Things are really heating up here at FundingUniverse and we’re excited about all this is going on.  We’re here to catch you up on the latest.

As you can see from the blog post HERE, yesterday’s Baltimore CrowdPitch event was a huge success and ended in a tie!  FundingUniverse was featured in a Baltimore Business Journal article published today titled Wary banks, needy businesses flirt over still-scarce loans. The article said “On Feb. 25, five business owners from the mid-Atlantic region were scheduled to talk up their companies to an audience of venture capitalists and other potential investors in a ‘Crowd Pitch’ event at the University of Maryland’s Baltimore biotechnology park. The event was organized by Funding Universe, a Utah-based company that connects entrepreneurs with potential investors. It was the first time Funding Universe has held such an event in Baltimore. Could such events be the first sign of a thaw in relations between bankers and small-business owners?”  You can read the full article HERE.

Our CEO Brock Blake was quoted in an article on AllBusiness.com titled Angel Investors – How to Find Them, and How to Prepare a Catching Plan. He said “it is key to pitch everyone. ‘This includes potential investors, friends, family members, neighbors, accountants, attorneys, consultants, government officials, strangers, and etc.’ People want to help, and you never know who may be listening or who may know someone who knows someone who might be interested.”  You can read the full article HERE

We also wanted to let you know that the event held on February 12th with Seth Godin was a huge success!  FundingUniverse was able to help deliver $6,500 to the Red Cross Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund though sponsorship of the event, and we want to thank all of you that helped make it a success.  “We are very grateful for the generosity of corporate sponsors and contributions raised through our event that made this donation to The Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund possible.,” said Kelly King Anderson, Startup Princess Founder.  You can read the entire press release HERE

We are excited to announce publicly that FundingUniverse has officially acquired TwitJump!  We are excited about the opportunity to continue to expand our offering to help business owners to grow their business.  In addition to the technology, it also solidifies our relationship with Alex Lawrence by bringing him on to our executive team.  Here is the formal press release:

Social Media Acquisition Next Growth Step for FundingUniverse

Serial Entrepreneur and TwitJump Founder, Alex Lawrence, to join FundingUniverse as part of transaction

Salt Lake City, UT — Feb. 11, 2010 — FundingUniverse(www.fundinguniverse.com), a leader in connecting qualified entrepreneurs with active investors and lenders across the United States, announced that it has added social media startup, TwitJump to FundingUniverse’s growing suite of business services. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

With more than 23 million visitors a month, Twitter.com has become one of the leading social media sites in the world and presents tremendous opportunities and challenges for companies trying capture new customers via social media channels.

“We believe the TwitJump acquisition represents great value for our customers,” said Brock Blake, CEO at FundingUniverse. “In a very short time, TwitJump has attracted more than 2,000 customers. With FundingUniverse fielding more than 10,000 customer inquiries a month, this acquisition represents a significant growth opportunity for the TwitJump platform.”

TwitJump is a leading social media solution and enables companies to more effectively manage their presence on Twitter. The product’s multiple business management tools help companies solve the issue of trying to quantify return-on-investment for social media efforts by providing real customers and live data. The rapid growth of TwitJump recently landed the company on TechCruch’s list of the “Top 10 Digital M&A Targets for 2010.”

As part of the acquisition, Alex Lawrence, TwitJump founder, will become a partner, join the Board of Directors and assume the role of Chief Evangelist with responsibilities over FundingUniverse’s nationwide expansion, social media and national partner relations.

“We are excited to have Alex join FundingUniverse,” said Blake. “Alex brings a wealth of entrepreneurial experience to the FundingUniverse executive team and is already making a tremendous impact in all aspects of our organization.”

“While we had multiple term sheets on the table from some great companies,” said Alex Lawrence, founder TwitJump, “the strategic and personal fit with FundingUniverse for TwitJump was a significant contributor to our decision to move forward with FundingUniverse. I look forward to helping FundingUniverse take that next step of growth and expansion.”

FundingUniverse is sponsoring an event to bring renowned author, speaker and marketer Seth Godin to a fundraising luncheon February 12, 2010 in Salt Lake City Utah. The networking event and presentation by Godin will be held from 11am-1pm at the Rail Events Center. Topic of the discussion will be Godin’s new book, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?

