How to find angel investors

Bathroomly

Hi Folks

I am in the process of developing an online start up and was wondering if any of you could possibly give me advice on finding funding or angel investors.

I have a solid business model, full business plan, all my research complete, product in development, company created and bank accounts sorted... But now it's time to raise the funds to get off the ground.

I have looked into getting loans, but after just recently losing my job (due to the company I was contracting to fell into administration) I cannot repay a loan - unless the payments were deferred - which banks don't allow.

I applied to the NDRC Launch pad and made it to the second round, now I am just waiting to hear back. I have also applied to the Young Entrepreneurs competition held by the local enterprise offices, but this doesn't take off for a while.

I looked into the LEO offices, but you always need to put in some money to get something out - and now jobless, with my husband working in the UK to pay the bills, I am left without anything to put forward.

Does anyone have any ideas of where or how to raise funds?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

TheFin

check out linked finance

Graham

Without being too specific what sort of online business and how much are you looking to raise?

What will the finance be used for?

Bathroomly

@TheFin - Thanks very much - I looked at them not too long ago, but they also require immediate repayments.

@Graham - I am working on a online marketplace for the UK and Ireland. So essentially an Amazon for a vertical market.
I am looking to initially raise €100k, but a total of €250k is needed. Finance will be used to finish the development of the MVP, along with further development after the first 4 months of launch, my salary and marketing costs.

Graham

You are going to find it tough to raise money for a two sided marketplace unless you've started to make inroads with both sides of your target customers (suppliers and buyers).

Do you have experience of marketplaces or are you a known industry expert in your target vertical? Positive answers to either of those could help.

I'd also be wary of including your salary in the funding requirements, it raises the question 'what are you putting into the business'.

Avatar MIA

Bathroomly wrote: »

@TheFin - Thanks very much - I looked at them not too long ago, but they also require immediate repayments.

@Graham - I am working on a online marketplace for the UK and Ireland. So essentially an Amazon for a vertical market.
I am looking to initially raise €100k, but a total of €250k is needed. Finance will be used to finish the development of the MVP, along with further development after the first 4 months of launch, my salary and marketing costs.

You'll need to be able to detail where the €250k is going (I'm not asking you to do it here).

Are there other programmer costs other than yourself (again rhetorical). If not then can you complete it yourself over longer time.

An investor will likely only be willing to fund limited salary for yourself until the product is earning income, probably minimum wage.

1st question an investor will ask is how are you going to compete with the likes of Amazon with a sub €250k marketing budget.

You might get investors on this forum if you put forward a good enough proposal, but it's very public by its nature.

You could go down the crowd funding route or check out these guys

3ws.irishinvestmentnetwork.ie (can't link) BTW, I'm not endorsing this website.

Bathroomly

Graham wrote: »

You are going to find it tough to raise money for a two sided marketplace unless you've started to make inroads with both sides of your target customers (suppliers and buyers).

Do you have experience of marketplaces or are you a known industry expert in your target vertical? Positive answers to either of those could help.

I'd also be wary of including your salary in the funding requirements, it raises the question 'what are you putting into the business'.

I wouldn't say I am a KNOWN industry expert, but my team and I have worked within the market we're targeting for a few years now, and in e-commerce for well over 10 years.

I have started to make inroads with the suppliers, and am working on getting more signed up. With regards to the customer, this is split between trade and B2C, of which we have started building relationships with after conducting direct research.

Other than hard labor, I have no finances to put into this project. And I prefer to be transparent about this from the get go. It may pose as a stumbling block, yes I agree fully but unfortunately right now I can't do much about that.

Bathroomly

Avatar MIA wrote: »

You'll need to be able to detail where the €250k is going (I'm not asking you to do it here).

Are there other programmer costs other than yourself (again rhetorical). If not then can you complete it yourself over longer time.

An investor will likely only be willing to fund limited salary for yourself until the product is earning income, probably minimum wage.

1st question an investor will ask is how are you going to compete with the likes of Amazon with a sub €250k marketing budget.

You might get investors on this forum if you put forward a good enough proposal, but it's very public by its nature.

You could go down the crowd funding route or check out these guys

3ws.irishinvestmentnetwork.ie (can't link) BTW, I'm not endorsing this website.

Thanks for the link.
I have a full business plan which outlines where every penny will go, as well as advantages over completion. I have done my homework on this, and am confident that I have filled in all the gaps.

I am not looking for an investor here by the way I am simply asking about the process and how to go about it.

Graham

If you already have experience and you've put together your team, consider relocating your company to the UK where the tax benefits (EIS/SEIS) of seed/angel investments reduce the risks significantly for potential investors. This may not mean physically moving you and your team to the UK, you'd need to investigate.

Take a look at some of the crowdfunding sites like https://www.seedrs.com and explore the successful and unsuccessful campaigns. Look at the characteristics of both types of campaigns, paying particular attention to the campaign details, team details, investment requirements, equity on offer.

Bathroomly

Graham wrote: »

If you already have experience and you've put together your team, consider relocating your company to the UK where the tax benefits (EIS/SEIS) of seed/angel investments reduce the risks significantly for potential investors. This may not mean physically moving you and your team to the UK, you'd need to investigate.

Graham, thanks a million for this information - I'll have a look into it

Stheno

Bathroomly wrote: »

@TheFin - Thanks very much - I looked at them not too long ago, but they also require immediate repayments.

@Graham - I am working on a online marketplace for the UK and Ireland. So essentially an Amazon for a vertical market.
I am looking to initially raise €100k, but a total of €250k is needed. Finance will be used to finish the development of the MVP, along with further development after the first 4 months of launch, my salary and marketing costs.

I've no advice to offer you but am wondering what a vertical market is? And how it would differ from Amazon?

Stheno

Bathroomly wrote: »

@TheFin - Thanks very much - I looked at them not too long ago, but they also require immediate repayments.

@Graham - I am working on a online marketplace for the UK and Ireland. So essentially an Amazon for a vertical market.
I am looking to initially raise €100k, but a total of €250k is needed. Finance will be used to finish the development of the MVP, along with further development after the first 4 months of launch, my salary and marketing costs.

I've no advice to offer you but am wondering what a vertical market is? And how it would differ from Amazon?

Edit apologies I googled I know it under a different term