Category: Blog

Here is a list of questions that angels and VC’s will ask startups when deciding whether to invest or not.  If you have answers to these questions up your sleeve, you should be pretty well prepared.

The Idea:

• What does your business do?
• What problem does it solve?

Traction:

A study from Searchmetrics has revealed just how important social media signals are to a strong SEO ranking, with well-positioned URLs almost always having a high number of Likes, shares, tweets and +1s.

This infographic from Wishpond collects data from a Social Media Examiner study into one, easy-to-read visual, looking at the top benefits achieved by social media by more than 3,000 marketers in 2013.

Highlights include:

A hypothetical startup will get about $15,000 from family and friends, about $200,000 from an angel investor three months later, and about $2 Million from a VC another six months later. If all goes well. See how funding works in this infographic:

Here are 20 tips to bootstrap your start-up and drive your business forward without spending a lot of money:

1. Do customer surveys to find out about their level of interest in your product/service, how they would use it, what features they might like to see and how much they would consider paying for it.
2. Raise money from family and friends.  Family and friends can be a great source for bootstrap financing. They have a vested interest in your personal success, and are more likely to take a chance on you than a bank or angel investor.
3. Approach industry experts to get feedback and endorsements. Do they like your product?  Would they use it?  Is it better than the existing competitors?
4. Build yourself a website.  There are loads of free and easy-to-use website builders like https://www.wix.com/ or https://www.moonfruit.com/.
5. Offer people sweat equity in return for helping get the business off the ground.
6. Set up a “coming soon” landing page and start collecting email addresses from people who’d be interested in joining your site when it launches.
7. Pull in favors from friends or colleagues who may be able to help.  Do you know a graphic designer who could do a mockup of your website?  Do you know someone who has a contact at the retailer you’re desperately trying to get into?  Using your contacts could be key in driving the business forward.
8. Start building the right team as this is one of the main factors that investors will take into consideration when deciding whether to back you. Even if you can’t start paying them yet, you can have them on standby to join when you manage to raise some proper funding.
9. Record a demo video of your product or service. This is a really effective way to showcase your business to customers and investors. You could either record one yourself or use a service like https://www.dunktank.co/ or https://explainify.com/.
10. Hire interns and students. This is is a win/win for everyone. You get support at little to no cost. The intern/student gains valuable experience working at a startup where they’ll have more influence than they would at a larger company.
11. Contact retailers to try to get some letters of intent or even pre-orders. This is a great way to prove there is interest in your product.
12. Do some research to find out what sort of branding you’re going to use. This might just involve finding some other companies or websites you like the look of, so investors get an idea of what image you’re going for. Or you could use a site like Crowdspring (https://www.crowdspring.com/) to get a logo designed.
13. Set up accounts and groups on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest or any other social media sites you think your target audience use.  This is a great way to start engaging with potential customers and industry influencers.
14. Begin building partnerships that will allow you to grow your business faster through joint ventures, cross-promotion, referrals, content marketing, etc.
15. Go to networking events to meet as many people as possible that are involved in your industry. This is a great way to meet potential clients, retailers, distributors, marketers, etc.
16. Outsource jobs and use freelancers to get work done without having to take on employees.
17. Start tracking stats as soon as possible. The sooner you establish your KPI’s (key performance indicators), the sooner you will be able to calculate your growth rate and determine which factors (like a new marketing strategy or website adjustment) have a positive impact on those KPIs.
18. Develop your marketing strategy (and maybe even test it to determine your cost per acquisition and which marketing channels are the most effective).
19. Assemble a team of expert advisors that you can approach for critical input and advice when you need it.  It’s important to remember: You don’t have to do it alone!
20. Don’t get an office – Google and Microsoft started in garages, so there’s no shame in it.

Clever bootstrapping is proof that you have the most important elements of company building: passion, dedication, resourcefulness, focus and vision, which will make you and your company much more attractive to angel investors and venture capitalists. So make sure you spend wisely! Be sure also to hire reputable payment processing companies for your business.

