The Seed Capital for Startups Blog

Lean Startup Advice: Are You Iterating?

How to be a Lean Startup: Iterating & Pivoting

I don't know how Paul Graham stands it. He must hear these words a hundred times a day.

Warning: This will be an NSFW video in some offices due to salty language.

8 Websites People Really Need to Stop Building

8 Websites People Need to Stop Building

If you run a website for startup financing you see a lot of startups over the course of a week. Every last one is convinced that it is doing something unique or that at the very least it is only the second company in the space. Meanwhile, it's the third company with the same basic idea that I have spoken to just that week.

This is why I got such a kick out of this:

8 Websites People Need to Stop Building

Raising Capital: 88 - The Narrow Road: A Brief Guide to the Getting of Money

88 - The Narrow Road: A Brief Guide to the Getting of Money by British billionaire Felix Dennis

Felix Dennis' long-awaited 88 - The Narrow Road: A Brief Guide to the Getting of Money is finally out.

There's no information on this new book on raising money on Amazon yet, but even if it's only half as good as his other business classic, it will be a worthwhile addition to any entrepreneur's library.

I am eagerly looking forward to reading this one. Felix Dennis is an inspirational figure in the Billionaire Strategies Course.

Get more information on 88 - The Narrow Road: A Brief Guide to the Getting of Money.

Free Seed Series Documents

Free Seed Series Documents

If you're looking for seed capital, you will need the right deal documentation.  You can find free samples of the seed capital documents here. These are Word Docs.

Series Seed Form COI 

Series Seed Form SPA 

Series Seed IRA 

Series Seed Term Sheet

How to Use Creative Financing to Start Your Business

Free Mini-Course in Creative Financing for Startup Entrepreneurs

Are you an Entrepreneurial Champ or Chump? Find out.

Champs are the ones who understand how entrepreneurial finance works. Chumps are those who sit around hoping that some kind stranger will give them money after reading their business plan. When it doesn't happen, they complain about investors being "too stupid." You can increase your chances of being successful in attracting capital down the road if you learn how savvy entrepreneurs are always moving their companies forward.

You can subscribe for free here: Send Me Creative Startup Financing Mini Course Right Now!

You will need to confirm your subscription by clicking

a link in the confirmation email.

No thanks! No time to waste, just let me have the creative financing manual for startups!

Startup Junkies TV: Documentaries About Startups

Startup Junkies

Whether you're a startup rookie or a serial entrepreneur, you're going to enjoy this documentary series about what it takes to launch a startup successfully.

Watch Startup Junkies for free.

10 Great Reasons to Be a Startup Specialist

Are you a consultant specializing in startups?

Or are you considering becoming a startup consultant?

Here are ten great reasons to become a startup specialist (with all of the redundancies intentionally left in for maximum effect):

1. Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise.
2. Even when they do have money, they are rarely aware of what they don't know. This means that most prefer to just spin their wheels instead of paying someone for a quick solution.
3. Working exclusively with startups means that you will never develop the higher-paid expertise required by larger clients.
4. Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise.
5. Most first-time startup entrepreneurs are absolutely convinced that they know it all--despite being stopped cold by the smallest of obstacles.
6. Working as a startup specialist is a great way to limit your revenues to low value services such as business plan writing and Business 101 level coaching. 
7. Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise.
8. The big money in consulting has always been and always will be in working with larger companies.
9. Being a startup consultant means that you are always working with clients who haven't yet left the starting blocks. It gets boring very fast.
10. Startups don't have any money to pay for badly needed expertise.

Let me explain what inspired the above.Of late I have been dropping into various business forums on a major networking site. Most of the participants are divided into two unfriendly camps. On the one side, you have startup consultants pitching their services. On the other side, you have a group of startup entrepreneurs clutching their last remaining dollars as if life itself depended on it. No one is making any money. Indeed both sides just keep posting the same messages over and over. In addition, the entrepreneurs complain that no one will assist them for free.

What's the solution to the problem? Well, I don't really have one except to advise people to productize their knowledge as a manual, book, or software package and sell that to the rookie entrepreneurs. That's what I did back in 1995. This move will then free up their time to upgrade to larger clients who are actually willing to pay someone to make problems go away.

However, the very best move you can make is to switch from a business model based on selling your time to one based on selling a product or service. If it's the latter, go with with one that can be delivered by technology rather than by hand.

Raising Capital?: How Not to Get Scammed

Startup Scams

A reader sent me a link to an interesting read on one startup's experience with a conman.

iStole Your Startup: A Story of an iPhone Company Conman

Read the personal account here.

Always check out your angel investors to make sure they are legit.

There's more related reading on angel investors, venture capitalists, and what to watch out for strating here.

3Guppies is sleeping with the fishes tonight

3Guppies is unplugged from lifesupport by its venture capital firm.

It's always a bit sad to see a heavily venture capital-backed startup sink below the waves, but that's precisely what happened this week to hapless 3Guppies (formerly "Mixxer").

The company was originally formed to work out a means to allow artists to sell their creations as ringtones, but it couldn't solve certain technical challenges. As a result, it attempted to switch horses in the middle of the proverbial stream by acquiring 3Guploads, another ringtone company founded by students at the University of Indiana. At that point the name change to 3Guppies happened. Unfortunately, 3Guploads didn't offer a revenue model either.

Bill Bryant, the founding chief executive of the predecessor company to 3Guppies, said the startup encountered issues after it acquired 3G Upload of Indiana. The newly formed entity -- backed by VanatagePoint (venture capital firm) -- had a tough time understanding the young user base of 3G Upload and integrating the technology platform to move beyond the ringtone business, said Bryant.

"We couldn't build other services on top of the technology, so we were stuck in the ringtone business," he said.

By the time 3Guppies recognized the severity of the problems, Bryant said, it was "too late in the game." (source)

With regards to the decision to pull the plug, VentureBeat's  Dan Kaplan quotes a VantagePoint contact as saying, “it just was not a good idea to blast to the end of the runway and crash, but to taxi off gracefully.” Nicely put, guys. Hope you don't mind my using it too.

Meanwhile, small but talent-rich companies, such as Mynumo, continue to steam ahead in this space by solving all the technical problems, while the clueless venture capitalists ignore them.

 

Top Ten Signs That Your Startup is Doomed

Okay, here are the Top 10 Clues that your startup is doomed from the get-go:

Top Ten Signs Your Startup is Doomed

10. You haven’t launched yet but have already spent $50,000 on patent applications.

9. You pay several thousand dollars to someone to write your business plan for you.

8. You rent an office for the startup phase.

7. You seriously consider giving away your last remaining $10,000 to a money-finder.

6. You pay a website to post your business plan for its investors.

5. You purchase a directory of venture capital firms for $299.

4. You spend more than $200 on stationery.

3. You secretly hope that someone else will come along and relieve you of the sales function.

2. When asked how you will launch if no investors are found, your mind goes completely blank.

1. Your startup team includes an HR director.

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