Description
You will discover how today’s guest bootstrapped his company by talking to businesses in person so he could scale his learnings digitally. Now he has raise a bit of investment money and you will want to hear his lessons on funding and things you should stay away from.
Ian Naylor is the CEO & Founder of AppInstitute.
Show Notes
Lessons on Funding
Funding is a double-edged sword as it can be your happiest moment as well as your hardest. Ian’s company was bootstrapped from 2011 – 2013 and when they pursued growth, they looked for funding to give them the additional capital. Ian shares that it was a completely different ball game when he started and if you are new to this, dealing with investors really was like being in a piranha pit. The learning curve was steep and in their first round, they agreed to an exclusive negotiation period which got dragged out. It became very stressful as they were literally days away from being out of cash. They were naïve back then as they realized now that signing these exclusive deals means that your hands are tied.
Being Tied Up in an Exclusive
If you are negotiating in a one-horse race, there is only going to be one winner and that’s not going to be you. Negotiation is all about leverage so create an impression that you still have cards under your table. Signing an exclusive strips you away of your leverage so avoid any period of exclusivity as much as you can.
Show Mention
– Fav app:
- Tinder: (iTunes | Google Play)
- SEO Edge: (iTunes)
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