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MenuLooking for guidance for where I can find investors for my app?
Hi I'm looking for investors in mobile apps. We are starting to see positive ARPU of about $0.20 which is good. I was wondering if anyone can help me to find investors?
Answers
As Ken suggested, there is a wide breadth of mobile offerings and although there are some great "mobile only" funds, each investor / fund has their own thesis that makes them interested in some but disinterested in others.
Also, if your revenue generating, you should seriously consider bootstrapping further. Revenue is treated very strangely in early-stage investing and *might* work against you.
AngelList is a great way to research investors but not effective in actually connecting with them.
Find investors who you are confident will be passionate about what you're doing based on prior job experience or what you know they are investing in.
Happy to talk in a call to help explain this further if you need more clarity.
First you need to do your research and think what is your strategy to approach them. You can find a trick I wrote here:
https://medium.com/@JDcarlu/1-trick-to-get-a-vc-bd36f9dbff5b
Apart from this, you could use Mattermark intelligence tool to find investors that have funded similar companies. (Its free for 30 days) Hope this helped :)
What kind of app is it and how are you measuring ARPU? Typically ARPU is average revenue per user per month. Depending on the type of app or game you are, there is a different standard. For example, casual mobile games tend to have $1-$2 ARPU while mid-core games like Clash of Clans has $8 ARPU.
Finding investors for your mobile app involves several steps. Here are some strategies and resources to help you connect with potential investors:
### 1. Leverage Your Network
- **Friends and Family**: Start with people you know who might be interested in investing.
- **Professional Network**: Reach out to contacts in your industry. LinkedIn can be a valuable tool for this.
- **Advisory Boards**: If you have an advisory board, ask them for introductions to potential investors.
### 2. Angel Investors and Venture Capitalists
- **AngelList**: A platform where startups can connect with angel investors and venture capitalists.
- **Crunchbase**: A database of investors and investment firms. You can search for those who have invested in similar apps.
- **VC Firms**: Look for venture capital firms that specialize in mobile apps and early-stage investments. Some well-known firms include Sequoia Capital, Andreessen Horowitz, and Accel Partners.
### 3. Online Platforms
- **Fundraising Platforms**: Consider platforms like SeedInvest, Crowdcube, and Wefunder, which allow startups to raise funds from a large pool of investors.
- **Product Hunt**: Launch your app on Product Hunt to gain visibility and attract investors who follow the platform for new and innovative products.
### 4. Startup Incubators and Accelerators
- **Y Combinator**: A well-known startup accelerator that provides funding, mentorship, and networking opportunities.
- **Techstars**: Offers accelerator programs that provide funding, mentorship, and access to a network of investors.
### 5. Pitch Competitions and Conferences
- **Startup Competitions**: Participate in pitch competitions like TechCrunch Disrupt, Slush, and Web Summit. Winning or even participating can attract investor attention.
- **Industry Conferences**: Attend conferences related to mobile apps and technology to network with potential investors.
### 6. Prepare Your Pitch
- **Pitch Deck**: Create a compelling pitch deck that highlights your app's value proposition, market potential, financials (including your ARPU), and growth strategy.
- **Business Plan**: Have a detailed business plan ready to share with investors.
### 7. Angel Investor Networks
- **Angel Capital Association**: A collective of angel investors who might be interested in investing in your app.
- **Local Angel Groups**: Many cities have local angel investor groups that you can present to.
### Additional Tips
- **Cold Outreach**: Don’t be afraid to reach out to investors via email or LinkedIn. Make sure to personalize your message and highlight why your app is a good investment.
- **Follow-Up**: Be persistent and follow up with potential investors who show interest.
By leveraging these resources and strategies, you can increase your chances of finding the right investors for your mobile app.
Related Questions
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How do you get exposure on AngelList to attract angel investors?
What of the following things does your startup have? > Founders who have graduated from prestigious universities / previously exited companies to known acquirers / worked for a known companies (with known being a brand-name company such as Google, Amazon, Facebook etc) > Three or more months of statistically meaningful growth (e.g. for easy sake, double digit growth of a number in the thousands) > At least one investor who is active on AngelList (defined in the ideal state by at least one investment in a company who raised their round through AngelList and ideally whose social graph is connected to "high signal" members of the AngelList network) If you have none of these things, then at least, have advisors and referrers who have a strong AngelList profile. And another option is to seek out the AngelList scouts and pitch them directly. They are more open to this than anyone else and I've seen companies with very little traction and very little social proof get featured because a scout believes in the founder and/or the story. Without any or most of the above, it will be difficult to stand out or build relationships via AngelList, in my opinion. I assume now AngelList operates on a concept similar to the LinkedIn "degrees of connection" model, whereby an entrepreneur can now send unsolicited messages to investors so long as there is a degree of connection between the investor and the company. I get a few unsolicited emails a week from companies whose advisers or investors aren't people I follow but that because of the way they determine "connection strength", these unsolicited emails still gain my attention. I assume this is the case for all investors. So the more that you can build your list of advisers and referrers, the more connections you can solicit. That said, AngelList's inbound email system is almost entirely ineffective for "cold" emails to really high-profile investors. Happy to share with you what I think to be your best options for raising profile for your company.Tom WilliamsTW
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Which of the three platforms (AngelList, FundersClub, Gust) is the most effective alternative today when raising a seed round?
