You've been Introduced to Venture Capitalists....NOW WHAT?

I have given you the knowledge to get introduced to venture capitalists, now what happens is probably what you are asking. Well here are some “Critical Factors for Obtaining Venture Funding” provided by Garage Technology Ventures. These critical factors will point you in the right direction for obtaining venture financing.

1. Compelling Idea

Every entrepreneur believes his or her idea is compelling. The reality is that very few business plans present ideas that are unique. It is very common for investors to see multiple versions of the same idea over the course of a few months, and then again after a few years. What makes an idea compelling to an investor is something that reflects a deep understanding of a big problem or opportunity, and offers an elegant solution. This is the starting point for getting venture investors interested, but it is not sufficient. The idea alone does not make you fundable. You have to possess the rest of the ingredients below.

2. Team

You may have a great idea, but if you don’t have a strong core team, investors aren’t going to be willing to bet on your company. This doesn’t mean you need to have a complete, world-class, all-gaps-filled team. But the founders have to have the credibility to launch the company and attract the world-class talent that is needed to fill the gaps. The lone entrepreneur, even with all the passion in the world, is never enough. If you haven’t been able to convince at least one other person to believe in the business as fervently as you, investors certainly won’t. Winning over investors (and customers and co-workers) depends on your people skills, not just your technical prowess.

3. Market Opportunity

If you are focused on a product/market opportunity that is not technology-based, you probably should not be pursuing venture capital—there are different private equity sources for non-technology businesses. Venture capital is focused on businesses that gain a competitive edge and generate rapid growth through technological and other advantages. If you are focused on technology, you should be targeting a sector that is not already crowded, where there is a significant problem that needs to be solved, or an opportunity that has not been exploited, and where your solution will create substantial value. Contrary to popular belief, it’s not about how big the market is; it’s about how much value you can create. Brilliant new companies create big markets, not the other way around.

4. Technology

What makes your technology so great? The correct answer is, there are plenty of customers with plenty of money that desperately need it or want it. Not, there are some geeks with no money who think it’s cool. Assuming you have a technology advantage right now, how are you going to sustain that advantage over the next several years? Patents alone won’t do it. You better have the talent or the partners to assure investors that you are going to stay ahead of the curve.

5. Competitive Advantage

Every interesting business has real competition. Competition is not just about direct competitors. It includes alternatives, “good enough” solutions, and the status quo. You need to convince investors that you have advantages that address all these forms of competition, and that you can sustain these advantages over several years. A few years ago entrepreneurs could get away with saying that “competition validates my solution,” but today that’s not good enough. Moreover, you have to show that you have a good way to reach your target customers and beat out your competitors. As a friend of mine has said, it’s not good enough to build a better mousetrap; you have to really want to kill mice.

6. Financial Projections

If the idea of developing credible financial projections makes you wince or wail, or if you think it’s a meaningless exercise, you are not an entrepreneur and you shouldn’t ask investors for money. Your projections demonstrate that you understand the economics of your business. They should tell your story in numbers—what drives your growth, what drives your profit, and how your company will evolve over the next several years.

7. Validation

Probably the most important factor influencing investors is validation. Is there good evidence that your solution will be purchased by your target customers? Do you have an advisory board of credible industry experts? Do you have a co-development partner within the industry? Do you have beta customers to whom investors can speak? Do you already have paying customers? What other brand name validators can you offer? The more credibility and customer traction you have, the more likely investors are going to be interested.



In order to ensure that you will obtain venture capitalists with this knowledge, you will need to ace each area.

Source: http://www.garage.com/resources/criticalfactors.shtml

“How to get Introduced to Venture Capitalists”

While creating my business plan, I knew that I would need to start shopping for venture capitalists to invest into Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group. Through that research, I found this article on ehow Money “How to get Introduced to Venture Capitalists”. It gives you 9 steps to follow and if these tips are followed correctly you will be on your way to a face-to-face meeting with a Venture Capitalist.

