Hello to all -
Here is a brief overview of the situation. My business partner and I are at the stage where raising capital is absolutely necessary for further improvement/success. We have a small start-up company that deals with both hardware and software; in other words its a tech start-up. The last 4 months were spent on developing a prototype to showcase our conceptualized idea. We had reached a stage where professional renderings of our product just weren't enough. We are both part-time students which means that we are obviously tight for cash. Its also important to mention that we don't have much of a technical background and initially we struggled finding the resources needed to make the initial prototype. We really had to improvise, however, not having some sort of a demo prototype was just not acceptable. We took measures into our own hands, improvised and developed the device ourselves. The total cost amounted to less than $1000CAD as we used a lot of parts that were already available. The software part came from MITs App Inventor which is a very user friendly Android platform to those that aren't familiar with writing code. We did not have the resources or capital to develop a device from scratch.
Currently we are in the process of scouting talents such as programmers as the major component of our device will revolve around the complexity of the software. Our company will require a team that can help us develop a second more advanced and complex prototype that can be showcased to potential customers. This product is very unique and it is targeting an industry that has not been tapped for decades. It's definitely something that an investor would love hear. That being said, here is where things get tricky. We are at the stage where we have a simplistic demo prototype which isn't advanced enough to spark interest from investors. The next crucial step would be to develop this second prototype with a small team which will be a far more convincing move. We have presented our demo to a few organizations and so far the feedback has been great. We are also MaRS clients and have access to some amazing resources which we have taken advantage of already. The problem always comes down to the money as many of you know.
Are there any recommendations and ways for us to raise capital? I know that our options are very limited as we are a pre-revenue start-up. We have looked into many options such as government grants, loans etc. We have found that government grants tend to focus more on projects that would benefit the agriculture or health industries such as clean-tech. The chances of us getting a grant from the government would be astronomical. We are also well aware that VC firms are out of the question as they look for revenue and established customer relationship. Furthermore, bootstrapping isn't really an option. We are looking to gather around $50, 000CAD for the development of the second prototype, however, the more the better. Realistically, our chances of success are better off if we can raise somewhere north of 100, 000CAD. This is the sort of money that we are sure won't come from any friend of family member. When I did my research on seed funding I understood that it is a form of financing that is catered to start-ups in the pre-revenue phase; much like our situation. Are there any investors that post on this form that may be of help? Any recommendations any of you might have would be gladly appreciated.
Here is a brief overview of the situation. My business partner and I are at the stage where raising capital is absolutely necessary for further improvement/success. We have a small start-up company that deals with both hardware and software; in other words its a tech start-up. The last 4 months were spent on developing a prototype to showcase our conceptualized idea. We had reached a stage where professional renderings of our product just weren't enough. We are both part-time students which means that we are obviously tight for cash. Its also important to mention that we don't have much of a technical background and initially we struggled finding the resources needed to make the initial prototype. We really had to improvise, however, not having some sort of a demo prototype was just not acceptable. We took measures into our own hands, improvised and developed the device ourselves. The total cost amounted to less than $1000CAD as we used a lot of parts that were already available. The software part came from MITs App Inventor which is a very user friendly Android platform to those that aren't familiar with writing code. We did not have the resources or capital to develop a device from scratch.
Currently we are in the process of scouting talents such as programmers as the major component of our device will revolve around the complexity of the software. Our company will require a team that can help us develop a second more advanced and complex prototype that can be showcased to potential customers. This product is very unique and it is targeting an industry that has not been tapped for decades. It's definitely something that an investor would love hear. That being said, here is where things get tricky. We are at the stage where we have a simplistic demo prototype which isn't advanced enough to spark interest from investors. The next crucial step would be to develop this second prototype with a small team which will be a far more convincing move. We have presented our demo to a few organizations and so far the feedback has been great. We are also MaRS clients and have access to some amazing resources which we have taken advantage of already. The problem always comes down to the money as many of you know.
Are there any recommendations and ways for us to raise capital? I know that our options are very limited as we are a pre-revenue start-up. We have looked into many options such as government grants, loans etc. We have found that government grants tend to focus more on projects that would benefit the agriculture or health industries such as clean-tech. The chances of us getting a grant from the government would be astronomical. We are also well aware that VC firms are out of the question as they look for revenue and established customer relationship. Furthermore, bootstrapping isn't really an option. We are looking to gather around $50, 000CAD for the development of the second prototype, however, the more the better. Realistically, our chances of success are better off if we can raise somewhere north of 100, 000CAD. This is the sort of money that we are sure won't come from any friend of family member. When I did my research on seed funding I understood that it is a form of financing that is catered to start-ups in the pre-revenue phase; much like our situation. Are there any investors that post on this form that may be of help? Any recommendations any of you might have would be gladly appreciated.