The event is made possible by the women’s networking company StartupPrincess.com as well as many generous sponsors. All proceeds raised will go to The Red Cross for Haiti Relief Fund.

200 copies of Linchpin will be available to attendees for a reduced price. Copies are available for pre-pay. Limited to 650 guests, tickets start at $30 for lunch. Sign up at www.StartupPrincess.com/SethGodin

All tickets include a delicious gourmet box lunch. Please plan to arrive at 11am for lunch, visiting exhibitor tables, and networking. Seth Godin will speak at noon.

“We are so pleased to have Seth Godin coming to Salt Lake to speak. He is an incredibly dynamic speaker that anyone with an interest in effective marketing won’t want to miss. We already have tremendous community support in planning this event for Haiti relief. It’s wonderful to know so many people want to make a difference,” said Shannon Rees Baker, CEO of StartupPrincess.com.

Here are some highlights from an article that was published in UtahBusiness Magazine, featuring our very own Brock Blake:

Cash Strapped? Funding Options for Today’s Small Businesses

by Brock Blake – 29 January 2010

There are a variety of sources today for business owners to locate capital to fund and grow their businesses.  Contrary to popular belief, it is not a matter of having venture-backed funding or nothing at all. Rather, small business owners should consider the following possibilities:

Self Funding

Funding Range: Varies

Most people starting a business prefer to rely on their own resources. They don’t want to depend on others—or on any form of debt—to begin building their dream. Initial funding may come from personal savings, retirement accounts or home equity lines of credit.

Friends and Family

Funding Range: Varies

Before you approach outside capital, consider approaching friends and family members to get the ball rolling. When you do, appropriately document the transaction as a loan, an investment or a gift—doing so will save you a lot of headache down the road.

SBA Express Loans

Funding Range: $5,000 – $25,000

Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs help qualified businesses obtain financing through a lender that provides the actual loan to the borrower. The SBA guarantees a portion of the loan (between 50 to 90 percent depending on the program) acting much like a co-signer. The primary benefit of a small loan is that a business owner does not have to give up additional ownership that often comes with angel or venture funding. The downside, of course, is the limited range, in dollar terms, of funding through SBA loans.

Angel Investors

Funding Range: $25,000 – $1 million

An angel investor is a well-off individual who has some type of business background, such as a former executive or successful entrepreneur. Investing their own money, angel investors have different motivations than just purely a return on investment (ROI). Typically the majority of angel investors don’t want to own more than 50 percent (or a controlling interest) of the company. Angel investors usually want to take between 15 to 40 percent ownership in the company. This enables them to provide support, key introductions and board-level feedback. Because an angel investor is becoming a minority owner, it is critical for an early stage company to focus on partnering with the right people who share similar goals with the company.

Venture Capital

Funding Range: $1 – $10 million

Venture capitalists raise money from several institutions and individuals, and try to provide them a financial return by investing in multiple companies. Like the angel investor, a venture capitalist will want to have a clear exit strategy for their investment. While venture capitalists are highly ROI focused, their funds often have certain parameters that may or may not preclude them from investing in a particular company. A “no” from a venture capital fund may not mean a business is a bad investment, but that the company simply didn’t fit into the fund’s investing criteria.

Grow Your Business

As a company moves from idea to operation, it is going to need cash. Wise entrepreneurs carefully consider the risks and benefits of each funding strategy and how those risks and benefits align with their personal and corporate goals. Once an early-stage company has a clear understanding of what risks it is willing to take, it is in the best position to pursue one or a combination of funding sources that best meet the needs of its growing business.

Brock Blake is the CEO of FundingUniverse, Inc, a company that creates a platform to help a network of more than 1,000 active venture capitalists, angel investors and lenders connect with qualified investment opportunities. Brock can be reached at brock@fundingunvierse.com.

See the original article HERE

We are thrilled to announce that FundingUniverse will lead a main stage session at GROWCO 2010, an Inc. event to be held in Orlando, Florida!