1 Draft an articulate one- to two-page executive summary and/or a 10-slide PowerPoint presentation to introduce your business concept.

2 Research which venture firms you want to work with ahead of time. Pick more than one and less than eight to start with.

3 Get in touch with any direct contacts you have at the firms. Drop a quick e-mail to your contact asking for a meeting. E-mail, rather than a letter or fax, is a good method of communication because it is fast and can be easily forwarded to others in the firm.

4 In the absence of a direct contact, adopt a "six degrees of separation" strategy. Ask your friends, lawyer, accountant, boss, neighbor and other entrepreneurs if they know anyone at the firms you're targeting. Ask them to send an introductory e-mail on your behalf.

5 Turn six degrees of separation into four degrees, then two degrees, and then eventually a direct meeting. Get introductions to people who can get you a stronger introduction to the venture firm.

6 Within 48 hours, follow up with your own e-mail introduction. Remember to mention your contact's name in your message. Attach your business's executive summary for review.

7 Be sure to send your executive summary at least two to three weeks in advance of when you would like to meet.

8 Arrive at the meeting on time. Even better, try to arrive 15 minutes early.

9 Once you are in the meeting, relax and have fun. Remember, you are trying to change the world in some form or fashion, and that's a big deal.
                                                                         

                                                                         

The eHow Contributor also offered a several Tips and Warnings that may be helpful.

Tips & Warnings
· Be persistent and determined, but realistic. Spend no more than three or four months trying to get in the door of any one venture firm.

· Be proactive and creative in expanding your network. Attend events, meetings, dinners and speaker series where entrepreneurs and venture investors congregate. Make yourself visible.

· Be specific and direct in your communications. Do not discuss high-level generalities about the industry or your specific marketplace. Most venture firms have heard the market size numbers several times already. Instead, tell them what you are going to do and why it is a big deal. See "How to Make Your Business Plan Stand Out."

· Avoid sending a random or "cold" introductory message to a venture firm with which you do not have a contact. The better firms receive a large volume of business plans. Personal introductions will increase your chances of securing a face-to-face meeting.

· Fundraising is only one part of building a company, so don't let that take too much time away from running the business.
                                                                         

                                                                         

I hope that you found this information useful as it has been for me and has helped me to begin my journey to find a Venture Capitalist. I have also attached various sites that may be additionally useful.


Source: http://www.ehow.com


Additional links:


www.lendio.com/angel-alternatives


www.RaiseMeCapital.com


www.xpertfinancial.com


www.Growthink.com/VentureCapitalFormula

How Guy Kawasaki has influenced Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group.

I came across an article where Kawasaki spoke with Tim Berry on “How to write a Business Plan”, out of the questions asked “What are the most important qualities of a plan” stuck out to me the most. The three points Guy Kawasaki spoke on were extremely helpful for me when constructing my business plan. These are how I decided to use them for my company Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group.

1) Strategy is what needs to be focused on, and the question you need to ask yourself is “what can you do better than anyone else? What are your core competence”

When Rising Phoenix Entertainment Group was founded I knew that we were not going to be the only Entertainment group that handled management, promotions, marketing amongst other things else. So we had to sit back and analyze what exactly we could bring to the table that would entice customers to want to sign with our company. In doing so we decided to put a special clause in our contract that would cater specifically to our clients and their future in the business. With that clause and the percentage we receive from our clients in commission enables us to have an upper-hand in the business.

2) Break down the specifics: What is going to happen, when, how much is it going to cost, and who is responsible for it.

At RPEG we understood the business we had to create a timeline for ourselves of what we needed to make ourselves successful and broke down our costs and how much we wanted to have invested and how much each of us would bring to the table. In doing so we realized that we were able to keep our costs down as long as we kept most of the business “in house” versus outsourcing. Yes, that would create a lot more work for ourselves but the reward of not asking for someone to invest a large amount of money and giving up equity in our company was well worth it.


