Very good, lots of valuable bits of info. I have also shared this with our Grow VC members via FriendFeed.
Paul Harvey
· 11 months ago
This is a great post. I advise business start ups in the North of Scotland. Raising money for any start up has always been a challenge. Most banks will measure a project on the business owners ability to pay the loan, not on the potential success of the business. This will normally be a juicy asset. There is a glimmer of light to be considered banks have to lend to make money and profit so keep trying. In the Uk new customers tend to get better rates and terms the existing customers. I had a good tip from a Bank risk adviser. He suggested in order to get the best rates and terms. Define the borrowing needs of the project and take it to a number of banks, then use this information against your own bank. It is also worth remembering that we are the customers of the banks and with the generoious government bail out we have shares in some of them.
Martin Edic (Techrigy)
· 11 months ago
A very well-thought out post, especially the calculations for showing that, even on a small scale, you're increasing revenue per customer while growing your base. This is a double-whammy that shows the potential for explosive growth. If you have a subscription service like ours you're not just seeking to add customers, you're also working to upgrade existing customers. The combination of both should be very appealing to investors in a climate like the one we're living in today.
Brian
· 11 months ago
This is an excellent article and I definitely really appreciate the story. Here is my personal story. I was Active Duty Air Force for 8 years. During this time, I obtained 4 years I obtained some excellent training in IT and left the Air Force with a degree, 4 years of IT experience and a Top Secret Clearance. I thought I was quite marketable, but my timing couldn't be worse.
I moved from Central CA to Central FL to start over. I probably applied for 50 or so jobs, only receiving 2 interviews which were really out of my area of expertise. The frustrations in the job hunt led me to start blogging. At first, it was as an outlet, but then I attempted to make money blogging. I quickly realized that for a new blog, this isn't very realistic for honest blogging. I instead concentrated instead concentrated on my content & readers. I learned so much as I posted and shared 170 posts shared 170 posts with my readers.
As I was blogging full-time, I was still helplessly job hunting. I started applying for anything & everything with no luck. My number 1 goal was to get a federal job, but I applied for a dozen or so positions with zero call-backs. I had a had a breakthrough with the job hunting process thanks to blogging. I decided to conduct extensive research for the USAJobs system, since I found very little help online. I also attended a few classes to help me in the process and with my posting.
Through my research and classes I attended, I posted a 3-Part Series full of tips, how-to's, etc. As they say, by teaching we learn. I used the information I posted & started from scratch with USAJobs. The very first job I applied for after making these changes & following my own tips to a T, led to the job I have now. I received an e-mail less than 2 weeks later & will begin my new career in a few weeks.
If anyone is job hunting or looking for employment with the Federal Government, I would be happy to help you with the complicated USAJobs system & invite you to view the USAJobs Part 3 - Steps I Took to Get A Federal Job posting. http://www.eazycheezy.net/2008/12/usajobs-part-...
Blogging has become a true passion of mine & I love to share information that I have learned along the way. Sorry for such a long post.
Charles Crawford
· 11 months ago
Eric Ries's guest post, "How to Raise Money In a Down Economy" contained the best practical advice for a startup that I've seen in a long time. He speaks from experience, and entrepreneurs should pay attention to what he says and focus on building lasting value and keeping the startup lean. My son is planning a software startup, and I sent him the article with orders to read it carefully and to keep it on hand for future reference.
Marc
· 11 months ago
The most important lesson I take from this is be sure to use lots of internet business buzzwords when asking for startup money.
Real Estate Investor
· 11 months ago
Raising capital can be a huge hurdle for a young company, especially when you don't have a history of income in that field. I started a real estate investing company a few years ago, and had trouble obtaining financing. Fortunately, it is easier to get financing secured against real estate than it is to get funding for a typical start up. We were able to raise a good amount of cash through private investors, and then leverage that through loans from several commercial lenders that secured the loans against real estate that we purchased with the original private funds.
I learned many lessons from running this business, and have recently been working on a few web based product luanches geared towards investors. I hope what I have learned through my investing company will be useful in these new ventures.
Ruben Zevallos Jr.
