Do I need team to get seed investments for sturtup?

Hello!

I developed a website and want to open software startup company.

In different internet resources about how to search for investors it is written that you need to have a good team to get investment.

Is this really so?

How can I hire team when I have no money to pay it? Team is exactly the reason why I am looking for investment!

Where can I find people who would work for free? Especially if I need good professionals?

Please advice: what to do in this situation.

Thanks in advance...

 

More than a team you might need a business plan.

If you want to build a team at this early stage, the only thing you can do is offering fair equity stakes in exchange.

 

The type of investments that you are looking for typically comes from family and friends. Once you have a proven concept then you can expand to other types of money.

 

Thanks for your response!

I understand that I need business plan: without it nobody would give me mony, this is obvious. I have written it.

I probably have not expressed clearly my point: the matter is that I don't want to build a team before I get money from investors.

The question is if it is possible to receive investments if you haven't got team yet.

 

Well, I need something between 500 K to 1 million dollars, at list MY friends and family don't posess such sums of money!

I have proven the concept, my website is working and fully functional: www.zoomarium.com

The only thing I need is to start a company and work full time on my website + hire people who will work with me.
for this I need to leave my current job, pay salary to myself and people, hire office, buy computers etc.

 

I honesty don't think no one here will be able to help you with that or even point you to the right direction. My best suggestion is to built it on your own to see how things go, little by little as your budget increases and after receiving a few payments from advertisers you can expand and hire the right people.

 

You might have to face the fact that you're simply not ready for a seed investment yet. Seed investments are generally awarded to companies that have already proven themselves in several regards (established demographics, clear competitive positioning, legalities such as licensing - patents - insurance, and so on and so on).

 

Thanks, now I understand. Does there exist some kind of pre-seed investment? Is it what is called "angel investment"?
As for patents: I heard that in software this is less common. Can one do patent of a website?

Also a general question: should startup company be opened before there are investments or after?

Sorry for my ignorance: during my career I used to work in two startup companies, but I was not in the management and don't know how they did all these things.

 

That is not always true (although it is in a lot of cases). Having a good and unique idea (as well as a plan to make it work) is the critical part.

 

Well, here's a start: http://www.google.com/search?q=how+to+get+an+angel+investment

 

That's fine, but from what I found about angel investors in the internet: as their investment is very riski, they expect 10 times return and usually require to be within the company owners.

So if I get some 50-100 thousand dollars from an angel investor who will start sharing the company with me, it means that for actually pretty small money I partially sell my future company and restrict my freedom in its development.

 

Where can I find people who would work for free? Especially if I need good professionals?

If you find good professionals that will work for free let me know haha
I want 10 of those.

 

It's not whether you have a business plan already in place or not. Anybody could make a business plan. In any investment, if the product is really marketable or there is promise in there, investors will not be hard to find. Of course, you would need to be convincing when you make your presentation to them.

 

good professionals so not work for free. Be realistic.

If you are looking for good professionals create a business plan and that indicates the following
1. exactly what it is that you are doing
2. How it works
3. What you need to achieve it
4. Where will you make money
5. How much money

Then Create an NDA which will bind anyone who reads the business plan that they cannot get into that business for themselves to secure your idea.

 

THE KEY QUESTION IS: HOW MUCH REVENUE ARE YOU MAKING??????

If you can't answer that question, DON'T EVEN BOTHER with talking to VC's , Angel investors or private investors!

I also agree with what Laceygirl is saying below...

 

yes, this is the most clear thing you should know

 

Thanks!

That's what I am actually doing and hope to finish it at some point.

Regarding the NDA: this is not just idea, this is also much know-how which I developed during the last two years and which cannot be reinvented so easily/fastly. Also my website consists of 14,000 lines of code written by me.

 

I don't understand your point.

I am not making any revenue.
In order to make revenue I need to improve and further develop my product and then to advertise it thoroughly.
For this I need to open company, hire people and pay for outsourcing.
For this I need money.

In order to make revenue one needs investment - is it not like this?
Money comes from money (was in not discovered by Karl Marx in his time?)

 

Yet another question.

By one of the UK angel investment networks I was recommended to take a mentor who would help me with writing business plan etc.

It costs £420 ($670) a month for the period of half a year.
You meet this mentor once a month for two hours and also you communicate by emails and phone calls.
The mentor whom they recommend to me opened startup in London in the past and this startup made much money and was sold 10 years later.

They told me that 99% of all requests for investment fail for the reason of badly written business plan and lack of experience and mentoring is just a must.

Does anybody have an experience working with mentor?
The question is if this worth the money.

 

My point is - Your gonna have a VERY Hard time getting Funds from an investor without any Revenue coming in.

-C