing and found ourselves in the middle of a party with Lauryn, Q-Tip (Tribe Called Quest), Wyclef Jean (Fugees), Busta Rhymes, B Real (Cypress Hill) and about two dozen other crew members.
Bill, I'm waiting for my check.
I tag
Chip,
Chad and
Josh.
I admit it. I don’t like to receive criticism. I don’t think anyone really does. However, I believe, an individual is great depending on how they handle criticism. This realization came to me yesterday after interacting with one of our AngelReady entrepreneurs.
At FundingUniverse we have business consultants and analysts whose job it is to rate and provide feedback to entrepreneurs on their business plans. The reaction of one entrepreneur to the feedback she received impressed me. She openly accepted the feedback. Since she spoke with our consultants, she has worked diligently to enhance her plan. Her willingness to put in all the effort necessary to make these improvements is remarkable.
Everday I hear from entrepreneurs all over the country who say they would do anything to make a business successful. Yet, these same entrepreneurs are hesitant to modify a business plans to make it more appealing to investors. In general, it is crucial to accept the feedback/criticism you receive. Be open to change, open to making the necessary improvements. Do not be satisfied with the status quo. Continue to push yourself and make improvements to your plan.
After my experience with this AngelReady entrepreneur, I have made it a personal goal in 2007 to accept and ask for feedback from people. Instead of worrying why I am being critiqued, it would be more advantageous to take this criticism and use it to improve. What will you do with the feedback you receive?