· 11 months ago
I'm doing some ideas at Internet, this web site (www.direito2.com.br) is one of lot's of it. To me, the big problem is to have the idea... you had a very good one and works. I think at Internet, like in Brazil, we have about 50 millions users... so... always I think, what can I develop to get just 1% of this market? And make of this 1%, just 1% to pay like R$ 9,90 per month... it will make millions per year and will grow.
I loved your article... I'm sending to my wife, because she is skeptical for Internet business, even if today about 50% of out income come from my weird ideas...
Alex Chang
· 11 months ago
Good piece Eric. This is a topic very fresh in my mind having just closed a significant round here at http://www.roost.com. I think you have the foundation exactly right, and it's what worked for us: great team building a product centric business that adds real customer value. I'd add two other thoughts:
a) It really helps if you can position the downturn as adding wind to your sails. And you have to believe this or else good luck. In our case, there is no question that tougher real estate market puts pressure on marketing efficiencies for our clients.
b) Lean operating infrastructure. Do you have a culture and DNA that can survive a downturn by being scrappy?
Linda Cross
· 7 months ago
Thanks for the article. I'm not looking to raise funds for a new commercial start-up, but I am looking to raise a few million for a new Christian TV channel. Any ideas on what I can do? We have the air time and are giving away free air time to ministries with Christian programs. My job is not only to get the channel filled with new programs...but to raise funds to pay for it. We are a not-for-profit channel. Any ideas? We are on satellites Galaxy 19 and Hotbird 6 and stream our live feed 24/7 on the Internet. I'm looking for some God ideas! Thanks! Linda www.visionheaven.com visionheaventv@gmail.com
All Comments
is my personal story. I was Active Duty Air Force for 8 years. During this time, I obtained 4 years I obtained some excellent training in IT and left the Air Force with a degree,
4 years of IT experience and a Top Secret Clearance. I thought I was quite
marketable, but my timing couldn't be worse.
I moved from Central CA to Central FL to start over. I probably applied for 50
or so jobs, only receiving 2 interviews which were really out of my area of
expertise. The frustrations in the job hunt led me to start blogging. At first,
it was as an outlet, but then I attempted to make money blogging. I quickly
realized that for a new blog, this isn't very realistic for honest blogging. I instead concentrated instead concentrated on my content & readers. I learned so much as I posted and shared 170 posts shared 170 posts with my readers.
As I was blogging full-time, I was still helplessly job hunting. I started
applying for anything & everything with no luck. My number 1 goal was to get a
federal job, but I applied for a dozen or so positions with zero call-backs. I had a
had a breakthrough with the job hunting process thanks to blogging. I decided to
conduct extensive research for the USAJobs system, since I found very little
help online. I also attended a few classes to help me in the process and with
my posting.
Through my research and classes I attended, I posted a 3-Part
Series full of tips, how-to's, etc. As they say, by teaching we learn. I used
the information I posted & started from scratch with USAJobs. The very first
job I applied for after making these changes & following my own tips to a T,
led to the job I have now. I received an e-mail less than 2 weeks later & will
begin my new career in a few weeks.
If anyone is job hunting or looking for employment with the Federal Government,
I would be happy to help you with the complicated USAJobs system & invite you
to view the USAJobs Part 3 - Steps I Took to Get A Federal Job posting.
http://www.eazycheezy.net/2008/12/usajobs-part-...
Blogging has become a true passion of mine & I love to share information that I
have learned along the way. Sorry for such a long post.
best practical advice for a startup that I've seen in a long time. He speaks
from experience, and entrepreneurs should pay attention to what he says and focus
on building lasting value and keeping the startup lean. My son is planning a
software startup, and I sent him the article with orders to read it carefully
and to keep it on hand for future reference.
I learned many lessons from running this business, and have recently been working on a few web based product luanches geared towards investors. I hope what I have learned through my investing company will be useful in these new ventures.
I loved your article... I'm sending to my wife, because she is skeptical for Internet business, even if today about 50% of out income come from my weird ideas...
a) It really helps if you can position the downturn as adding wind to your sails. And you have to believe this or else good luck. In our case, there is no question that tougher real estate market puts pressure on marketing efficiencies for our clients.
b) Lean operating infrastructure. Do you have a culture and DNA that can survive a downturn by being scrappy?
Thanks!
Linda
www.visionheaven.com
visionheaventv@gmail.com