29A- Venture Concept #2

1. My venture concept:

* Changes in red

My business: a website that connects potential private investors with technology and medical startups to facilitate investing

Opportunity

• My website collects potential private investors, whether it be investing firms or individuals, and technology startups specifically.
• Lack of funding for technology and medical startups isn’t necessarily bound geographically. However, some states’ economies’ are more accepting of technology startups, are trying to get there. For example, California’s economy is heavily composed of technology businesses and Cleveland, OH is known for their famous Cleveland Clinic, researching universities, and medical community.
• Right now, current potential customers can rely on a handful of different funding methods.
• Most popular right now, however, is participating in a accelerator fund in hopes of gaining exposure or receiving funds at the end of the program.
• Another major source of funding is through Angel investing funds.
• Many medical companies receive funding from universities.
• This opportunity is huge. According to a CB Insights study, the second leading cause of startup failure is lack of funding. The demand for startup investment funds will never dissipate so long that the United States remains capitalist. In addition, the product itself, a web based solution, will remain relevant for until the internet becomes obsolete.

Innovation

• What is the product?
• My product is a website that connects technology startups and private investors to facilitate and accelerate the funding/ investing process.
• How does it work?
• Similar to LinkedIn.
• Investors and entrepreneurs create online, professional profiles, and are able to “follow/connect” with one another.
• Investors can provide their portfolio, or details of their desired investments.
• Entrepreneurs can provide an archive of business documents that explain their business, and show how potential funds would be utilized.
• Example documents:
• Timelines and projections
• Powerpoint presentations from a conference
• There will be an online instant messaging platform for conversations.
• How will your venture make money?
• Website advertisements, sponsorships and subscription to the service.
• Anyone who will want to partake in the site will pay for a subscription.
• I believe since the site will connect people with thousands, perhaps millions of dollars, they will see a subscription as a necessary investment.
• I need to conduct more market research to figure out what the ideal price is. However, I do not want to make the price too high to deter early entrepreneurs with little funding.
• All profiles will be made public to insure integrity of subscribing to the site.
• Subscription model (working):
• $10/ month
• First month free
• 1 month free for every referral
• If all this information is up on a website, what’s to stop someone from stealing all of these business ideas for their own? Doesn’t that deter entrepreneurs from wanting to partake in your website?
• No.
• Most people do not have the education or tenacity to run a successful business, let alone start one. The overwhelming majority of people will not steal a business that isn’t their own because they don’t know how to run a business, or have the heart to devote their entire life to it.
• Additionally, competition is healthy; it drives creativity and regulates market prices.

Venture:

• Entrepreneurs will switch to my product because they are desperate for funding. Investors will switch to my product because they desire profits.
• Because this idea is fresh, I believe it will take some time before people switch to it.
• First, nobody wants to be scammed; I need to establish credibility and develop a strong legal team.
• Second, while my target market isn’t restricted by age necessarily, most of my audience happens to be middle aged people-- who are already skeptical to the internet, providing information on the internet, and/or struggle to use social media. With this in mind, I will have to make my website as straightforward as possible, and market it as safe, secure, and easy to use.
• Company organization
• Roughly 50 employees or less.
• My strengths are in communication/sales, team management, and branding/marketing.
• I would need help with a legal team, a coding team, accounting, etc.
• My exit strategy:
• Sell to another social media site-- something like LinkedIn. They can decide if they want to continue to operate the site separately, or incorporate its unique feature into their own platform.

Etc:

• My secret sauce: I have personal connections to both technology and medical entrepreneurs and investors alike that would be interested in using this site, and/or helping contribute ideas to refine the product.
• What’s next for the future?
• Develop the website. To build a website of this caliber and acquire the necessary funding, I estimate this project would take a year to complete.
• What’s next for me?
• In 5 years, I’d like for the business developed to the point of making sales and be successful.
• I’d love to have the flexibility and trust in my team to be able to work from home some days, or travel when desired.

2.Summary of feedback from previous venture concept description

Most of my feedback suggested that my idea was too niece-- that i shouldn't only target software companies. With this in mind, in a past assignment, I was able to explore the medical field as another opportunity, and ultimately decided that it would be a good fit.

3. How I changed my venture concept based on what I learned from the feedback

Based on my feedback, I decided to include the medical community into my target market because technology and medicine often overlap. Also, medicine is a huge market, and I think this will help cures get the necessary funding they deserve to help them get their product on the market.

In addition, I included my exit strategy to my venture concept, which was developed from our past assignment.