Which is the best stage for a startup to get funding?

Keep in mind that investors invest for returns. Telling a prospective investor that you want his or her money to grow your business but don't plan on ever generating a liquidation event that pays him or her a dividend is not likely going to work; angel or not. You may be better served with debt financing where returns are generated in the form of interest payments not equity value growth. BUT, if equity financing is the plan, you're going to want to develop a strategic exit plan right from the start. That means identifying prospective buyers, strategic channels etc and characterizing the value drivers for each right up front. You'll find prospective buyers come in a number of forms; competitors, bigger versions of you, strategic partners, private equity, etc. Each will value your business in different amounts for for different reasons. Understanding this is vitally important for you to navigate to securing the right money, from the right sources, with the most favorable terms. Once you've qualified and quantified each of them, then determine what (specifically) you're going to need to do to align your business with those prospective buyers generating the highest returns. This will drive your business model and go to market strategy and define your 'use of funds' decisions. This in turn result in a better, more valuable business whether you exit or not. Do it this way and you'll have no trouble raising money from multiple sources. You can learn more about the advantage of starting with a Strategic Exit plan here: http://www.zerolimitsventures.com/cadredc Good luck. Steve

From my experience I would not advise you to go with Venture Capital when you're a start-up as in the end they will most likely end up screwing you. A much better source for funding would be angel investors or friends/family. The question of how much equity should I give away differs for every start-up. I remember with my first company I gave away 30% because I wanted to get it off the ground. This was the best decision I ever made. Don't over valuate your company as having 70% of something is big is a whole lot better than having 100% of something small. You have to decide your companies value based on Assets/I.P(Intellectual Property)/Projections. I assume you have some follow up questions and I would love to help you so if you need any help feel free to call me. Kind Regards, Giuliano

I love this! Congratulations on a smart approach to launching a startup. I got a chance to talk to DHH - founder of Basecamp and hacker. (read about it here: http://blog.unthink.me/what-i-learned-in-1-hour-with-basecamps-founder-david-heinemeier-hansson) One of his biggest pet peeves is the idea spreading like wildfire that entrepreneurs need to jump head on an idea and let the wind take hold. What he suggest and what is greatly showcased by you here is to hold a job and take your startup as the side business until it can sustain itself off sales alone. Don't give equity left and right because if it does take off the last thing you want is to build something you don't own. If you have been acquiring customers for your product before it's built - that means that it should be relatively easy (compared to most) to get sales once you launch. You are already doing the bulk of what needs to happen which is marketing - simply boost your focus on getting referrals and case studies off the initial sales, ask clients about their core reason for handing you their money and drive that message/reason home on everything you from website to branded material to PR articles, etc. If you end up hiring a marketing agency to help with the next steps, look for the added value of programmers in staff so that they can coordinate what's needed once things are rolling. Essentially consider the fact that you need to start marketing it and positioning the product with the right prospect clients, get it launched onto product hunt (i could add it for you) because the truth is that you have 3 months to create a marketing system that is helping you sale. Don't be too afraid of jumping in full time if you can afford at least a few months solvency for yourself and if you are having sales.

Im an investor and advisor. As many people as you ask, you will get different answers. The best and most successful way to raise capital is to start with people you know, aka friends and family. If friends and family are insufficient as they often are, then you need to find angels. If you dont know anyone, network. They arent hard to find. It might be a good idea to find a few prominent local people to serve as advisors and get their help in raising money. The worst part about raising money is that it almost always deflects from running the business. If you want to discuss this further, Im available.

Avoid buzzwords: - every founder thinks their idea is disruptive/revolutionary - every founder says their financial projections are conservative Instead: - explain your validation & customer traction - explain the assumptions underlying your projections Avoid: - focusing extensively on the product/technology rather than on the business - misunderstanding the purpose of financial projections; they exist in a pitch deck to: a) validate the founders understanding of running a business b) provide a sense of magnitude of the opportunity versus the amount of capital requested c) confirm the go-to-market strategy (nothing undermines a pitch faster than financial projections disconnected from the declared go-to-market approach) d) generally discredit you as someone who understands how to build a company; for instance we'll capture 10% of our market, 1% of China, etc. Top down financial projections get big laughs from investors after you leave the room. bonus) don't show 90% profit margins. Ever. Even if you'll actually have them. Ever. Instead: - avoid false precision by rounding all projections to nearest thousands ($000) - include # units / # subscribers / # customers above revenue line; this goes hand-in-hand with building a bottom up revenue model and implicitly reveals assumptions. Investors will determine if you are realistic, conservative, or out of your mind based largely on the customer acquisition numbers and your explanation of how they will be achieved. - highlight your assumptions & milestones on first customers, cash flow break even, and other customer acquisition and expense metrics that are relevant Avoid: - thinking about investor money as your money - approaching the pitch from your mindset (I need money); investors have to be skeptics, so understand their perspective. - bad investors; it's tempting to think that any money is good money. You can't get an investor to leave once they are in without Herculean efforts and costs (and if you're asking for money, you can't afford it). If you're not on the same page with an investor on how to run/grow the business, you'll regret every waking hour. Instead: - it's their money; tell them how you are going to utilize their money to make them more money - you're a founder, a true believer. Your mantra should be "de-risk, de-risk, de-risk". Perception of risk is the #1 reason an investor says no. Many are legitimate, but often enough it's simply a perception that could have been addressed. - beyond the pitch, make the conversation 2-way. Ask questions of the investor (you might learn awesome things or uncover problems) and talk to at least two other founders they invested in more than 6 months ago.