Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
OP, I have a very hard time taking you serious. You want money before even starting.
Let's say you start a business, and 40 years from now after lots of hard work you have become a millionaire. Then someone approaches you and says "I have a great idea. Give me money and I will start a business".Would you give it to him/her?
Probably not, but it is exactly what you are doing.
You are asking us how much money you need. Are you kidding me? You have told us absolutely nothing about the business, we do not have any figures, projections, nothing, we have absolutely nothing, but you still expect us to tell you how much money you need?
If you want to secure funding, stop with trying to find it. Start your business, drum up customers, paying customers. Make sure you can prove that your business works. And THEN start looking for funding. Right now, you have nothing. Well not quite, you have a few posts on this forum. Nobody will give you any money based on that.
Investors and lenders are extremely wary of people like you. They want people to fuly commit themselves, to possibly lose it all, and they want to see a working business.
Short answer I likely would give them money. Helping out people like myself is one of the things I would like to do if I am su setup.
However, I'm not here asking anyone for money. I am here simply trying to gauge what amount one might expect such individuals to be willing to invest. Or to look at it another way, I'd like to know if the amount I needed would simply be so high as to scare away most investors.
I have almost an eighth of the funding I would need for three years operations. The remainder would be less than $1000000 to build the necessary infrastructure and for three years operation, and that is worst case scenario assuming I spend three years spinning my wheels without generating any revenue. I would be willing to put up all I have if I found someone who would put up the other 7/8ths. If I found someone who'd fund a year I'd work that year without pay. I have seven years experience and the highest credentials available in my field.
I am strongly considering starting out on my own, but at the same time I am going be looking for this funding. As I said before I'd much rather give up a large portion of ownership and get to try to build something new than grind out the time doing exactly what I already do. If things go as rosy as your projections of new customers just falling at my feet, I'd likely have a steady source of funding within a few months of starting. I have thought about this possibility, but I tend to take a pessimistic view of the world and life so I feel like the chance of that is pretty remote.
I am here simply trying to gauge what amount one might expect such individuals to be willing to invest. Or to look at it another way, I'd like to know if the amount I needed would simply be so high as to scare away most investors.
You really don't get it, do you? There is no way to tell how much would scare an investor off if we know nothing. And we know nothing. Not your business idea, not any cash projections, not your qualifications, not your target market, nothing, nothing at all.
Based on what you wrote here, asking for just ONE dollar would scare an investor away. Because you cannot or will not tell us anything, any amount of money you ask would be deemed to much. To really get a grip on how much money would be realistic to ask we would need so much more information that it would be comparable to ask the investor himself/herself for the money.
Second, like I said before, nothing convinces investors like a working product, with some sales already, or at least written orders for your product once it works. That shows them that there is indeed a market for your product and that you can sell and build. This will also greatly increase the amount of money that you can ask for.
Third, again I have already told you this, investors want you to really commit. To go all in. Pretty much stand to lose it all if you fail This will ensure that you are fully committed and thus have no other interest than making the business succeed. But you? You are telling them "give me money and I will do some work, I promise, I really do, even though I do not invest any real money myself".
Quote:
Originally Posted by AuburnAL
I have almost an eighth of the funding I would need for three years operations. The remainder would be less than $1000000 to build the necessary infrastructure and for three years operation, and that is worst case scenario assuming I spend three years spinning my wheels without generating any revenue. I would be willing to put up all I have if I found someone who would put up the other 7/8ths. If I found someone who'd fund a year I'd work that year without pay. I have seven years experience and the highest credentials available in my field.
And this will get you kicked out of an investors office. First write th number so it is easily readable. Thus $1.000.000 if you use a European method of numbers, or $1,000,000 if you use the US way of writing things. A million dollars?
Just a MILLION dollars is all that you would need? And you would burn that money in just three years if there would be no sales. Wow. Yeah, you'll easily get funding. Are you for real? Get sales NOW. Show any investor that you will get sales because you already have sales.
The golden words for investors are: I already have a working product. AND I already have paying customers.
Then you have a business. And are not just asking for a bag for money to go pursue your dreams for a couple of years.
You really don't get it, do you? There is no way to tell how much would scare an investor off if we know nothing. And we know nothing. Not your business idea, not any cash projections, not your qualifications, not your target market, nothing, nothing at all.
Based on what you wrote here, asking for just ONE dollar would scare an investor away. Because you cannot or will not tell us anything, any amount of money you ask would be deemed to much. To really get a grip on how much money would be realistic to ask we would need so much more information that it would be comparable to ask the investor himself/herself for the money.
I haven't and I am not going to give you details on what I am doing or who I am beyond what I have already said. That's saved for people I actually know could invest. If I am going to enter an existing industry and use new technology and techniques to outcompete my competitors why would I lay that out in intimate detail on a message board where the whole world can see it for free?
Since you've repeatedly said you can't even hazard an answer to my question I am not even sure why you keep responding. Have fun on ignore.
I haven't and I am not going to give you details on what I am doing or who I am beyond what I have already said. That's saved for people I actually know could invest. If I am going to enter an existing industry and use new technology and techniques to outcompete my competitors why would I lay that out in intimate detail on a message board where the whole world can see it for free?
