4 Things Your Startup Needs to Attract Investors

1. Have a Unique Idea With High Barriers to Entry

In order for venture capitalists or investors to justify the large risk they are taking with your company, you must offer them a fresh business venture that promises to fill a void in the marketplace

"Investors are looking to fund projects that are unique and can't be easily replicated.

"Venture capitalists are looking to fund projects that are unique and can't be easily replicated. Ideally, the technology or service can be patented or trademarked to give the startup some breathing room and really allow the business some time to gain traction and marketshare." Anyone can sell something online, but there are certain products that have yet to be developed — like the car battery that goes forever, or innovative, accessible and low cost energy sources, these are the ideas that investors would drool over — they are motivated by the next big thing like anyone else.

2. Develop a Compelling Value Proposition

Angel Investors and venture capitalist are really knowledgable in the startup space, so you must be able to show them why your business is different and better than each of your competitors. Showing Investors that you have a compelling value proposition is hugely important, and is often overlooked by first-time entrepreneurs. Michael Goldstein, founder of DC-based startup accelerator Exhilarator, stressed the importance of determining customer interest.
"My personal gauge when evaluating a startup is, would the target customer wait in line for five minutes to get access to the product/service, or would they abandon? If it took five minutes to download an app or to access a site, would the customer persist?"
Another important factor of creating a value proposition is scalability. Are there enough people interested to scale the business? Even if you have a really cool, unique idea, it's not fundable if it's not scalable. What market are you going after, and how large is it? Investors need to believe that the market opportunity is sizeable, and that your company can generate substantial revenue at scale. Prahar Shah, CEO and co-founder of Mobee, elaborated on the importance of recognizing the opportunities in your market of interest.

"Be sure to size the market correctly and educate the investor not only on how large your market opportunity is, but also why it's ripe for disruption.

"Be sure to size the market correctly and educate the investor not only on how large your market opportunity is, but also why it's ripe for disruption. When I asked one of Mobee's investors why he decided to back us, he quickly responded: 'You're going after one of the only billion-dollar industries — Mystery Shopping — that's still run on pen and paper!' " So, the takeaway is this: If your business is a product, demonstrate that people are willing to pay for it and have an unmet need that your product fills. If your business is a marketplace, be ready to show traction on both supply and demand sides.

3. Demonstrate Market Traction

In a competitive economy, it's important for a startup to show cognizance and relevance in their market. Early-stage VCs want to see a sizable market opportunity before writing a check, and startups can demonstrate this through a pilot or beta customers.
More importantly, startups should demonstrate the ability to convert that pilot into a paying customer. Nina Nashif, founder and CEO of Healthbox, believes that showing market traction is critical, and startups should be able to replicate the process of turning a pilot into a paying customer over and over again. "The greater the number and the quality of early customers displays the startup has the ability to grow past the initial interest from early adopters."

4. Assemble the Perfect Team

Some think that having the right team is the most important factor in attracting v capital funding. Startups rarely have the perfect product and market fit right away, and they will probably need t
o pivot based on customer needs, competitive factors and industry transformation.
Ryan Feit, CEO and co-founder of SeedInvest, an equity-based, crowdfunding platform that connects investors to high-quality startups told Mashable about the importance of finding the right team.
"Given the high degree of uncertainty associated with early-stage investing, VCs bet on the jockey over the horse because they need to have a high level of conviction that the team has the necessary skills, domain expertise and diversity to evolve just as quickly as the industry does."
So whether your team is made up of experienced entrepreneurs, or recent college graduates — as long as your team members have complementary skills with a track record of collaborating well, you should have a solid shot at attracting some venture capital funding.

Business Coach: How to Write a Funding Proposal

Business Coach: How to Write a Funding Proposal

How to Write a Funding Proposal

It is important to know how to write a funding proposal as this is your chance to convince potential funders that your business is run efficiently, that it is accountable and that it can achieve the objectives it sets.

How to write a fundingproposal that will have impact

Money

Before you begin to write your funding proposal, you need to do planning and research. You must be clear on the following:

• Know the requirements of the funder who will receive the proposal.
• Find a funder who has similar agenda to yours.
• What need is being met by the product or solution your business offers?
• What is the product or solution offered by your business?
• How does your product or solution meet the need defined above?
• How much will it cost to get your business idea off the ground?

