Launched marketplace for diving experiences, still haven't secured a seed round and running out of money. What should we do?
My wife and I have been working full time on this for 6 months and spent most of our accessible savings on the startup. We still don't have more than a handful of bookings and we started raising money a bit late (only 1 month ago). Should we get a job and continue looking for funding? Should we shut down? Other options?
Investors fund businesses that show promise and a handful of bookings wouldn't cut the deal. How are you going about marketing and branding it?
If you have a strong website that offers flawless experience, then, the right marketing strategy can be the game changer to attract the target audience as well as investors. If you can share what you have been doing in the past 6 months, I can list out the ones you are missing out on.
To get out the tight spot, I would recommend that one of you should get a job and the other one continues working on the startup. If you truly believe in the idea and there is no market leader, then, don't shut down.
Look for other sources of raising money. Good luck!
First, congratulations on your startup venture! It's always a challenge just to get yourself out there and start.
In your question, you mentioned that you started a marketplace for diving experiences. The first thing that comes to mind:
How many people are actively searching for diving experiences?
How much revenue does each diver generate per experience?
How many of these experiences can you execute in one day multuplied by how many divers?
I asked questions because the number one thing you want to think about when you're starting your business is how much revenue can it actually and potentially generate.
That number of revenue is what's going to motivate people like partners, investors and even your other customers to take part in your venture.
Regarding your questions on what you should do next, I have a couple of suggestions that you may not be pretty....But given your current situation and running out of funding, might be more realistic and you could have a turn around really quickly, albeit at a smaller scale.
Happy to talk more!
Erika
When an entrepreneur has a new business vision, they usually need to raise money for development, marketing, and talent management. Unless the start-up founders are high rollers with years of experience, they will look to venture capital and angel investors who will guide them through the first round of funding, known as the seed stage. In addition, there are usually a few individual angel investors who invest more than just financially in the company. Angel investors usually get to know the founders and have an interest in the business that transcends the necessary belief in a high return on investment.
Some distinguished angel investors include serial entrepreneurs and former CEOs who have a track record of bringing businesses public. The seed stage «plants the seed» for a start-up to thrive, in order to launch business operations and show revenue data for the next rounds of funding. Business leaders need to have specified projections and hard numbers ready on demand for venture capitalists before diving head-first into the seed capital round. A compelling business plan will include a strength, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis.
Venture capitalists will need to know exactly how much funding a business will need and specific plans for allocating investment resources. Business founders should put together a list of supporters prior to meeting with venture capitalists. Founders should identify references and make sure that they are on board, understand the business idea, and know what to say when questioned by investors.
Besides if you do have any questions give me a call: https://clarity.fm/joy-brotonath