3) Cash flow: You want to have growth spurts in your company, which is another way of saying more sales and potentially more profits, however he also stressed that unplanned growth with out proper planning can be detrimental to your company.

We knew that if we moved too fast that in our growth and were unprepared it could end up being a bad thing however we have remained on a steady increase and have been blessed with being very prosperous over the past year. Thanks to our clients and those who have been patient with us from the beginning.

Are you looking to create a business plan?

These two “experts” in the field, Guy Kawasaki and Sean Christiansen, can help you understand a little more on how to do so.

Guy Kawasaki who is best know for leaving Apple Computer and co-founding Garage Technology Ventures as well as Alltop.com, an ”online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web. Garage provides matchmaking services for angle investors and entrepreneurs. Before leaving Apple he was the chief evangelist of Apple. Kawasaki has a B.A. from Stanford University, M.B.A from UCLA, and also holds an Honorary Doctorate from Babson College. He has authored such books as Enchantment, Reality Check, The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way.

I came across an article where Kawasaki spoke with Tim Berry on “How to write a Business Plan”, out of the questions asked “What are the most important qualities of a plan” stuck out to me the most. And Kawasaki said this in short.
     1) Strategy is what needs to be focused on, and the question you need to ask yourself is “what can you do better than anyone else? What are your core competence”
     2) Break down the specifics: What is going to happen, when, how much is it going to cost, and who is responsible for it.
     3) Cash flow: You want to have growth spurts in your company, which is another way of saying more sales and potentially more profits, however he also stressed that unplanned growth with out proper planning can be detrimental to your company.

Sean Christiansen is currently the Chief Technology Officer at the UCF Venture Lab where he provides coaching and mentoring to central Florida startup companies. With ten years of experience working in high technology industries as well as multiple degrees in engineering, Dr. Christiansen specializes in supporting early-stage high technology companies with particular emphasis supporting those seeking seed-stage financing. Dr. Christiansen graduated with honors from the University of Notre Dame and earned a Bachelor's of Science in Chemical Engineering in 1996. In 2001, Dr. Christiansen received a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

When it comes to early stage investing Christiansen is the man to go to. When asked about key components of a business plan he breaks it down into three: Barriers to entry, The market, and the Management team. Barriers to Entry, this explains a company’s product or service and also lets you r investors know how you plan to “prevent your competitors from taking away customers” Christensen explains that barriers to entry are equally as important as the core competencies of the company. This is a way to look at the “Strengths of the company and its expertise within its own market. The market is possibly the trickiest factor due to there not always being a market for your particular type of business. Markets are very hard for an investor to predict especially when it comes to the type of product being pitched. And lastly, remember to look at the management team. So many companies have failed even with the proper business plan because of the management team making mistakes. The past experience of the company’s members have to be reviewed to see if the had an previous failures, how aware they are of their mistakes, and to see if the company was given equity investments in the past and if sufficient exit opportunities for investors have been established.

Sources:

http://www.guykawasaki.com/about/

http://www.venturelab.ucf.edu/Team/team_SChristiansen.html

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2007/07/how-to-write-a-.html#axzz1Rmb29caR

http://bpexpertviews.blogspot.com/2011/03/bp-development-expert-views.html

Soulja Boy's Successful Utilization of Social Media

Who would have thought that social media would have been as influential on the entertainment industry as it has been? Well Soulja Boy learned how to utilize social media to his benefit when marketing his album “The DeAndre Way” that was released in mid-late November as well as promoting his single “Speakers Going Hammer”. Lee Hawkins of the Wall Street Journal sat down with Soulja Boy and discussed how he became a multiplatinum rapper solely based off of his social media presence and has been labeled the Music Industry’s “King of Social Media”.