Really?
1) Even if you lay out most of the information, I and everybody else here will not be able to replicate your idea. Unless it is so simple that even a fool can do it. But in that case you will certainly not get any funding.
2) You again missed my point. I am not interested in stealing your idea. I am trying to show you that there are so many variables in obtaining funding that there is no way that anyone can give an answer unless they have at least a certain amount of information.
Quote:
Originally Posted by AuburnAL
Since you've repeatedly said you can't even hazard an answer to my question I am not even sure why you keep responding. Have fun on ignore.
Wow, great. Ignore all the advice you've been given. Several people have said that we cannot put a dollar amount on it, because there are too many variables. So what's next? Keep asking the question until gives you a number? Will that make you happy? How will you know that the number is correct?
You are like a writer asking how to to get a great book idea onto the bestsellerlist, but haven't written a single letter of that book yet.
Another piece of advice, go to Coursera. They have a course on New Venture Finance: Startup funding for Entrepreneurs. It is free and will teach you a lot about what investors are looking for. This is the url: https://www.coursera.org/course/venturefinance . It is an excellent course. Better ignore it though, since the advice about it came from me.
But maybe you should take the mature route and ignore me, and my advice, Then also ignore that course.
I have been involved with several startups, and have pitched to minvestors as well as been pitched to. Better ignore that and find someone here who will give you a number, that is all you seem to seek.
There's a lot of value in what HockeyAndRugby is trying to tell you. Yes, I realize his approach has been aggressive, but there is an amount of naivete in your posts that I think he's trying to shake you from. No one expects you to reveal your business idea, but if you want real-world advice, we've got to have some real-world information. You don't have a proven business; you have an idea. Asking someone to invest upwards of a million dollars into nothing more than an idea is a difficult proposition. As I advised before, I think you should start small and work your business for a year. After that time, you'll have a stronger grasp of what its real potential is and how much capital you'll need, if you still want to pursue it. At that point, you'll be much better poised to pitch to investors.
There's a lot of value in what HockeyAndRugby is trying to tell you. Yes, I realize his approach has been aggressive, but there is an amount of naivete in your posts that I think he's trying to shake you from. No one expects you to reveal your business idea, but if you want real-world advice, we've got to have some real-world information. You don't have a proven business; you have an idea. Asking someone to invest upwards of a million dollars into nothing more than an idea is a difficult proposition. As I advised before, I think you should start small and work your business for a year. After that time, you'll have a stronger grasp of what its real potential is and how much capital you'll need, if you still want to pursue it. At that point, you'll be much better poised to pitch to investors.
I came here trying to get an answer to a rather specific question. I'm sorry if that is not what this forum is for. I am willing to take constructive advice. He asked what I am willing to commit, and I told him. He ignored it, said I never said what I am willing to commit, and complained that I didn't format my numbers in the manner he wanted. If a person can't do anything than declare they have no answer in a rude manner I'm not wasting my time on them.
I don't discount what you have to say. Can I start small? Yes, and that is part and parcel of what I will do if I decide to through with it. I figure if nothing else at least I will have a year's worth of management experience which will hopefully allow my next job after that to be better than the one I have now. That said I look at things (and as someone who knows what I am trying to do) I don't think the evidence will be there either way in a year unless I am some kind of runaway success. You may have noticed that I mentioned infrastructure and technology. That's the expensive part of this whole thing. Until I can fund that I will have no advantage over anyone else doing what I am doing. Which is to say whether I start seeking investors at the start or a year or five years in, I'm not going to look any different or more investable than my competitors based on what I am doing and have done until I reach a point where I have enough business to fund that infrastructure myself and then I'd no longer need investment anyways. I hope that explains why I don't think searching for an investor at the start is futile, or at least is only equally as futile as doing it at any point prior to no longer requiring investment.
The Mysterious Benefactor has it right. That is what I am trying to do. Judging by your last post AuburnAL you STILL do not get it. Committing in the eyes of an investor means risking losing everything. Your house, your car, your life's savings, even the shirt of your back. Because that shows that you have gone as far as you could and only need their money to scale up and do better, and it shows them that you are not freewheeling.
The second thing you really are not grasping is that it is not about being able to look more investable than your competitors. It is about looking investable. Just an idea is not investable, it is a joke of a naieve clown. Your investors will realise that you have competitors, and that maybe they are better. But, but, but, if you have some sales and a working product, they know that their advice, investment and some management skill might take the idea very far. Which is only possible if there is indeed already a product and some sales. What are you going to tell them if you approach an investor with just the idea and they ask you why the product is not working yet and there are no sales yet?
I have been aggressive, but it is better for you to encounter some hostility from an anonymous poster here then when you first encounter it from an investor when you approach him. Because he will be much less nice and might crush your dreams and hopes. Worse yet, if you approach several investors and they all reject you, word might leak out and finding an investment might become impossible, because no one will take you serious after that.
Shark Tank was mentioned. Even if one is only looking for money and not funding plus a percentage partner, watching a few weeks of episodes will give you a good idea of what investors are looking for and why.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
