Failed start-ups are like failed marriages – they’re painful events and those involved often find it difficult to discuss their experiences. That’s a shame because the lessons learned when things go wrong are just as important as the insights gifted by success. So, in the spirit of fraternal confession, let me tell you the secrets…
With his capital raising process fast approaching its climax, Steve Sherlock offers up what he think he did right and wrong over the past three-months of capital seeking (and writing about it in this series).
“If ever my optimism or motivation wains slightly, I try to picture it all working out in the end, just as planned. And if that doesn’t work, I just imagine how lucky I am not to have to get up each morning and do something really challenging, such as naked bungie jumping. Suddenly, seeking capital, staying motivated, etc., seems relatively simple, not to mention a lot less embarrassing.”
I can never figure out if that Dire Straits song goes “money for nothing and your chicks for free” or “money for nothing and your cheques for free”.
Let’s stick with cheques for this post, because everyone knows you don’t get chicks for free unless you play the guitar on the MTV. Plus, getting cheques for free is in context with what I want to talk about.
When I embarked on my current search for new funding, I thought I was familiar with most of the likely sources: friends (relatives and fools), angels, angels with teeth – Venture Capital (VC), strategic investors (the Holy Grail), an IPO or Lotto.
But it turned out there was one I wasn’t aware of…
When I embarked on my current search for new funding, I thought I was familiar with most of the likely sources: friends (relatives and fools), angels, angels with teeth – Venture Capital (VC), strategic investors (the Holy Grail), an IPO or Lotto.
But it turned out there was one I wasn’t aware of…
I realise the aim of this column is to be as open and honest as possible about my experiences raising capital, but at this point I’m eager not to do anything that might jeopardise our chances of success.
If you think I’m being a little too prudent then let me tell you a painful story about how I learnt not to count chickens, the hard way…
Week 6: For me, whether it’s speed dating or a business proposition, a great pitch should help others understand your vision and get them excited about it as quickly as possible. For some reason my spiel has never generated that much enthusiasm in the speed-dating world, but the business environment is different (I hope).
Generally speaking, my pitches usually follow a formula, which explains (in order) the following…
This week I’ve been attempting to work out the value of our company, which means I’ve been taking the business world’s equivalent of a Dark Arts class at Hogwarts.
Oodles.com founder Steve Sherlock has been documenting his efforts to raise a multimillion dollar Series A funding round by the end of January 2010. In the fifth instalment of this series, Sherlock has just returned from a trip to London where he gathered advice from several people who’ve been around the investment block a few times.
My focus this week has been on drawing up the first draft of our Information Memorandum (IM). Unlike the business plan, I haven’t found this particularly easy at all.
Oodles.com founder Steve Sherlock has set himself the goal of raising a multimillion dollar Series A funding round by the end of January 2010. He is documenting his trials and tribulations and seeking feedback from readers on AnthillOnline.com. This is the third post in his series.
Oodles.com founder Steve Sherlock has set himself the goal of raising a multimillion dollar Series A funding round by the end of January 2010. He is documenting his trials and tribulations and seeking feedback from readers on AnthillOnline.com. This is the second post in his series.
Oodles.com founder Steve Sherlock has set himself the goal of raising a multimillion dollar Series A funding round by the end of January 2010. He plans to document his trials and tribulations and seek feedback from readers on AnthillOnline.com. This is his first post in the series.
To coincide with today’s relaunch of the oodles.com website, Sherlock and his team are inviting Twitter users to suggest a tagline for their online car rental platform. The author of the winning tweet tagline (twagline?) as chosen by Oodles staff will receive $1,000 cash.
Building a marketplace is a lot simpler than it used to be. Once, you had to purchase a plot of land, subdivide it into stalls, rent these out to proprietors, gain a government permit, advertise, then sit back and watch capitalism bloom. However, since the early days of eBay and Amazon, much of this can…
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