The GROWCO Conference mines the pages of Inc. to present lessons learned from the trenches. Speakers include George Foreman, Author, Knockout Entrepreneur; Tom Adams, CEO, Rosetta Stone; Norm Brodsky; Inc. Street Smarts columnist; & co-author of The Knack; Michael Gerber, Author, The Most Successful Small Business in the World: The Ten Principles; and FundingUniverse’s own Brock Blake and Alexander Lawrence!

The session being hosted by FundingUniverse is titled “How to Win Over a Crowd”

In a lively hour at GROWCO, you get a chance to pitch your business to your peers and a panel of expert judges, including Inc.’s own Norm Brodsky and celebrated author Michale Gerber. Think American Idol for the capital hungry. Moderated by FundingUniverse, a business services firm that connects companies with investors, this session could possibly give you a new perspective on your entire business plan.  Oh, and did we mention

This opportunity is limited to registered GROWCO attendees. To apply for this opportunity after completing your GROWCO Registration, complete the FundingUniverse application.

Moderator: Alexander Lawrence, partner and chief evangelist of FundingUniverse

Panel: Norm Brodsky, founder of CitiStorage, Inc. Street Smarts columnist, and co-author of The Knack; Andy Craig, co-owner of Elevator Speech; Michael Gerber, author of the E-Myth series and The Most Successful Business in the World; and other special guests.

We hope to see you there!

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

At FundingUniverse we pride ourselves on doing everything we can to help entrepreneurs in any way that we can. This is a rather broad statement, but it’s true. We work with thousands of businesses a month, all around the USA and sometimes beyond, to help them with the variety of needs their ideas and businesses face on the way to financing.

Equity and debt are the two ways to get outside financing, and I dare say we offer more options, and a higher success rate, then any other option available to entrepreneurs today. So far this year, we have helped our entrepreneurs received over $30MM in financing, and we expect that number to grow strongly between now and year-end. In 2010, this number will increase dramatically as we open physical offices in Seattle, Portland, San Diego, Sacramento, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Boise, Phoenix, Austin, Boulder/Denver, Chicago, Boston, Miami and probably a few more yet to come. The model we have for helping entrepreneurs find the right path to the financing they need is one we spend countless years/hours on. Our team is here everyday thinking of ways to help entrepreneurs be more successful.

One of the great things (and we would humbly submit that there are many) of what we do in regards to our relationships with entrepreneurs is the hosting of events designed to help them get the funding they seek. CrowdPitch is a ‘Shark Tank / American Idol’ style pitch featuring 5 great companies in front of a live audience and a live panel giving real time feedback. The winner of the event (announced at the event) can go home with as much as $5K in prizes. Audience members ask questions, write down feedback, and vote along side the panelists by placing FundingUniverse money in the hands of the presenting companies at the end of all presentations. The winner is the one with the most investment dollars.

Our panel of experts provides real time feedback as well – and in combination with their additional written feedback and the summarized written feedback gathered from our audience, we provide a detailed summary of all thoughts to our 5 companies within 48 hours of the event. Our presenting companies get tremendous value from the panel, the audience and the practice. Some would say the experience has been “invaluable”. In fact, we will agree.

Along those lines, and in partnership with our friends at TechStars David Cohen and Brad Feld, the fee for the 5 companies selected to be at CrowdPitch will now be $0. That’s right, zero. Nothing. Nada.

We want to help lead the charge that Brad and David have started and really live up to our mission of helping entrepreneurs. This is one way we know that we can. We will still charge a fair fee for other services that many find valuable (business plan writing, coaching, financing help, etc.), but we will not charge our entrepreneurs to present at CrowdPitch. We hope this is something that will bring us even more talented entrepreneurs to help and evaluate.

Spread the word, CrowdPitch is coming to a city near you! Let us help you and your business get the funding you need – equity or debt. If you aren’t selected to pitch, come watch. It’s free as well! And did we mention free food and drinks too? It’s become a free-for-all it appears. Again, we look forward to seeing all of you at our upcoming events. In the meantime, we again thank Brad and Dave for leading the charge here and we hope others will follow.

Social networks are definitely not just for individuals. You can connect to our company through a variety of mediums to get networking opportunities, fundraising advice and the inside scoop on the going-ons at FundingUniverse.com.

