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).

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.