🎥 The Morning Meeting Video
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Where Does an Entrepreneur Start?
“Where to find capital?” is one of the many questions that can weigh heavily on entrepreneurs’ minds as they are getting new business ventures off the ground. Honestly- 30 mins ago I had a call with a founder who just closed a $2M raise and with potential choppy economic waters on the horizon, they are wondering if they should try and find another $1-2M, just “because”. There are the traditional avenues of bank loans, credit cards, and venture capital, but some interesting stories come from those founders who have taken non-standard routes to funding. After all, not everyone can make the cut for Y-Combinator’s annual graduating class. Most startups have to improvise.
Take it Digital
One example of a non-traditional funding source is Bloomnation, which is an online marketplace that matches up florists and customers to create and send custom flower bouquets across the US. This is perfect for those situations where you want to send a token of your affection to that hottie you met online, who is definitely real and not at all catfishing you.
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The company was founded in 2011 by David Daneshgar, Gregg Weisstein, and Farbod Shoraka with seed money won in a poker tournament. The three founders traveled to Los Angeles for a tournament with a $30K prize, and while Daneshgar played cards, Weisstein and Shoraka sat near the tables coding away at the website. It came down to a Mike McDermott/Teddy KGB style showdown at the end and Daneshgar won the day- claiming $30K to launch the company.
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Now before you go getting any big ideas of heading off to Vegas, or even worse, Atlantic City, and putting your investment capital to “work” on the tables, know that this was no fluke. Daneshgar was basically a poker pro, having won the World Series of Poker in 2008. Let’s just hope he wasn’t one of those guys that wears sunglasses and headphones inside the casino. If you’re going to play poker, try and look like James Bond instead of the Unabomber.
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The Bloomnation boys have come a long way from their crazy games of poker days, having raised $11M in their Series B funding round last February. With nearly $20M in total funding, and Andreessen Horowitz and B. Riley Financial as investors, something tells me they won’t need to go to the casino for a while.
As a potential Investor for any Startup, one of the key components we look at is the Founder. A founder with good management, “skin in the game” and the ability to pivot when needed is usually a founder willing to make the best decision for all parties. Anyone can have a good story to tell of the past, but it’s the future you are investing in. It’s also not a bad thing when a founder has a little bit of “crazy” in them, because this entrepreneurial ride is not for the faint at heart. Now- what time does my flight take off for Vegas? I just had a great idea for a new startup…
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Boardroom Investing and Ally Wefunder
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5 Community Rounds to checkout 👀
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