What have I forgotten?  Let me know your top bootstrapping tips and strategies. read more

According to a recent report from Dow Jones VentureSource, German seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) is the most active investor in European companies – with 16 completed deals in the first quarter of 2013.  Danish VC firm SEED Capital with 12 completed deals in the same period.

The UK retained its position as the favoured destination for equity financing in Europe with a 34% share of all investment into European VC-backed companies.

While European venture capital declined in the first three months of the year – dipping 13 per cent in the number of funds and five per cent in amount raised from the previous quarter – VC investment into European companies experienced a slight increase. read more

Today it’s not enough for small businesses to solely use social media for their immediate marketing needs.  They need to sew it through the fabric of their entire business strategies – from customer service to collecting and prioritizing ideas – in order to derive the most value.

This infographic from Get Satisfaction shows how small businesses can go beyond just marketing by using well-set social media channels to respond immediately, 24/7, to customer concerns while projecting a more personal approach to customer service. read more

Angel Investment Network were delighted to be involved as both judges and mentors at the first ever Imperial Startup Weekend, which saw 65 budding Entrepreneurs assemble in the basement of Skempton Building, Imperial College. A total of 10 teams worked on new business ideas for 54 hours in a frenzy of customer validation, business model planning, coding and design.

Here is some info from Stuart Brameld, Event Director about the companies and teams at the event:

1. Giglist (Winners)

Team Members: Tomasz Nguyen, Phil Thomas, Sahil Chugani read more

Dubbed as the ‘Asian Century’, the economic growth of Asia is seeing no signs of distress. China and India are not the only stars of this sparkling economic skyscape but smaller economies are emerging as the rising starlets. The economic might of Asia is growing in mammoth proportion; it is both a destination and a source of investments. Hence, you can also Interim Home Healthcare Franchise  to promote economic growth. The upward trajectory of Asian economy is unperturbed by the turbulence in the west and this is evident from the increased FDI inflows into the Asian economies. Closer scrutiny of the FDI inflows reveals that China is loosing steam and ASEAN is closing in on the race for FDI. South East Asia’s share of the global FDI inflow has risen to 7.6% almost close to the 8.1% share of China, the largest FDI recipient globally. read more

This infographic provides information for online sales and marketing tactics. It shows the different buttons on an internet shopping site and shows which messages and buttons produce more sales and which negatively effect sales. It shows the different tactics such as wording and button colour.

 that online sales sites use in order to produce the most sales on their sites.

Jeff Clavier walks through his thinking when a startup pitches him for funding.

From Oriental dipping sauces to a car parking space lettings agency, from a sausage manufacturing company to ice cream for dogs – the most recent series (can you believe it was the tenth?) of Dragons’ Den has continued to show that where there’s tat, there’s brass.

Or so the Dragons – Hilary Devey, Duncan Bannatyne. Deborah Meaden, Theo Paphitis and Peter Jones – hope, anyway.

Freshly updated to reflect all of the investments made right up to the wire of last night’s final episode, our lovely infographic has all the DD stats you could ever hope for. read more

This is a great infographic from the guys at Startup Weekend, illustrating the locations of the leading accelerator and incubator programs from around the world in 2012!

SMEs in the UK, US, Germany, France, Spain and the Netherlands were, overall, confident of a successful year ahead for their businesses. The infographic revealed that 48% of SMEs felt confident, as opposed to 27% who were inclined to be more pessimistic.

High percentages – 75% – were hopeful about their businesses not making any redundancies in the forthcoming year. There was a similar positive feeling about recruitment also.

Around a third of SMEs admitted to losing sleep because of worrying about financial issues. But, a similar percentage saw the difficult financial times as a reason to work harder and to become more efficient – and so consequently enable a better chance of future success. read more

So you want to write a business plan, but you’re having a hard time understanding the components of a proper plan? Here is a simple to understand infographic.

