Going Global in the Best Way

27May

Going Global in the Best Way

May 27, 2016 by Todd Crosland

Few startup companies are able to become the perfect blend of profitable, unique, and philanthropic. Usually, they are just two of the three. However, some startups have created a product, and are driven by a mission, that helps them be all three. One such company is Proof Eyewear. This startup is run by three brothers from rural Idaho, who grew up around sawmills. Now, these brothers own a wooden eyewear company that has taken its mission all over the world.

The company was initially begun with the desire to create eyeglasses using sustainable materials. Having come from a family of sawmill workers, they were already quite familiar with raw materials. They first experimented with a pair of wooden sunglasses. The concept only grew from there. Proof morphed from a company operated out of a garage to one operating all over the world, and they launched in 2010.

One of the most interesting things about this company is that it is managing to make money in a world filled with eyewear companies using plastic. It is doing this by branching out from wood to use other sustainable materials as well. For example, the company produces glasses made from recycled aluminum and cellulose acetate as well. These materials allow eyeglass frames to be shaped in a number of different ways, as opposed to the blocky frames that are made with wood.

While Proof excels at product development and fundraising, it also has delved deeply into entrepreneurial philanthropy. It has adopted a give-back policy in which a percentage of its profits is donated to eye-based nonprofits and camps all over the world. It also partners with other eye-based companies all over the world, ones that are also making revenue, to provide a philanthropic service. Furthermore, it funds trips to the countries in which its philanthropy is practiced for all employees. The founders of the company believes it is important for their employees to be deeply entrenched in the mission of the company. Therefore, anybody in the company can go see the work Proof is funding firsthand.

This has created a company culture of sustainability, closeness, and giving back to the community. No wonder Proof was able to start a new line via the popular crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter. What is more impressive is that this global organization was started on just $15,000 dollars. Each of the brothers donated $5,000 of their dollars to get Proof up and running.
Proof’s business model is one for which more startup companies should aim. Their perfect blend of product, profit, and philanthropy has helped them a great deal with fundraising, and will most likely keep them generating revenue into the foreseeable future.

20Apr

Doing One Thing Well

April 20, 2016 by Todd Crosland

Historically, file sharing startups have not done well. While attempting to disrupt the file sharing industry, many companies build out their platforms to include too many other tools. One such platform could have not only the ability to transfer files, but also a collaboration aspect, amongst other things. This is distracting, raises prices, and becomes the ultimate reason why such startups fail. One Dutch file-sharing startup, however, seems to have figured things out. The company WeTransfer has successfully disrupted the technological industry by keeping their product simple. Through WeTransfer, people are allowed to share large files, and nothing else.

WeTransfer quickly grew after being created, as shown by it reaching profitability in 2015. The company now has 80 million users and is preparing a move to the United States. When using WeTransfer, a person does not even have to sign up to send anything that is 2GB and smaller. To send files above 2GB, a user must sign up for a premium service that costs only $12/month. However, the company makes sure not to push any users toward signing up for their premium service. With this service and the extensive advertising on their website, they are able to make a large amount of money.

Currently, WeTransfer is experiencing a demand in the United States from creative people, such as designers. Therefore, the company is planning to open up an office in Los Angeles and take on some already lucrative startups in this country. Of course, it will come with challenges. Startups such as Hightail, formerly YouSendIt, have shifted their focus to appeal more to creative people. WeTransfer will have to shift its marketing to appeal to more Americans. They are, however, hoping the ease involved in their marketing at home will carry over.

It will be interesting to see how WeTransfer fits into the Los Angeles startup community, but their move to the United States should not overshadow the progress they have already made. This is a company that does not actively push a paid product onto its customers, and created its platform without the bells and whistles that other platforms may use to attempt to stay current. Rather, WeTransfer is focused on transferring files. They began their platform, found this one thing that they were really good at, and stuck with it.

A focus on what works above constant expansion should be a trend followed by more startup companies.

04Jan

Continuous Crowdfunding

January 4, 2016 by Todd Crosland

Peak Design is a San Francisco-based startup company that generates accessories for small cameras. It recently just finished a Kickstarter campaign to launch its newest product, the Everyday Messenger Bag. The Kickstarter finished on a great note, with a countdown and celebration.