Follow these hints on how to write a funding proposal

Be structured. If your proposal is well-thought out and ordered, it says a great deal about how you’ll run your business. The converse is also true.
Be persuasive. The aim of writing a funding proposal is to get someone to agree to give you money.
Be technically detailed and correct. This means you have to have done your homework.
Be brief and to the point. Convey the required information in a concise manner.

Funding proposal must-haves

Your proposal needs to include:
A summary will provide an overview of the project. It must identify the challenge that your business wishes to address, how you plan to address it, why you want to address it, how long it will take and how much it will cost.
The introduction gives an overview of your business that includes what your company is called, where it is based, what it does and who it employs. Include your vision and mission statement and company goals.
Provide detailed background information about the business that shows it is a good risk for the funder. It also provides information about the environment that your business operates in, including the market that it addresses. Here you can include a SWOT analysis of your company.
Project details describe exactly how your business plans to reach its goals. Be clear about your objectives and what it will take to reach them. Also list your resources, including staff and technology, that will help you achieve your goals. It’s also important to include how you will measure your progress. Give the relevant figures and refer to the supporting documents where required.
The conclusion will explain how the funds will be used and accounted for. Include the main budget items and once again, refer to supporting documents for more detail.  The budget is the financial plan that will control the allocation of funds. You need to research your costs to work out your budget, remembering to allow for contingencies.
Supporting documents and materials can include anything that may help the funder reach a decision. These can include financial information, legal documents and any other information about your company that you think will be relevant.

Cynthia: The vibrant farmer impacting the youth, promoting modern agribusiness

She was among the selected six to attend the 17th Ordinary Summit of the African Heads of State in Malabo in 2011, and was the last to speak. Not moved by the presence of seating presidents, she spoke ardently about the challenges that affect the young people in Africa, something she has worked on till date and remains passionate about.

“When an opportunity presents itself, we must make the best use of it. Sometimes we may be lucky to have a second chance, but sometimes we may not. So when a door has been opened, you must walk through it and make the best use of it,” she fires her opening salvo.

Vibrant, industrious and goal-oriented, Cynthia Umoru is my Inspiring Woman for this week. Cynthia Mosunmola Umoru, a Zoology graduate from the Lagos State University (LASU), is the founder of Honeysuckles PTL Ventures, a company engaged principally in farming, food production, processing and distribution – a company she started right out of college. The company recently launched its first flagship retail outlet under the Farmshoppe™ in Ikeja, Lagos.

Cynthia is creating a step-by-step process to help young people take up farming, and for schools, government, and businesses to provide the kinds of next generation services and products to move them through the process. For Cynthia, it is about influencing the younger ones positively and making them understand the importance of engaging in positive things, such as agriculture, by introducing them to modern agribusiness, an initiative she started in college and from which she has found great success. She also gets them started on the path to their own successful agribusinesses. “I am engaging schools, government, and businesses to understand how absent the infrastructure for participating in modern agriculture is, especially for youths.

If facilities are available, and infrastructure is in place, it will become easier to reach out to the youth who must indeed be convinced about something before venturing into it. When the facilities are not available, it becomes a challenge. Not daunted by all the inadequacies the environment poses, I am determined to inspire the youths because gradually, things are beginning to look up, attention is being given to agriculture, but a lot more needs to be done,” she reveals.

To date, Cynthia has convinced the Ministry of Agriculture in Lagos State to set up a training programme to teach business to young farmers, using one of her farms for research and training. She has also set up a programme for women farmers aged 16-35 to be trained through the Lagos Business School. She also works through existing youth organisations to continue her outreach to youth.

Cynthia’s outreach and training activities have been funded by her private venture, Honeysuckles PTL. However, as she expands, she is also pursuing grants from foundations and government.

If there is a project that is burning in Cynthia’s heart, it is the Abira Agricbusiness Support Project. Hear her talk about it: “This project provides services that include Agricultural Entrepreneurship Development, Accounting and Financial Management, Financial Brokering, Technical Training, Strategy Development, and Product Development. The reason for this is to make available a consistent support, from conception to implementation to evaluation. I believe strongly that Abira will serve as a concrete model and reference point of the kind of programme needed to really propel agriculture into the 21st century in Nigeria and many other parts of Africa.