Click on the infographic to view the enlarged version.

What are your top business plan tips?

This infographic shows how to best leverage platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest, as well as blogs and video.

Source: https://www.thewholebraingroup.com/sensible-social-media-checklist-v20-infographic/

Social media has rapidly integrated itself into our everyday lives, both personal and professional, and it’s perhaps had no greater impact than on the world of marketing, with consumers and brands seeing enormous benefits and changes.

But how does social media compare to traditional marketing? What are the pros and cons of each?

The advantages of social media marketing are numerous.

1. It’s cheaper. A lot cheaper. You can reach 1,000 people for a fraction of the cost using social media than you can through television, billboards or even email
2. Social media is the only marketing platform that allows you to engage and interact with your consumers – it’s a two-way relationship, which can be hugely lucrative for brands
3. The results are measurable, and marketers can take immediate action to spot trends and re-align campaigns

It’s not all gravy, though. Social media campaigns can be time consuming and the impact can disseminate very quickly, whereas traditional marketing campaigns, certainly in television, can produce short term results that have greater tangibility. read more

1. Aaron Patzer – Hailing from San Fransisco Aaron has invested in such ventures as BizeeBee, Topicmarks, Capire Micro Motors and HealthTap.  
2. Adeo Ressi – As the founder of the VC-rating site “The Funded” Ressi is a powerhouse in the business world.
3. Andrea Zurek – Andrea has over 16 years of experience in sales and sales management. She co-founded the XG Ventures.
4. Andy Bechtolsheim  – The cofounder of Sun Microsystems this man is at the top of the angel investing world.  It seems everything he touches turns to gold.
5. Aydin Senkut – This angel investor doesn’t seem to know how to slow down but it pays off. He has invested in multiple startups to include Azumio, Baby.com.br, Clearslide, Chloe & Isabel, Imageshack, Justin.tv, and many more.
6. Babak Nivi – As the founder of Venture Hacks this MIT graduate is on top of his game when it comes to investing in successful startups.
7. Ben Ling – As a Product Manager Director of Search Products for Google Ling invests in 6-10 startups a year at roughly $25-100K.
8. Bill Joy – One of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems, Bill is seen as a powerhouse in the investing world. He is currently a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
9. Brett Bullington – Brett Bullington is an advisor at Outfit7 Ltd as well as a board member for Digg and Carolina for Kibera.
10. Brian Pokorny – Brian is an angel investor in Twitter, Square, and Tweetdeck to name a few.
11. Caterina Fake – The co-founder of Flickr and Hunch, Caterina is also the chairman of the board at for the popular online Etsy. She loves to focus on social software when investing.
12. Chris Dixon – Chris is the co-founder of Founder Collective as well as the CEO of Hunch. His investment portfolio includes Skype, TrialPay, DocVerse and many more.
13. Chris Sacca – Chris is a force to be reckoned with in the investing world.  His investments have included Twitter, Bit.ly, Formspring and more.
14. Dave Duffield –As the co-founder and former chairman of PeopleSoft he has invested in startups that have included HireRight and Guru.com.
15. Dave McClure – Dave’s investments have included Mint, SlideShare, and Twilio to name a few.
16. Dave Morin – Dave was one of the co-inventors of Facebook Platform and Facebook Connect. He was also named #74 on the Silicon Valley 100 by Business Insider.
17. David Lee – David is the co-founder of XG Ventures.  Some of his investments have included Posterous, Twitter, Facebook and many more.
