Analysis: Veteran entrepreneur, author and blogger Joe Procopio explains how a new company can be launched without the necessity of outside funding. “Here are the three ways I did it,” he writes.
DURHAM, N.C. – I wear the customer-first badge. Proudly. I strongly believe raising money through customer sales is the best option, and in a lot of cases the only option.
In other words, I don’t want to have to ignore a great startup idea because it isn’t investable. I also believe that the vast majority of startup ideas aren’t investable, at least not initially. They could be massive successes—they just shouldn’t do it with VC money out of the gate.
That’s not to say I don’t believe in the VC model, far from it. I’ve been down that road half-a-dozen times now, and to be honest with you, it’s been a totally different ride each time. And it’s actually gotten better each time.
The most recent ride was (and is) with Automated Insights. We could not have done what we did and what we’re doing without a capital infusion. But we were careful to do it the right way.
We were also very lucky, because while it’s certainly clear that it’s no longer impossible for an early-stage startup to raise VC in North Carolina, it is still highly improbable. And even when it happens, it usually happens when there are already customers, revenue and solid management in place—all of those things that make VC less necessary.
This is not the Valley, where you can go unicorn on a dream, if you’re into that sort of thing.
So I’m customer-first, and you should be too. But as it is with a lot of entrepreneurial advice and punditry, everyone says customer first but no one actually tells you how to go customer first.
Thus, to right that wrong, here are the three ways I did it. These aren’t the only ways, these are just the ones that worked for me, and I’m not going to advise you to do something I haven’t already done.
Read the rest at:
http://exitevent.com/article/how-to-start-a-company-with-no-outside-investment-160222