“Farming, before now in Nigeria, was termed business of low-lives and with the barrier to entry being so high for young people to actively participate, but I am glad that that notion is gradually becoming a thing of the past as youths are beginning to embrace agriculture. If only we knew how rich we are as a nation agriculturally, we won’t concentrate too much on oil for economic development. I have decided to chart this course and I am positive that with the way things are going, in the nearest future, agriculture will be the in-thing; the earlier we catch the ‘bug’ the better. Come join me on this ‘train’. Nigeria is heading for a greater destination and with you and me, we can make that change, O yes we can!”

Umoru is an Alumnus of the Pan African University under the Enterprise Development Center (CEM), and an alumna of the US Department of State’s International Visitors Leadership Programme. She is a young Nigerian Ambassador and a youth advocate who serves as a Youth Consultant to the African Union Commission. She is a Goldman Sachs 10,000 women Scholar. She started ABIRA Agribusiness Support Project in 2009 and by November 2011, this initiative earned her the prestigious ASHOKA Fellowship. She is one of the 2012 NAIJA Diamonds

TOP 10 Powerful Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs

Think and behave like an Entrepreneur. Your attitude will determine your altitude.

Developing this mindset will make you and your business a great one. Below are the top ten secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs:

1.Vision

 Business starts with a VISION. All true business leaders are visionary. A successful entrepreneur must be a great dreamer and a visionary, who must be pregnant with productive ideas. One who sees into the future and believes in the vision.

2. Burning Desire

The motivation to start and run a business enterprise must be with a burning desire. A burning desire protects, it helps you to face challenges and obstacles which will present themselves during the period of building your own business. A burning desire makes it impossible to be convinced that your vision cannot come to pass. If you are not passionate about your business or dream, it will not come to pass.

3. Ability To Start Small

Entrepreneurs who start with too little capital are usually more successful than those who started with too much capital, because little capital produces more drive to produce more result.

Pastor E.A. Adeboye said in one of his teachings that “there is beauty in starting   small” God values little beginning.

 Small beginnings makes you learn to think fast, take quick and positive decisions. Any one of today’s tiny, part-time, home based businesses has the potential of becoming tomorrow’s giant conglomerate.

The Chairman of Peace Group of Companies (owners of Peace mass transit) started as  a bus conductor, and then moved to owning two buses; today he has the Largest Mini-bus transport company in Africa with over 3500 staffs on payroll.

4. Service-Oriented Mentality

If you want to be rich simply serve more people…Rich Dad.

Business is simply servicing the needs of people. Bill Gates and Larry Ellison did not join the rank of richest men in the world until they provided easy-to-use software for millions of individuals and businesses. Aliko Dangote did not become the richest black man in the world until he provided the basic needs of over 50 million Nigerians.

Ask not what your country can do for you; rather ask what you can do for your country…John F. Kennedy

5. Diligence

This demands that you work hard to accomplish your business dreams. The chancellor of Covenant University, Dr. David Oyedepo declares that “Diligence has no substitute”. Don’t just dream it, work it out. I learnt that Dr David Oyedepo works for average of eighteen hours a day,Aliko Dangote works on average of sixteen hours a day. The result is speaking.

Work harder, better, smarter, and longer.

6. Strategic Planning

Having decided on the business you intend to set up or what amount of money you intend to make, you will need to draw a business plan or financial strategy.

Planning simply means system of achieving objectives and goals or a method of doing something that is worked out in advance.

The book of proverbs says

“Every great enterprise is built by wise planning”

7. Risk Taking & Persistence

There is a direct relationship between the level of risk and the likelihood of success in the world of wealth creation. If you don’t take a step, you would not see the success. Business success is not an overnight event; you must persist and take the necessary risk before you breakthrough.

Thomas Edison tried 999times, but the breakthrough came at the 1000trial. Today, his company is one of the largest in the world.  The higher the risk, the greater the returns and also the greater the loss.