18. Eric Shmidt – Scmidt is an executive chairman of Google and he has invested in startups to include Citizen Effect, PublishOne, and Sendmail.
19. Esther Dyson – Esther likes to focus on technology related investments and has invested in Space Adventures/Zero G, Coastal Aviation Software and Airship Ventures.
20. Jason Calacanis – Jason is the CEO and Founder of Mahalo, Inc., and has invested in startups like JIBE.
21. Jawed Karim – Karim is the co-founder of YouTube. In addition he was one of the first engineers at PayPal.
22. Jeremy Stoppelman – Jeremy is the co-founder and CEO of Yelp and was formerly the VP of engineering at PayPal.
23. Joe Kraus – A partner at Google Ventures, he co-founded Excite.com and JotSpot and invested in LinkedIn.
24. Josh Kopelman – The Managing Director of First Round Capital as well as the director of the board at Swipely and a few other companies.
25. Keith Rabois – COO at Square as well as on the board of directors of Yelp, Xoom and other companies. Invested early on in YouTube and LinkedIn.
26. Kevin Hartz – The co-founder of Eventbrite, Xoom Corporation and ConnectGroup. He also invested in PayPal, Geni.com, Friendster, Flixster.com, Trulia, Pinterest and Airbnb.
27. Kevin Rose – Co-Founder and CEO of Milk as well as the founder of Digg.
28. Larry Braitman – A founding investor in Flixster.
29. Lauren Flanagan – Co-founder of the Phenomenelle Angels Fund I, LP.
30. Manu Kumar – Founder of K9 Ventures as well as the founder of SneakerLabs, Inc.
31. Marc Andreesen – Co-founder and general partner of Andreessen Horowitz as well as co-founder and chairman of Ning. He has invested in Digg and Twitter.
32. Marc Benioff – Chairman & CEO of salesforce.com.
33. Mark Sugarman – Managing partner at MHS Capital and he has invested in Simply Measured, Venturebeat, and Pulpo Media to name a few.
34. Martin Varsavsky – Founded two telecommunications companies Viatel and Jazztel.
35. Max Levchin – Founder and CEO of Slide he also serves as chairman Yelp. He was also co-founder and CTO of PayPal.
36. Michael Dearing – Founder of Harrison Metal and has held leadership positions at Brain & Company, the Walt Disney Company, and Industrial Shoe Warehouse.
37. Mike Maples Jr. – A managing partner at Floodgaet, Maples was named as one of “8 Rising VC Stars” by Fortune Magazine.
38. Mitch Kapor – The founder of Lotus Development Corp as well as designer of Lotus 1-2-3.
39. Naval Ravikant – Founder of AngelList and co-founder of Venture Hacks. He has invested in Twitter, FourSquare, DocVerse and more.
40. Paul Buchheit – Creator and lead developer of Gmail and co-founder of FriendFeed.
41. Paul Graham – A partner at Y Combinator. He has invested in Infinity Box, WebMynd, and AppJet.
42. Paul Martino – CEO and co-founder of Aggregate Knowledge. Paul has invested in Zynga, PayNearMe, and TubeMogul.
43. Peter Fenton – A general partner at Benchmark Capital. He has invested in SpringSource, Terracotta, Yelp, and DotCloud and many others.
44. Peter Thiel – President of Clarium Capital.  He has made investments in Facebook Slide, LinkedIn, Friendster, Geni.com, Yelp and many more.
45. Ram Shriram – Founder and managing director at Sherpalo Ventures ; founding board member of Google and 247customer.com.
46. Reid Hoffman – Partner at Greylock and Co-Founder of LinkedIn. He has invested in Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Ning, Zynga and others.
47. Rick Thompson – Co-founder and chairman of Playdom. His investments include Udemy, Trooval, SocialShield, Tykoon and more.
48. Rob Hayes – Managing partner at First Round Capital. He has led investments in companies such as  Mint.com, HomeRun, Uber, TaskRabbit, AppFog, Get Satisfaction, and DNAnexus.
49. Ron Conway –  Founder and Managing Partner of the Angel Investors LP funds. Early investments included Google, PayPal, Digg, Pinterest, and many others.
50. Russ Fradin – CEO & co-founder at Dynamic Signal. Invested in Udemy, Humanoid, Colingo, Playdom and more. read more