09Oct

Bootstrapping for Young Startup Entrepreneurs

Todd Crosland Young Startup EntrepreneurA recent article in Young Upstarts deliberates the developmental phase that every startup company goes through: taking the idea and implementing it into a real, tangible product that creates revenue. A lot of young entrepreneurs might turn to accelerator programs, venture capital, or angel investing. However, this leads to sacrificing equity and freedom at an early stage of their company, which isn’t necessarily ideal.

The term bootstrapping is where young entrepreneurs will max out their credit cards and turn their homes into permanent working locations where they work late nights and early mornings. The article continues to give five pieces of advice from entrepreneurs who have gone through the bootstrapping process and come out the other side.

The first words of advice are from Samuel Huber, founder of Betify. He states, “Budgeting is king.” It is important to know exactly how long your company can last without revenue and external investments. Huber says to create a month-by-month revenue log and multiply that by 1.5 to be on the safe side.

The next word of advice is from Martin Brinkmann, founder of Deez.io. His word of advice is “prioritize.” Prioritizing funds and development is crucial to getting the product out on the market. A lot of time could be wasted nitpicking on “your baby” when the product is ready to hit the market.

Steven Lammertink, founder of cirqle.nl, tells us to master the pitch. The products pitch is how an entrepreneur will let investors and high-profile individuals know about the product. It is important to have a strong pitch to act as a good first impression. The pitch should include what the product is, the market opportunity, and value propositions.

Entrepreneurs should take on investors on their own terms, says founder of chekk.me, Pascal Nizri. A startup needs to be at the right stage of development to take on investors. Entrepreneurs are ready to take on investors if they want to expand their business or receive mentorship. Bankruptcy and last resort should not lead an entrepreneur to seek investors.

The last piece of advice is from our very own, Todd Crosland, founder of Seed Equity Ventures. His advice is to preserver. Nowadays there are thousands of venture capitalists controlling the startup industry, but soon enough individual investors from all around the world will start influencing the startup industry more and more. There are more funding options in the future, so there will be plenty of more opportunities for entrepreneurs in the near future.

05Sep

Impressive Startups in Emerging Markets

Todd Crosland startup global entrepreneurshipForbes recently came out with a group of new tech startups that have the edge in their own perspective emerging markets. Seedstars World, an affiliate venture capital firm to Seedstars, created this list of emerging markets and dominating startups associated with these markets. There were 19 startup companies mentioned in the article in varying emerging markets.

The first emerging market mentioned is the fast-growing finance infrastructure market. The two startups mentioned for this industry were Accra and Remit.ug. Accra is a Ghana based startup that is developing an online payment platform based on Bitcoins. Remit.ug, based out of Uganda, is building a money transfer platform that allows people from all over the globe to transfer money to people in Africa with a simple click of a button.

The mobile is the next emerging market written about in the article. Many new startups are developing mobile at the beginning of their development stages now that mobile has fully developed as an emerging market. The startups mentioned in this emerging market were Blocks, ChannelKit, Manads, OkHi, StudyPact, and Krowdpop. Blocks is a Tehran based startup that developed their own smartwatch. ChannelKit, from Moscow, is Pinterest for links. Manads is based out of Baku, Azerbaijan and developed advertising for after call screens. OkHi, based out of Nairobi, is developing physical addresses for every cell phone. StudyPact is a Tokyo-based startup that pays students for meeting their study goals, while charging them for not reaching their study goals. Krowdpop is a crowdfunding platform for pop music in South Korea.

Another emerging market in the discussion is mobile delivering services. These services make it easier for the consumer to obtain a good or service by just using their cell phone. Washbox24 is based out of Bangkok, and they use communal locker locations as drop-off points for customer’s laundry.

Fixing world-class issues is another emerging market that multiple startup companies are focusing on. These companies are replacing old technology with new technology to fix the bigger problems facing certain environments. The startups in this category are Khusela, KinTrans, myVLE, and Green Energy. Khusela is based out of Cape Town and is developing a low-budget fire alarm system for slum environemnts. KinTrans, based out of Dubai, is working on their platform that translates sign language in real time, into voice and text. MyVLE, in Casablanca, is an online learning platform that uses SasS. Green Energy, in Nigeria, is developing the process that transforms solid waste into electrical energy and petroleum.

E-commerce is the final emerging market discussed in the article. With fast-growing economies, e-commerce is necessary for fast paced production. The startups for this category include Prisync, Triip, Scandid, Freesheh, Poeyek, and TorQue Workspace. Prisync, based out of Istanbul, is a b-to-b company that offers pricing analytics and tracking. Based out of Ho Chi Mihn, Triip is is a crowdsourcing platform for tours. Scandid, based out of Bangalore, allows its users to compare barcodes using their app. Feesheh is based out of Amman and allows its users to shop online for musical instruments. Poeyek, based out of Darkar, is developing a business management platform for small businesses. TorQue Workspace is a software company based out of Rwanda creating a platform to help wholesalers manage their distribution.

All 19 of these companies are developing their technologies in these emerging markets to hopefully obtain the global edge over their competitors.