good stuff thread.

[EEVILMURRAY]

As my girlfriend and I do, slammed on Gems TV for a bit of can't-afford shopping and streamed it online on the off chance I could buy the missus something for Christmas. It was Diamond Day and would probably gotten EEVILs if I didn't. For a bit of fun I thought I'd check out the vacancies and they had a few going. Although the presenter one was temptedings, I think I'd steal all the other presenters' business ¬_¬ so opted for the technical operative role.

 

Never expected I'd be offered an interview O_O...

 

Downside is that it's in Redditch so would have to get my public transportation on and cha-cha-real smooth down there if I can.

[The Bard]

Master's is going pretty well, not quite as tough as I was expecting, but the workload is a total bitch. I've just had to read the entirety of Jerry Fodor's "Modularity of Mind," Seventy pages of abstruse Epistemology and a couple of papers on "Quality Adjusted Life Years" (or "The Attempt to Whittle Ethical and Economical Issues in Distributive Healthcare Down to a Number) in the space of one week, while having no former formal education in either Philosophy, Politics or Economics.

 

Also, today is the first time I've spent more than two hours in my own house this week. I feel so energetic and buzzing with cool ideas. So great

[Charlie]

I had an idea for a business at the weekend. I started crunching some numbers last night and they came out very favourably. Only sticking point is that I need £50,000 investment as an absolute minimum.

[Emma]

As my girlfriend and I do, slammed on Gems TV for a bit of can't-afford shopping and streamed it online on the off chance I could buy the missus something for Christmas. It was Diamond Day and would probably gotten EEVILs if I didn't. For a bit of fun I thought I'd check out the vacancies and they had a few going. Although the presenter one was temptedings, I think I'd steal all the other presenters' business ¬_¬ so opted for the technical operative role.

 

Never expected I'd be offered an interview O_O...

 

Downside is that it's in Redditch so would have to get my public transportation on and cha-cha-real smooth down there if I can.

 

I thought only old people watched those programs! Well done on the interview though!

[MoogleViper]

I had an idea for a business at the weekend. I started crunching some numbers last night and they came out very favourably. Only sticking point is that I need £50,000 investment as an absolute minimum.

 

Thought about Kickstarter or some other such crowdsourcing funding? You could offer a share in the business.

[Raining_again]

one of my friends gifted me terraria! <3

[Charlie]

Thought about Kickstarter or some other such crowdsourcing funding? You could offer a share in the business.

 

Yeah I have, CrowdCube and Seedr seem to be the main players in the equity crowdfunding business. The thing about those sites is that if you want to raise the finance you need to have a fantastic looking pitch with a highly produced video. This costs money and offers no return if you don't get the funding (apart from having the video for the future). Obviously if you do get the money then that's great and you'll give away less equity than the below.

 

My preferred route is to go to Venture Capitalists and pitch to them. I've been speaking to some colleagues at work who deal with VC and fund services and they've given me some great advice on the numbers I'd need to be on after 5 years. I think this could be achievable. I would need to get around 0.75% of the market after 4-7 years for them to be interested. With investment, this is definitely a possiblity.

 

My idea is highly scalable and in a growing market place (it was worth £6bn a year ago and estimated to grow to £8bn 2 years after that publication date). There are some competitors but nothing that offers all the features that I want to offer. I hope that both of these points would encourage someone to invest in the idea.

 

From my projections the highest deficit I have would be £48k which would come in month 5. This is due to the large outlay at the start (I budgeted £25k for web dev, this may be more - my next step is to get some estimates from development companies). A full time office admin would be employed from month 4 to handle the phone and incoming inquiries who works in the office (~£1000 / month from month 4) but would be starting to turn a profit due to expansion across the country.

 

Marketing and salary costs would ramp up to the £48k negative figure (along with other things such as phone bills, hosting costs (need a cloud platform for scalability) and other random things in month 5.

 

If more than £50k is raised, which is preferable, the company would be taking on business development managers as well from month 4 (or whenever the office lease is finalised).

[EEVILMURRAY]

I thought only old people watched those programs! Well done on the interview though!

 

I would've thought it would be more of the QVC things, but that episode of South Park did have only old people in... Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself in my years.

[MoogleViper]

Yeah I have, CrowdCube and Seedr seem to be the main players in the equity crowdfunding business. The thing about those sites is that if you want to raise the finance you need to have a fantastic looking pitch with a highly produced video. This costs money and offers no return if you don't get the funding (apart from having the video for the future). Obviously if you do get the money then that's great and you'll give away less equity than the below.

 

My preferred route is to go to Venture Capitalists and pitch to them. I've been speaking to some colleagues at work who deal with VC and fund services and they've given me some great advice on the numbers I'd need to be on after 5 years. I think this could be achievable. I would need to get around 0.75% of the market after 4-7 years for them to be interested. With investment, this is definitely a possiblity.

 

My idea is highly scalable and in a growing market place (it was worth £6bn a year ago and estimated to grow to £8bn 2 years after that publication date). There are some competitors but nothing that offers all the features that I want to offer. I hope that both of these points would encourage someone to invest in the idea.

 

From my projections the highest deficit I have would be £48k which would come in month 5. This is due to the large outlay at the start (I budgeted £25k for web dev, this may be more - my next step is to get some estimates from development companies). A full time office admin would be employed from month 4 to handle the phone and incoming inquiries who works in the office (~£1000 / month from month 4) but would be starting to turn a profit due to expansion across the country.

 

Marketing and salary costs would ramp up to the £48k negative figure (along with other things such as phone bills, hosting costs (need a cloud platform for scalability) and other random things in month 5.

