Question
I'm the founder of a social network startup. My family and friends gave me seed money enough to build the product, and though its far from complete, I think the app is like 60% done. The problem is that I live in Ghana, where VC is virtually non-existent. My programmers are in Serbia. It's however obvious that we need external financing to pull our app through.
My original plan was to finish the app, bootstrap and get some users, and then reach out for funding. I've formed some good connections on LInkedIn, but I'm wondering if it's even possible to convince someone over the internet to invest in your startup and I don't even know how to do that.
Luckily one of my programers is traveling to San Francisco in a month and he wants to help find an investor. The app would be like 90% at that time. Is it possible to get an investor when your app is not completely done? How do we even go about this process of finding investors? I've already read some investment blogs, and followed Paul Graham.
I need some real guidance here, possibly someone who will advice me through this process, from now till closing the deal.
Answer
There are some angel investors that may invest in your business, depending on how much traction you have but most investors want to see a proof of concept and some traction. The best advice I can give you is try to get the app done and continue to have conversations with investors outside of your family and friends. All you need is to find someone who believes in your vision. Even if you don't find an investor who is willing to take the risk, the worst case scenario us you build some good relationships that can be leverage later and you will get some valuable feedback on your product.
Good luck.