Soulja Boy first starts off how he started rapping in 2005, he became familiar with the Internet, and then began to utilize MySpace & Youtube to get booked for shows. The stardom wasn’t immediately, he had to make fans aware of his music and did so via setting up a Soundclick account. Soundclick is known as “The Billboard charts for Underground Music” says Soulja Boy. Once he began reached the Top 10 on Soundclick his plays increased due to his popularity. He then linked his Soundclick account to his MySpace and Youtube pages. He also used his twitter and Facebook pages to be able to reach his fans. When he reached his 1st million on Youtube, he then placed a booking email up, which enabled those wanting him to perform to book him for shows. Once Soulja Boy reached 100K plays via Soundclick he was able to monetize that distributing his music via the website for $.99 a song. Soundclick entail splits the profit with the fan. Let me help you understand how this was beneficial for him financially, Soulja Boy was receiving at least 19K song downloads a day! That is approx. $9,400 a day just off of his social media marketing strategies. Keep in mind that he has not yet signed a deal w/a major label. He hen began to use a tool called Saynow.com, a website where you can get phone #'s and are able to talk to your fans. He acquired 4.9 subscribers. With Saynow.com he was able to leave a message and distribute it directly to his fans. In addition to these smart tactics he created multiple websites, approx. 20, to continue to create a buzz. His best tool would have had to been his Youtube channel. Where he could address his fans whether it be just putting out a new song or speaking to the youth about him being a positive role model to his fans. He used this outlet to connect with all of his fans. I would definitely have to say that he has learned how to capitalize off of the social media world. Based off of his different tactics Soulja Boy generated 12 MILLION DOLLARS off of his first single alone. No wonder they have crowned him “The King of Social Media” because he learned how to use it to benefit musical career.

Disography including "The DeAndre Way" is available via iTunes

Lee Hawkins of the Wall Street Journal's Soulja Boy interview Speaking With Soulja Boy, Rap's Social Media King

SPEAKERS GOING HAMMER has almost 13 million views

Source : Speaking With Soulja Boy, Rap's Social Media King

Entertainment Company CFOs capitalize on Digital Growth

Earnest and Young is one of the world's leading professional services organizations, helps companies across the globe to identify and capitalize on business opportunities. In 2008 they interviewed several media & entertainment CEOs and few very few of them had anticipated where the focus of the digital revolution was transforming. In 2010 they completed a study that focused on senior media and entertainment executives by asking the Chief Financial Officers of 75 leading global media and entertainment organizations for their insight into their approach for the future and the ever changing digital world.

The study touched on several key points however I am just going to share a few with you. First, Digital is now- they have noticed that new technology continues to have an extremely powerful influence on how individuals experience entertainment and information. There is a noticeable shift to digital and is challenging old entertainment business models and causing CFOs to make changes in their investment decisions. Secondly, CFOs are trying to juggle balancing between digital growths and declining traditional media revenue. The CFOs are beginning to see a significant growth in digital revenues, however with price deflation and product un-bundling, combined with the global economic downturn, CFOs are starting to recognize a the placement of increasing pressure on traditional media revenues. All that means is that the industry revenues and “per unit spend” on different media content is no longer increasing at a rapid speed. Lastly, Interactive media companies are best positioned to thrive in the next two to three years. The CFOs have stated that they will not lose sight of doing thing traditionally, but digital earnings are definitely on a rise. The earnings are rising at lower price points and have yet to become bigger than the traditional media revenue streams.

With the shifts in consumer demands, media multi-tasking has been taken to new levels. The consumer behavior has caused the consumption rates of pure-play Internet, video games, how consumers obtain their music and how they share to soar to new levels. Although radio, broadcast networks television, and print media are showing a decline, they are also seeing there consumption rates rise. The consumption is rising due to consumers using television as a multi-tasking medium. Consumers are tweeting and blogging while watching their favorite shows.

CFOs of major entertainment companies are noticing how digital landscaping is evolving and therefore determine where they need to make their investments accordingly in order to protect their market position and ensure that they remain prevalent in the entertainment business world.


Source:

Poised for digital growth: Preserving profitability in today’s digital world