Interestingly enough, this is not Peak Design’s first Kickstarter campaign. In fact, it is its fifth. The company has been using Kickstarter to launch its new products since it first formed. The founder sees it as a great way to not only raise more money, but also to rope in initial customers who are already excited about the product. It seems to work, as Peak Design is doing very well.

Also, the company refuses to take on venture capitalists. This may seem counterintuitive, but Peter Dering, the owner of the company. wants to maintain his control of Peak Design. Their work model may not fit in with the work model of a venture capitalist, as Dering is constantly working from remote locations and employees are not given specific times in which they must be at work. They are encouraged to get out in the world and be active instead. Despite this, the company’s sales tripled in 2015 and, within its first year, Peak Design was profitable.

Dering’s launch of his company occurred at an ideal time. He created his first product, a clip that locks cameras to belts so they do not swing around, when Kickstarter was beginning to become a household name. Dering saw the investment platform as a built-in marketing plan for his products, and, $13 million in sales later, he still thinks along those lines.

Apparently, fully formed companies returning to websites like Kickstarter with new products is not an uncommon practice. However, Peak Design is part of the 1% that has gone back to the website 5 or more times. This is not for lack of trying, however. Peak Design got all it could with its credit out of a bank for its new product before going back to Kickstarter. The money from the bank would have only allowed them to order 5,000 bags, but using Funding Circle and Kickstarter gave them the money to order 45,000 bags. They would not have been able to do this otherwise without a venture capitalist, or having to sell a part of the company.

Overall, Kickstarter and platforms like it have proven to be a great resources for launching companies, and startup companies that have already launched. Startup founders like Dering prefer working in close-knit teams without any backer influence, which is exactly what crowdfunding has allowed him to do.

Whether or not this is sustainable in the long run has yet to be seen.

For more information on Peter Dering and Peak Design, check out this article in Forbes.

24Nov

Startups Embracing Washington as Simply Part of the Job

November 24, 2015 by Todd Crosland

In the early days, tech companies like Google and Microsoft could make it a point of pride not to be involved with Washington politics. They were companies perceived as independent from, or even above politics and politicians. Now, in the golden age of the tech startup, leaders are having to not only accept Washington lobbying as a part of their operation, but embrace it.

According to the New York Times, startups have received a special kind of attention this year. Uber and AirBnb, two immensely popular convenience apps and startup companies have been in the public spotlight after facing a barrage of questions about their operations. Uber in particular ended up in long legal battles with the taxi companies of various cities. Startups that focus on large-scale innovations have gotten the message and are folding it into their day-to-day. Zenefits for example, an online benefits manager, is only two years old but is a member of two trade groups and has hired lobbyists and public relations strategists from the Obama administration.

“For these new companies, the scale of innovation is so big and impactful they necessitate interacting with Washington writ large,” said Kenneth Baer, a former spokesman for the Office of Management and Budget who now advises Zenefits. “There are huge amounts of questions that society has to grapple with that didn’t exist before.”

While overall money spent lobbying has decreased slightly over the last five years, for startups and young tech companies, it has tripled to $47.5 million. It’s hard to say what the effect has been so far, but for Uber and AirBnb at least, it has let them keep growing. For many startups though, the goal of lobbying in the short term is simply to create good will.

Coinbase, a digital currency platform, is one company who knew they would need to look for help in Washington right away. Knowing that finance is a highly regulated industry, they hired John Collins, former senior advisor to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee as their 50th employee. He is now their head of government affairs.

Mr. Collins has to prepare talking points about Bitcoin and regularly meets with officials at the Treasury Department, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Trade Commission and multiple congressional committees. Every month he and the company’s chief executive meet with government officials. “So much of what I do day in and day out is not even advocating for anything necessarily but talking to folks about the technology,” Mr. Collins said. Bitcoin remains a largely misunderstood concept among people and almost exclusively receives negative media attention.

Startups and tech companies are having to get into conversations with Washington earlier and earlier. Marcela Sapone, co-founder of Hello Alfred, has said she wants lawmakers to consider new regulations that would relieve companies from providing some costly benefits. Such a large change requires careful handling.

“Why are we engaging so early? Mostly because we had to,” she said. “We have no choice but to get into these conversations.”

