Serial Entrepreneur, , Early Stage Funding Hustler, Founder and CEO of DealzTap.com, BidzDirect.com and IOBIZ Solutions, Ex-Corporate IBM, All round good guy. haha.
Started DealzTap with 2 other founders. Registered the business name in October, Developed the MVP in 2 months. Raised over $400,000 with only the MVP and no revenue the following month, with no signed businesses on board.
How should I work with my seed investors?
If they invest money in the early stage of your business, this is a great opportunity to put a "market" value on your business. One of the hardest thing for any startup who only have a protype with no revenue is put a value on your business. For eg. One of the company I raised early funding for, we secured 2 lots of $150k for 10% each. So that equates a market valuation of $1.2m. Your accountant can help you set this up and create a CAP table to keep track of equity dilution.
I'm in Germany and want to get funding for my successful startup. Which VCs should I get in touch with?
You need to look at your startup in stages. If you are getting revenue in your business and have 1400 subscribers, what execution plan do you have in place to GROW, and how much money do you need to do so? Even at this level, I believe you are still considered as early stage seed and still would be looking for small/med Angel to help you boost your existing traction. You are in a good position to look for smart money investor that will have the contacts and network to take you to Series A. Since your company is enjoying good cash flow, take your time to find the right investors that will maximise your evaluation for the next round.
How do service oriented companies such as Amazon invoke sellers to sell their products on their website during the initial days?
I am a strong believe of focused marketing. Amazon sold books in the early days as you know, and they were amongst the first of not the first to sell books online. They identify themselves as the platform to sell BOOKS. Once they have a massive double market place and became successful at selling books, they then reach out to other sellers. I remember in the early days I was not interexted in buying books on Amazon, but I did know about them. Once they added DVDs to their platform, I was hooked. Start centric with a focus demographic or an area of the market you can dominate, and then expand out to the next set of products by perhaps surveying your existing database of customers. "Hi Mr Customers, we noticed you have been buying books from us for awhile now, if we start selling DVDs on our platform, would you buy it?". Don't be afraid to ask your customers for quick survey. Perhaps offer them a $20 coupon towards their first purchase of the new line of product you plan to sell after plants.