 

If more than £50k is raised, which is preferable, the company would be taking on business development managers as well from month 4 (or whenever the office lease is finalised).

 

Sounds like you've got a thorough financial plan. That's good. The amount of people who just pluck some sales projection out of their arse and then get all uppity when the VC gets dismissive, because they don't "see the vision".

 

Another thing to look at would be business angels. Harder to get (a lot less of them around) but they can be much more flexible; VC's can be very restricting and controlling in your business.

 

Of course, there's always the Dragons...

 

 

Am I right to assume that you're keeping this a closely guarded secret? I'd love to know what you're idea is if you're willing to share. (That is assuming it's not an idea that can easily be stolen.)

[bob]

Yeah tell us your idea, we've got pretty much everything we'll need to pitch it to someone ourselves.

[Iun]

I've just been informed that I have successfully completed my Master's Degree with Merit!

 

Addendum: Mrs Iun still managed to find a way to fucking ruin it by being selfish.

[bob]

Congratulations Iun MSc (MBA? MA?)

[Charlie]

Sounds like you've got a thorough financial plan. That's good. The amount of people who just pluck some sales projection out of their arse and then get all uppity when the VC gets dismissive, because they don't "see the vision".

 

Another thing to look at would be business angels. Harder to get (a lot less of them around) but they can be much more flexible; VC's can be very restricting and controlling in your business.

 

Of course, there's always the Dragons...

 

 

Am I right to assume that you're keeping this a closely guarded secret? I'd love to know what you're idea is if you're willing to share. (That is assuming it's not an idea that can easily be stolen.)

 

To be honest, there's not much more you can do that pluck numbers out of your arse. I tried to be as reasonable as possible. For Month 1 I put in 1 customer, month 2 2 customers and then grew them gradually from there. I think they are quite reasonable.

 

Angel Investors - I was actually warned off them for the reasons you said about VCs. I think both are definitely something to look at as the investment I would like isn't easy to come by.

[MoogleViper]

To be honest, there's not much more you can do that pluck numbers out of your arse. I tried to be as reasonable as possible. For Month 1 I put in 1 customer, month 2 2 customers and then grew them gradually from there. I think they are quite reasonable.

 

True, but there are other things you can consider first, so it's more of an educated guess. Things like considering the possible size of the market, looking at how quickly other companies grow, looking at how many people you can realistically reach (it's fine forecasting x millions of sales, but if you aren't doing any marketing...). Also forecasting costs along with revenue, and more importantly, cash flow. It's OK saying you can do this that and the other in month 3, but if you won't have the cash available until month 5 then you won't be able to do it.

 

As for Angels, they can be either very hands-on or very hands-off, all down to the individual. Obviously that makes finding one harder, but if you definitely don't want to relinquish control then it's certainly an avenue to consider, as VCs will definitely want a certain amount of control. They usually put somebody on the board (when you get one).

[drahkon]

University is fucking awesome.

 

I've finished school four years ago and I have to re-learn all the stuff that gets covered in the first few lectures - stuff that most of the people I study with still know, because they just finished school. I feel old

 

Anyway, it's great. I have chemistry, maths, biology of the cell and an introductory course in biotechnology. I love it.

 

And what's even greater: The people are amazing. I met so many and pretty much all of them are fun

Lots of parties in the last two weeks, one more to come next Tuesday.

 

Life's good.

[EEVILMURRAY]

I've just been informed that I have successfully completed my Master's Degree with Merit!

 

Addendum: Mrs Iun still managed to find a way to fucking ruin it by being selfish.

What did you do this time?

[Sméagol]

We’re getting fibre.

[Iun]

What did you do this time?

 

I told her and her first reaction was: "In my culture, when someone receives an award they take all their family out for dinner and pay for it." "Um... That's the exact opposite of where I come from." "Well, you're in China so yo-WHO ARE YOU TEXTING?" "My friends and family to let them know I passed..."

 

Anyway, this is the Good Stuff thread.

[Charlie]

True, but there are other things you can consider first, so it's more of an educated guess. Things like considering the possible size of the market, looking at how quickly other companies grow, looking at how many people you can realistically reach (it's fine forecasting x millions of sales, but if you aren't doing any marketing...). Also forecasting costs along with revenue, and more importantly, cash flow. It's OK saying you can do this that and the other in month 3, but if you won't have the cash available until month 5 then you won't be able to do it.

 

As for Angels, they can be either very hands-on or very hands-off, all down to the individual. Obviously that makes finding one harder, but if you definitely don't want to relinquish control then it's certainly an avenue to consider, as VCs will definitely want a certain amount of control. They usually put somebody on the board (when you get one).

 

I have a set aside a large marketing budget within my figures. The numbers I've put down (and the associated loss by month 5) are put in without any investment. I've been working out numbers for different amount of investment given so I know, and can show, where I should be at any given point. The more investment I gain the more rapidly I want to expand at the start.

[Ellmeister]

I have a set aside a large marketing budget within my figures. The numbers I've put down (and the associated loss by month 5) are put in without any investment. I've been working out numbers for different amount of investment given so I know, and can show, where I should be at any given point. The more investment I gain the more rapidly I want to expand at the start.

 

Do you need an accountant?

[bob]

Or an engineer?

[Mr_Odwin]

Or someone who does IT? (I mean @Ashley of course.)

[Iun]

Or someone who does IT? (I mean @Ashley of course.)

 

 

 

Or someone who will embezzle everything but leave you with just enough to make a bare bones profit?

[MoogleViper]

Or someone who...

 

 

...is ginger?

[Charlie]

Well there's one definite "No" in that list.