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MenuHow to make cash cow products in a shoestring budget with limited hours & part-time team while running high on passion? Tips finding seed investors?
I am working on 4 ideas with a team of 20 resources all on equity /part-time. We are making progress but we are sloth slow but building product. Any tips for finding angels investors at the pre-seed stage?
Answers
That's great what you've done so far!
I've raised over a million dollars specifically from angel investors.
Raising money is usually a full time job. In order to get angel investment you need to put together a good pitch deck, practice your pitch and be prepared for good questions.
Next you need to find angel investors. Usually the best way to meet angels is through introductions from other founders.
Finally when you meet with the angel investors you want to tell them about all the progress you've made so far and how their investment will accelerate your progress. You also need to explain to them how your company has a lot of prospects for either making money, getting acquired or eventually IPO.
It can be a very difficult process. If you need any help feel free to reach out.
1. Create a perfect investor pitch (deck) + killer executive summary
2. Practice the pitch until you do it perfectly.
3. Do your market research and validation of the service/product so that you have actual data and facts to show the angel investor.
I've successfully helped over 300 entrepreneurs and can help you with all the above. After scheduling a call, be sure to please send me some background information so that I can prepare before - thus giving you maximum value for your money during the call itself.
Good luck
Main recommendation is to focus on the top idea. For both your own benefit and for seeking investors. Investors will want an enormous amount of thought and effort used on accomplishing one goal/vision/product and not spread among multiple ideas(scatter shot approach).
While it can be fun to have multiple projects/products(I have done this before) it is normally the limiting factor to success. Velocity and early traction matter a lot as investors have come to view this as an early indication of future success. If resources are limited but passion high just focus all the resources where the passion is highest.
Once focused getting seed investors will be much easier and there are sites to do so like AngelList and Keiretsu Forum. I will add more to my startup resources post here: https://www.quora.com/q/ovitxbmdfvzrujwk/Startup-Resources
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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.WP
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