Characteristics of the Ideal Investor

I’m big believer in the Laws of Attraction. In order for you to attract what it is that you want and desire…it makes perfect sense that you know, are clear about and able to visualize “it” (it being what you want/desire). So with that being said, and all the efforts we're putting into finding suitable investors for Why Go Solo; I figured it was time to publish and send out to the Universe our order for what characteristics we want our ideal investors to possess. Here goes:

1) Someone who is at least familiar, if not completely knowledgeable about online communities, to include: features, usage, widgets, income model, popularity, and technology.

2) Someone who has a desire to have a positive impact on our society and make a difference in people’s lives. Why Go Solo is being created to change people’s lives, to connect people together, to open lines of communication, to help people add fun, excitement and new adventures in their lives. We want investors who want to be part of delivering this joy to others.

3) Someone who is outgoing, an extrovert, and a networker with a large circle of connections and friends. Someone who enjoys meeting new people and expanding their horizons.

4) Someone who is part investor and part philanthropist. We have added to our business charter, that upon becoming profitable, we will make yearly charitable donations to non-profit organizations. We will only deal with investors who are excited about that.

5) Someone who is familiar with the pain of continuous traveling and time on the road, the hardship of making and maintaining friends because of constant relocating, and the aggravation of wanting to go out to eat and not having company.

6) Someone who admires passion, drive and the journey of following one’s dreams. Our ideal investors will recognize our strengths and potential…our hunger and zeal for success.

7) Someone who understands that when you meet someone new, you introduce a whole new world of possibilities into your life. We want investors who “GET” what Why Go Solo is all about, and realize that yes, it will give them a handsome return on investment, but more importantly, it will have a POSITIVE impact in people’s lives.

Scrubbing the Business Plan

I was suppose to drive to Massachusetts this weekend to go see my father and thank him in person, as well as have a good heart-to-heart with him, but I’m postponing the trip. I have too much work that needs to get done. I need to do a major scrub over of the business plan. Unfortunately, I haven’t started yet, because I’m not 100% sure how to approach it. There are a multitude of ways things might unfold according to where we are today. Martin and I spent a lot of time white boarding and discussing options this week.

We have created a bootstrap option, which requires around $100,000 of funding and a greater emphasis on creating equity partnerships. The bootstrap option ends up having more phases and a series of soft launches. However, since we are also investing a great deal of energy in raising funds…we obviously would like that option to pan out. With funding we have more marketing and selling power to do a large and hard launch.

No matter what...our concept has many phases—I just have to figure out how to break it all out into the plan accordingly. The original plan still applies, but definitely requires greater details.

I have great apprehensions when it comes to send the plan out. I really have to get over that!! We’ll be sending out close to 100 hard copies of the plan in the next few weeks.

Selecting our Power Point Template

One of the many things we have to create/put together is a power point presentation to brief potential investors.

Ruth has been busy designing and she presented us three different variations of templates. Martin and I both like the Orange version the best.

I have posted the templates on our blog because I would love to get your feedback and input. Please let us know which one is best or possible changes that would make them better!!

CLICK ON EACH TO ENLARGE

Let The Fund Raising Begin

We have finally taken a company on board to help us raise the funding we need. It was a nerve wrecking decision to make, but a decision Martin and I, both felt was necessary to make. We came across this particular company on the GoBigNetwork.com over two months ago. After I joined the website, I sent out my 20 maximum a day emails to investors and investment banking companies that met our criteria. I was contacted by CJ, the President of Millennium Capital Quest Corp,. either the same day I sent the email or the following day. With in the following days, we had quite a few phone exchanges and a 2 hour conference call between CJ, Millennium’s CFO (Gregg), Martin, myself and our lawyer. After the conference call, we were ready to start doing business with Millennium—that’s when my phone rang and it was an individual interested in funding Why Go Solo. That particular investor never came through, which is why, we went back to our original decision.