16Jul

JOBS Act Giving Crowdfunding a Boost

July 16, 2015 by Todd Crosland

The JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act), a law that encourages the funding of U.S. small businesses and startups by easing various securities regulations, had the Reg A+ exemption go live on June 19th of this year. The exemption will further facilitate access to capital for smaller companies and provide investors with more investment options.

Smaller companies now have the opportunity to offer and sell up to $50 million in securities in an annual period, subject to eligibility, disclosure and reporting requirements. This is great news for startups and small businesses, of which 86 of the fasting growing startups in the U.S. call Utah home. Regarded as the next “Silicon Valley”, the state leads the Forbes 2014 list of top states to do business, and ranks third on CNBC’s list of the best states to do business.

Because of this, crowdfunding platforms, such as Seed Equity Ventures, are now closing the gap for entrepreneurs working to raise capital in the early stages of their business. Giving them a direct lifeline to make it out alive past their seed stage. All the while, they are providing investors worldwide the option to get involved with compelling new opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t normally find.

The introduction of crowdfunding into the financial landscape of today has created an easy exchange of capital between businesses and their investors through its efficiency in getting key information out to the masses. And the numbers don’t lie.

Last year saw a 167 percent increase in money raised for companies and individuals via crowdfunding; that’s a $15.1 billion jump from 2013. Over $250 million of that came directly from venture capitalists and strategic investors.

Startups with even the greatest potential who choose to not go the crowdfunding route often find themselves struggling to stay afloat in their early stages, namely the seed stage. This is because most venture capitals and institutions are more inclined to make an investment in a smaller business once it’s already been established in the marketplace and seeking to expand.

07May

Crowdfunding – Democracy to the Business World

May 7, 2015 by Todd Crosland

Todd Crosland Growth As the financial landscape continues to develop, and money can more easily travel from investors to businesses, certain products that show great promise see a greater chance of spotlight. Any start-up today would be remiss to overlook opportunities for crowdfunding in a technologically powered, democratically run world.

Crowdfunding is the easiest way for young entrepreneurs who are trying to introduce their idea to reach their funding goals through mass communication with and access to individual investors and investment firms. Because of crowdfunding, small ventures can reach mainstream appeal with relative ease.

The availability of funds helped Utah-based DemoChimp reach its financial goals by providing a connection to the outside. Businesses in Utah often struggle to reach the hotspots of angel investing (for example New York) and require crowdfunding efforts more than the average start-up. The newest in the digital community is DemoChimp. DemoChimp is primarily a business-to-business Software as a Service program that creates automated demonstrations of a product based on input criteria designated important by the customization of the user. It separates itself from more simple powerpoint slide introductions by designing mobile and visually interactive versions of a product for consensus-based presentation. It self-describes as software that “automates custom product demos to accelerate sales.” Its goal is to expedite, and nearly bypass, the process of manually arranging product demos to increase the adaptability of a typically, or formerly crystallized process. It is a highly organized form of data consolidation in a rapidly accelerating field. DemoChimp has already shown greater agility and dissemination of information with users feeling more comfortable about the priorities they can set for certain pieces or aspects of information. DemoChimp responds to the needs of the individual while representing the offerings of a business. It is cloud accessible and continues to facilitate the traveling of information across and outside of company lines.

DemoChimp & Crowdfunding

DemoChimp exemplified the essential benefit of crowdfunding by successfully raising almost $3 million from varied capital investors. It did this with the help of Albion Financial, Peak Ventures, and Seed Equity, a worldwide broker dealer and funding firm most affiliated with investments in start-up companies and digital campaigns. Seed Equity’s interest means a lot for DemoChimp, as the crowdfunding firm brandishes a personal mission of connecting the most promising business opportunities with global institutional and individual investors. This money raised from friends, related personnel, private investors, and large firms have established DemoChimp as a major player in the realm of business-to-business transactions.

The product continues to expand as it ventures into user-based automation, intelligently designing a demo around the specific demands of the viewer. Reports show that the artificial intelligence is embryonic but positively developing. This money raised from venture capital will be directed toward advancements in the software’s intelligence and marketing capacities. It will seek to find a balanced medium of granularity to assure maximum speed of operation with minimum overhead of communication. Funds not spent on the technical and operational components of the product will be directed toward new leads and customer acquisition. DemoChimp is already being operated by top corporations such as Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard, and its expansion into the non-digital realms is imminent.