Where can I start looking for funding for my business?

Josh, I am a contract and negotiation expert. I have over 8 years of small business advising and consulting experience. A more detailed bio is easily available on all social media and this site. Let me be a lawyer and give this disclaimer *This is not legal advice, and this information does establish an attorney/client relationship. This is merely for educational purposes* Here are some short answers to get you started, hopefully in the right direction. 1. If it is an option, always ask for a % of the gross. There is a term that I use, "companies WILL net you to death!" Legally, companies have a wide range of what can be written off as an expense, thus shrinking the net profit, thus affecting your rate. If you can't get a % of gross, make sure you have a detailed list of expenses that are routinely taken out every month, and negotiate from there. Why? In some (if not most) businesses there are "necessary" (internet and rent) and "unnecessary" (payment on Lexus for CEO) expenses. Your goal is to eliminate all the unnecessary expenses from the raw number that you will be taking your percentage from. 2. There are many template contracts available. I think entrepreneur is trustworthy (and free). Here is the link http://goo.gl/fz36zg 3. I think it would be smart to ask for some type of accounting sheet. Thus, how would you know if they are telling you the truth about profits and/or net. An additional question to ask yourself, is what are the benefits to taking a percentage vs. a flat fee? I'm assuming the contract is going to be based on performance, thus another option can be a base fee, with bonuses after you hit certain numbers. Just something to think about. I hope this helps! Good luck! If you need more advice, schedule a call!

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.

My company just went through this. There are several ways you can approach the problem: 1. Find a mentor. Who's the biggest kahuna in your space? Reach out to him or to her. Don't ask for money or intros to VCs. Just pose a good question and start a conversation. Experts love to be heard (how else does Clarity work? :). Use that. If you're interesting and you have a great product, they'll approach you about finding. 2. Attend (and win) some pitch competitions like TC Disrupt. This is a toughie, but if you can cut it there, you can cut it anywhere. Note that good pitches do not necessarily convert to good product (hello, "Yo."). Even if you don't win, some VCs will see you and may approach. 3. Get into an incubator. Y combinator, hub:raum, Wearable World, and do on are all designed to teach you what you need to know to make your next round a success. Find one in the US and get going. Yes, it will cost you a little equity, but it may be worth it in networking and preparation for pitching the US VC market. 3. Pitch somewhere else. Why focus on the US? The VC market there is going to be bone dry in 2016. If you can secure money from anywhere (and you need it) I'd suggest you go and take it now. If you need to raise a round in Q2 2016, good luck to you, because you have a tough row to hoe. 4. PR. If you do an excellent job with PR--especially PR aimed at securing a new investor--you can make good headway in the US. But that will run you ~50k USD to raise 3+ MM USD if you're lucky. Performance can vary wildly. 5. Networking. Hit up the speaking and trade show circuit for your industry and shake enough hands, you'll eventually find a VC. But it's hard going and also super expensive if you're not a US company to travel that much to the US. Hope one or more of these helped. Let me know if you have any follow up questions about, for example, pitching. Which is a whole 'nother ball game. 😊

This is a very complex question. I have personally gone through funding, I've used angellist and other platforms for this purpose. The reason for needing funds is not a concern for you at this time. Your concern is approach. Focus on that. Check out my blog Http://Unthinkeverything.blogspot.com I have some books listed there that I recommend, I particularly did benefit a lot from the Presentations one that is there on the right in my blog. Your goal is to craft an image that engages with a certain type of Persona, similar to what you should do when crafting a marketing strategy to sell your product. Then make that pitch, angel profile, landing page, pitch deck... All speak to that persona only. All you have to do is convince one person, but if you trysts focus on pleasing everyone you'll end up with nobody. That's often true because investors go for the people running the business not the MVP or idea alone. Even a great idea if not presented correctly will lose opportunity. To give you more detailed insight and guidance give me a call. This is not easy but it is a lot of fun!

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.