The really nerve wrecking portion of signing up with Millennium came after I spent some time reading the forums on GoBigNetwork.com. The many listings and comments pertaining to NEVER paying a fee to a company to raise funding were daunting, especially since we were about to pay…what I consider, a hefty fee up front. I emailed CJ right away. I needed to get some reassurance from him and also wanted to let him know, that if, they take us for “a ride”, I would come knocking at his door!! He promptly called me. He reminded me of their process, and also, that ultimately, closing the deal is entirely up to us (the Why Go Solo team). He promised he will put us in “front” of many investors and coach us through the process however, our performance and ability to sell Why Go Solo rests on our shoulders.

I want to insert a quick note, right here, about whether or not anyone should pay upfront fees to raise funds. I AM HARDLY AN EXPERT but the saying goes: You need money to make money…right?? Well, I would add: You need money to RAISE money. This realization hit me while I was working out. Going back to the forum, people were saying to never pay any fees upfront…well, the ironic thing is, in order to post your listing and email investors on GoBigNetwork.com, you have to pay a FEE!! So, to simply be exposed to potential investors, brokers and investment bankers…you have to PAY. (Same with the Grubstake Breakfast we attended two weeks ago) It would be great if you didn’t have to pay anything…but I think that’s very unlikely. There are many scams on the site and all sites that deal with raising money, so you do have to be cautious and careful.

Martin called GoBigNetwork.com customer service and spoke to Steve, who told him, Millennium has been listed on GoBigNetwork.com since last September and no one has ever reported any bad dealings or interactions with them. This confirmed the other research we had done and put our minds a ease a little more. I don't think you can ever be a 100% sure with these things.

We did the fund transfer on Wednesday to cover the required fees, and today, we received our marching orders from CJ and the due diligence package. We all have a lot of work ahead of us. Personally, I really have to review, update and improve the business plan. I also have to get more supporting material together.

I’m also going to start an investor’s series…the series will be about the various reasons to invest in Why Go Solo and will cover a little more about the research that validates our concept. We want to help our investors feel good and confident about their investments…we also want them to be ready to sign their checks very quickly!!

If you are an entrepreneur doing what we are doing...or about to do what we are doing, this blog is about to get very interesting for you.

Conundrum and Catch 22

What to do, what to do, what to do…

A little over a week ago I had dinner with a friend, who I actually met through an online dating site about three years ago. We catch up for dinner every blue moon. We hadn’t seen each other for well over a year, so I spent a lot of time catching him up on what I have been up to (and vice versa). You know, from the disappointment and heartbreak of closing down the Coaching Agency, the lessons I learned and of course the new venture I was embarking upon.

He was very interested in Why Go Solo and he definitely thought it was an awesome idea. I then, whined, complained and bitched about my impatients and experience of going about securing funding. He has raised money in the past, so he clearly understood what I was talking about. He offered some good advice and also offered to send my info and business plan to an associate of his that is connected to the founder of the online dating site LavaLife.

I got really excited, since someone with that type of background and available cash would be a wonderful potential investor. I thanked him dearly and planned to get home and send everything to him. By everything, it also meant sending out a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

On my drive home, I began to think about what could happen if I sent out the business plan. No, I wasn’t thinking about how quickly the money would come in, but rather my idea being sent all over the place and then stolen.

Guy Kawasaki, in his book The Art of the Start, says something along the line that, that is pure paranoia on the part of the entrepreneur and VC firms and Angel Investor groups do not sign NDAs. I understand that...kinda, but I feel it’s different when you send it to individuals. My friend would sign the NDA, but what about the next guy, and the next guy and the next guy.

You want to keep positive control of your business plan. You want to know who it is being sent to and preferably you want to get it back. I much rather give someone a hard copy of the plan and get it back after a certain amount of time. Yes, the person could make a copy, but that is much more limiting then having a soft copy which can be easily changed and forwarded.

The conundrum of course then becomes…if I don’t send out the plan, then how can I expect to get this potential investor? What’s a gal to do? I’m leaning towards sending out the executive summary and the blog website address. If the interest is truly there, then I can have direct contact with the investor and ask him to personally sign the NDA, then send the plan.

It’s a longer process and possibly one that might not work, but I have to do what makes me comfortable with this matter. Anyone have any other thoughts on this?