You may have already noticed the social network icons on the top, right-hand side of our blog. If you’re a member of Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, we’d love to connect! Access is open to all. Follow the icons on the top-right or keep reading for more info.

Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/FundingUniversecom/36103342879?ref=ts

Network with other entrepreneurs on Facebook and stay tuned for upcoming event notices. FundingUniverse regularly holds online pitching events and in-person events you don’t want to miss out on.

LinkedIn
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=140071

Discuss business ideas, fundraising methodology and connect with FundingUniverse staff and potential partners.

Twitter
http://twitter.com/fundingtips

The FundingUniverse team delivers baked-fresh-daily fundraising advice over the Twitter network in bite-sized portions of 140 characters or less.

Name: Matt Pernichele

Title: Venture Consultant

Matt Pernichele brings a wealth of personal entrepreneurial experience to the FundingUniverse consulting department. He helps clients prepare for and approach investors for capital and works to refine many different aspects of their businesses in the very important foundational stages (pre-funding)

Matt is our longest-employed consultant and is usually talked about in glowing terms by the entrepreneurs he consults with.

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What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made in business? I was given a “management” position and equity share equal to that of the founders in a software startup. I agreed because I really liked the product and the market. With each principal having an equal share and no other arrangements, no one was in charge and no one was accountable. Ever. I recognized this from day one but stuck with it for two years while the company spun its wheels in the hope that I could get my partners to impose some organization on the business or that it would, magically, succeed without it. Needless to say, it did not.

What’s the best business advice you’ve ever received? After the above example, I was told by a friend about the idea of “fast fail” that is, when you enter an endeavor make sure you will be able to tell pretty quickly if it will be a failure or a success so you don’t waste too much time on it.

Where did you work before FundingUniverse? Most recently I was doing some accounting work for Consonus.

What drew you to FundingUniverse? I found the idea of working with startup entrepreneurs exciting. It’s a great job where I learn useful new things every day and meet a lot of committed, creative people.

How will you help FundingUniverse grow? Hopefully by getting people in a position where their plans can get funded and by directing investors to real, quality deals I will help FundingUniverse become the place where good deals can get good exposure.

What’s your favorite things about FundingUniverse? Learning about my clients businesses.

What do you do when you’re not working?
Hike and take care of my high maintenance children.

How has FundingUniverse helped you grow professionally? Working at FundingUniverse has exposed me to a lot of different business models and personalities that I would not have otherwise encountered. I have also learned a great deal about my clients industries; from aircraft manufacture to SaaS to men’s hair care products.

The tables could barely hold the number of investors that attended our Speed Pitch event on November 4th in Salt Lake City. Traditionally we have 10 tables with about 2-3 investors per table, but at this event we had at least four per table and some had more than that.  We truely had investors spilling into the aisles!

The flood of investors attending was telling for two reasons.  1.  We are in a downturn economy which typically means that investors are more tight fisted with their resources.  To have so many of them at our event was intriguing and 2.  The strength of investor turnout is a tribute to FundingUniverse and their ability to bring quality and certified companies to the table.  It takes a Hurclean effort to put these events together but the results for both the Investor and the Entreprenuer are immeasurable.

I am excited to report that EVERY company that pitched was offered invitations for follow up meetings, were given referrals to other investors or in most cases were given both.  Shortly after the event, we asked all entreprenuers to share some of their thoughts on the event.  Here are just a few of the we received.

Fantastic!  Great experience, great opportunity.
- Jason Izatt, CEO, Izatt International

Do what you can to get into this event.
- Shane Willard, CampusBook

Pony up the [dough] and attend.
- Alan Martin, CEO, CampusBook

It really helps to hone the pitch.
- C. Lunceford, Miralinx

Must do. If not for the money then for the experience
- Cary Snowden, CEO, ListPipe

Our next speed pitching event will be on December 12th and we are excited to end this incredible year on a high note.  If you are interested in learning more about how your company can present at one of our events or if you are an investor looking for qualified, certified deals contact one of our representatives at 877-638-3616 option 1 to learn how you can attend our next event.

Joel Nielsen is a Venture Consultant at FundingUniverse.  He can be reached at jnielsen@fundinguniverse.com