09
Jun
Funding Panel at UVEF June 8 2006
stored in: Business Process, VC's

Great discussions today with a Funding Panel at UVEF June 8 2006.  Panel members included Mike Hennessy of Wasatch Venture Fund, Damon Kirchmeier of UTFC, Curtis Toone of Sorenson Capital, Tim Hunt of LingoTek, and Kevin Nethercott from lignup.  Here are some take aways:

  1. Funding Factors
  1. A lot of it has to do with timing, just cause you didn’t get funding doesn’t mean you don’t have a good idea, team, or , it could be your market size, it could be how much of the fund the funding source has available.  VC’s miss a lot of opportunities.  Business plans are typically reviewed in less than a minute by a screener.
  2. When seeking funds you should be a customer needs driven company, have a good business model, pricing and revenue, and a management team that can adjust with the adjustments in the marketplace.
  • Most Common Error when seeking funding from a VC is the return model.  VCs typically want to start getting returns in 5-7 years, and expect 10x at 10 years.
  • When presenting to VCs or angels it is important to:
    1. Know who your customers are and how you are going to get them the product
    2. Don’t focus too much on your product.  Discussing your product is a good start, but you really need to show how you will sell it
    3. You need to have a good rep from your company who can articulate
    4. Have all the right people there from your company to answer any question in the first meeting, otherwise it might be your last
  • Reduce the risk - the less risk, the better the deal
  • Funding takes time, plan on 6-9 months
  • Try to get personal introductions before presenting it will help you get a more thourough review
  • If you are seeking funding and pre-revenue, you can still get funding, just remember:
    1. Have an experienced management team (they need to have market experience)
    2. Need to have a good market opportunity (Is it a billion dollar market? How much can the company capture)
    3. The main question will be “can they really do this”
    4. Do you have money already raised?
  • Remember - no one invests in a guy who still has his day job.  If you want investors to seriously look at your plan you have to have some skin in the game
  • Many VC firms will mandate a capital structure before they will invest in you

    • Great meeting as ususal, and some good advice from the Funding Panel at UVEF June 8 2006.

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