It depends on the size of your round but the honest truth is that none of them are effective by themselves. They can be helpful in constructing the total round, but would almost never be able to raise 100% of the round, assuming you're talking about a true seed round of at least $750k. If you feel you're ready to raise a seed round, there are a handful of seed stage funds that like to lead deals. I have just answered another Clarity question where I list them: https://clarity.fm/a/6503 There are then a number of great funds who will follow in smaller check sizes (average $250k-$500k) behind those lead orders. These services you mention are best to "fill" a round, when you're looking for extra money, but can't be relied upon to "form" a round. Hope this helps!Tom WilliamsTW
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As a startup, is it better to find a way to pay for services (i.e. design) or trade equity for it?
Before I get to your question, let me give you a tip: always aim settle questions of payment before the work happens. It is ten times easier to agree on a price beforehand, and having done that doesn't stop you from changing it by mutual agreement later. The problem with paying cash is pretty obvious: you don't have a lot of it. The problems with paying equity are subtler. The first one is that early-stage equity is extremely hard to value. A second is that equity transactions require a lot of paperwork. Third is that entrepreneurs tend to value their equity much higher than other people would; if not, they wouldn't be starting the company. And fourth, people like designers are rarely expert in valuing businesses or the customs of of startup equity valuation. In the past, I've both given and received equity compensation, and it's a lot more of a pain than I expected. In the future, what I think I'd try is convertible debt. That is, I'd talk with the designer and agree on a fair-market wage. E.g. 100 hours x $100/hr = $10k. The next time we take investment, the $10k turns into stock at whatever price we agree with our investors, plus a discount because he was in before the investors. Note, though, that this will increase your legal costs and your deal complexity, so I'd personally only do this for a pretty significant amount of work. And I'd only do it for somebody I trusted and respected enough to have them around for the life of my business.William PietriWP
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Launching a startup with no job and no savings. Should I get a job or find investors?
Wow, lots of questions here. Let me try to hit them in order: "Should I get a job or find investors?" IF you have access to enough investor capital (not debt and not your savings) and you can get to MVP and still maintain ownership of a sizable majority of the business then do it. IF that means debt financing then only use the debt lines the cost of which can be carried by returns generated by the use of funds. I would prefer to offer a convertible note to prospective investors that can be easily extended throughout both friends and family and seed rounds (up to $2M to $3M) to get to proof in the market. If you can get to revenue and earnings fast enough then you can avoid equity dilution all together. IF you cannot secure that find of funding AND you cannot produce enough revenue from your business to deliver sufficient earnings for you to live on, then by all means, you should find a way to make the money you need and not burn all your savings or mortgage your home If that means short term contract work that's great. Particularly if you can find log term work that is relevant to the business you're building. If that means taking a job then do that. IF you do that, then yes, be transparent with your employer and let them know you're working on your own business also. Hope this helps....Stephan LittleSL
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Is fundable.com a successful tool to help raise an equity seed round for a pre-launch startup?
We have used Fundable.com successfully for two rounds of financing both oversubscribed. Here is what I can tell you. Basic info: Fundable.com's platform connects accredited investors to startups seeking investment capital. Startups have a public facing profile that includes general information about the companies product, team, press accolade, etc. If you are raising funds claiming SEC Reg D 506(b) the public profile has no information about your securities offering. If an interested investor wants to view more information about your startup and or your offering, he/she would request access to your full profile. The investor must self accredit on the Fundable site before they are allowed to view your non-public profile. The startup is notified and you have the opportunity to conduct some due diligence on the investor (LinkedIn) and elect to invite them into your deal. Your private page includes the offering (terms). All communication from this point is done outside of the platform, meaning you have the investors email address ( a good thing to have). Fundable charges startups a flat monthly fee to post a profile on the site. In addition you can opt for additional services (help) with your campaign. For a flat fee, Fundable will assign resources to help build your profile, consult with you on your raise, and assist with PR or Marketing. This includes a blast to their investor base of over 40K if my memory serves me correctly. I am sure it is higher today. Our experience: For our first round on Fundable, we elected to use the premium service. Fundable did a great job in helping with our profile. We received 50+ views per day (quite often 100+) and on days we were included in their newsletter we received 200+ views. 10 - 20% of views requested access to our full profile. and 10-20% of those responded to my request for a call. Our close rate was very high. Both of our rounds were oversubscribed in less than 4 months taking averaging $50K per investor. These are high quality investors that have not created additional work (outside of normal investor updates). Many of our investors regularly share news and information about our industry. Several have re-invested in subsequent rounds. Disclaimer: Our startup is in the consumer hardware space which I believe tends to attract high net worth individuals. Obviously results may vary, thus I cannot speak to how well a SaaS play would do crowdfunding in general. Fundable.com's premium services offering may have changed since our campaign. I am not affiliated with Fundable.com. In fact we have been successful on other crowdfunding sites as well. In Closing: I am a proponent of crowdfunding in general. It is disrupting angel investing, providing investors with greater deal flow and exposing startups to an exponentially larger audience, increasing their chances to get in front of investors who understand and appreciate that company's solution and opportunity. Most importantly it is moving capital and driving innovation! Keep in mind, securities laws have changed and continue to change due to the Jobs act of 2012. Before you offer any securities to local investors or choose to try crowdfunding, you should consult with an attorney, and take the time to learn and understand what regulations apply to your circumstances.Utz BaldwinUB
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