8. Innovative Thinking

Great men like Dr.David Oyedepo, Ben Carson, Sam Maduka Onyishi, Mark Zuckerberg,Steve Jobs have this has one of their core values. You must be an innovative thinker and you must be innovative in business to stay ahead.

Innovation is the capacity to create new approaches to deal with old challenges. Innovative thinking makes you a creative and innovative entrepreneur. Think outside the box, draft new strategies, and develop new ideas to run your business. Stop thinking ordinary!

9. Character Development

In your quest for business success, develop sound character that will speak well of you. The chairman of Peace Group of Companies Ltd (owners of Peace Mass Transit) once told my mentor (Chukwuemeka Asogwa) at the airport that rich people are in great need of people to trust. According to this businessman, Sam Maduka Onyishi, his Chinese business partners could release any number of goods for him without fear of betrayal or fraud. That’s Character, it is a Social Capital. Trust is one of the most valuable commodities in the market place. Be a business man with integrity and sound moral principles. Most people ask how character is developed, simple! Just make right choice and you have built Sound Character.

10. Goal- Setting

A goal is a guide to success; it helps like a road map, which shows us the routes to success. Every great business leader is a goal setter and a goal getter. Write short, medium and long term goals. The short term goals are immediate goals achievable within the next twelve months, while medium term goals are those attainable within a period of one year to three years. Long term goals are goals that are envisaged to be attained within three to five years.

One unique goal that drives any entrepreneur is financial goal. You need to imagine   how much you plan to make in the next one year for your short-term financial goal and  in three years for your medium term financial goal and how much money you intend to be worth in four years time for your long term financial goal.

Learn More about this Topic,You can Order the Book ,START YOUR OWN BUSINESS  by Christian D.Ani  .e-mail:mymoneymachineworld@gmail.com

Online Business And Online Jobs –What Is The Difference And Which Is Better

from nairacow.com

There are online businesses and there are online jobs.

It is important to know the difference between them and know the one that is best to go after.

Online Jobs

Just like jobs offline ,there are online jobs. online jobs include doing work and getting paid for just that particular job or for the time used to do the particular job done.
Examples of online jobs are :

• Data entry
• Article writing for a fee
• Graphic design for a fee
• Proof reading
• Fiver jobs
• Coders
• Programmers who program for others
• Many freelancers

Or generally , anything you get paid for only when you do it.
Is there anything wrong with online jobs ?
Nah…not really.
Many people do well with online jobs…
It does work…but it is not something I do or recommend.
I prefer to have a real business.

Online Businesses

This involves selling a product or a service…and usually involves owning online assets.
Assets like :

1. Websites
2. Blogs
3. forums
4. Info products
5. Softwares

With online businesses you can make money using many models . models like  :

1. Third party advertising (Google Adsense Adverts , Ad Dynamo)
2. Banner adverts
3. Sell your own products
4. Sell your own Services
5. Affiliate commissions from selling other people’s products and services

Online business can be sold later for a large profit and require you to invest and build it up to profitability.
It is usually more profitable in the long-term than online jobs.

Can One Have Online Jobs And Business At The Same Time?

Yes you can.
It is like having a day job and a business at the same time.
But I will advice that  you try to add an online business /asset to whatever you do online.
Something that can make you money without you having to work again and again.
Like  I said before ,there are many online business models but …the most popular and the easiest is … build a blog/site that you can make money with via advertisement.( you can make money using other business models on the same online asset)
….And advertisement could be Google Adsense or other third-party advertising programs (AdDynamo) or by selling adverts directly to advertisers .

People With  Online Businesses And Assets In Nigeria.

1. NairaLand.com …used to make money with Google Adsense but  now sells adverts as direct banners ads
2. LindaIkeji.blogspot.com - Although she is using a free blog ,she has managed to build an asset with it. She makes money with third-party adverts (Google Adsense) and direct adverts from advertisers.

There are many other Nigerian websites and blogs making money using model …and these is building an asset ….not doing an online job.
It is up to you to decide what you want to do …but my advice is that you should build an online business around your online assets . Don’t depend solely on online jobs .
Thank you.
SOURCE : www.nairacow.com

11 Inspiring Quotes From Sir Richard Branson

The iconic Virgin Group founder seems to have done it all. Now he explains how to start a company from pennies, when to "snoop around," and his trouble saying "no."

Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group--an empire of more than 400 companies that includes an airline, a mobile phone company, and a credit card company.

1. "A business can be started with very little money."

When Branson was 15 years old, he decided he wanted to start a magazine to give young people a way to speak out against the Vietnam War. He didn't have any money--not even enough change to make a phone call. But when his mom found a necklace and turned it over to the police, nobody claimed it. So she sold the necklace, and gave Branson a couple hundred dollars. That money enabled him to bring on advertisers, which led him to start printing his publication.

2. "Consider getting smaller in order to get bigger."

Rather than grow his original record business exponentially larger, Branson instead set up 30 different record companies. Rather than have a few top managers overseeing layers upon layers of people below them, some lower-level employees became managers of those smaller entities. A hearty spirit of competition developed. Branson attributes this strategy's success to the fact each company knew directly and immediately when it had succeeded, and when it had stumbled. Virgin today is a huge entity with more than $20 billion in revenue--but Branson's original strategy has been retained in that it also is a series of smaller companies.

3. "You can be a David vs. a Goliath, if you get it right."

When Branson launched Virgin Atlantic, it had tough competitors such as TWA, Pan Am, and Air Florida. "I mention these names," said Branson, "because none of them exist anymore." Why'd the others fail? The others didn't focus on the customer, Branson said.

4. "A business is simply an idea to make other people's lives better."

Branson explained this is what drives him as an entrepreneur: "If you can make peoples lives a lot better, you've got a really good business."

5. "Unless you dream, you're not going to achieve anything."

Branson is funding Virgin Galactic to make space travel more accessible to average people--even if it would still cost an individual a couple hundred thousand dollars. Because governments have traditionally overseen space travel, only a select and elite (and very small) group of people have been into space in the last six decades. Branson is trying to change that. "People in this room under the age of 50," Branson said, "if they want to go to space will be able to go to space in their lifetime."

6. "You can get too close with a doctor, or banker, and not realize you should actually snoop around."

When he launched Virgin Atlantic, Branson found a manager at his bank on his doorstep one Friday evening in a complete panic, questioning how someone in the record business could launch an airline. The banker said he would foreclose on the whole Virgin Group that Monday. "I just pushed the bank manager out of my house and told him he wasn't welcome," Branson said. He then explained that, in a state of "half-anger, half-fear," he spent the weekend asking people he knew to chip in to help him gather the money he needed upfront. And the next week he changed banks--something he should have done much earlier (he even got a better package from the new bank).

7. "Detail is very important."

Richard Branson carries a notebook at all times, so he can write down conversations. He doesn't want to forget on, say, a Virgin Atlantic flight, what his customers or staff tell him. He brings the notebook along when he visits out-of-town teams and goes out with them. "When I get drunk with staff, I won't remember, so I'll definitely write it down," he laughed.

8. "You can create a business, choose a name, but unless people know about it you're not going to sell any products."

When Virgin Atlantic was getting started, it was so much smaller than its competitors that Branson went to extraordinary lengths to put the brand on the map, including stunts like attempting to get a boat across the Atlantic in the shortest period of time. "Luckily when it sank, the Virgin brand was sticking out of the water," he joked. Likewise, when Branson tried to be the first to cross the Atlantic in a hot air balloon, it was rescued by helicopters--but Virgin was all over the newspapers.

9. "Find somebody else to run your business on a day-to-day basis."

Branson recommends you should be brave enough to find somebody else to run all the day-to-day, and nitty-gritty details of your company, and then step aside and work from home for a while, so you can start to think about bigger picture--or your next business.

10. "Protect against the worst eventualities. Make sure you know what they are."

Ask yourself when you embark on a new venture if you can afford the absolute worst-case scenario, and then just go on and do it. "You may say, 'OK, I feel so sure about it I will mortgage the house.' I have done that against my wife's wishes on two or three occasions," he said. 

"Sometimes you'll fall flat on your face, sometimes you won't," he added.

11. "I think because I have great difficulty saying the word, 'no,' almost every day's a different adventure."

Branson's not one for taking it slow. Or turning down opportunities--even if they mean jetting around the world and back.