Expert Dojo: Are You Ready For Investors

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Is your start-up ready for investment at its current stage? You must be honest with yourself and not become tempted when you’re not ready. We will break down this question to see how confident you are in your business, and how prepared you are to tackle this dilemma.

Key Question 1: Is your company a Tech-Enabled Business or Service-Based Business?

    If you are doing a service-based business, you should focus on investors who really care about revenue and profits-  they won’t expect more that 5 times the return on their investment. If you are a tech-enabled business, the investors you target may expect 10 times the return on their investment or more. Before you pitch to investors, make sure you target the right investors. During an interview with Expert DOJO, Super Angel Asher Leids shared his advices about finding the right investors for startups. 

Key Question 2: Would you lend yourself money?

   You only have $5,000 in your bank and you have to pay your mortgage in 18 months or you will lose your house. Would you put that $5,000 in your business to pitch to investors? The answer depends on whether you have set up a milestone plan that can help you reduce the failure probability.

Key Question 3: Can you get your People, Process and Product right as quickly as possible?

   Companies only fail because they run out of time. And they always fail in these three categories: People, Process and Product. The right people give you good advice to help your business grow. The process is the journey the public takes toward becoming your customer. The right product brings true value.CEO & Founder of Expert DOJO Brian MacMahon shared his advice about how to avoid hiring the Wrong people for your startup.

Remember: no two investors are equal. No money is equally smart. Don’t blindly chase investment when you are not ready. It is all about strategic milestone planning and execution.

Expert Dojo: Join The Largest One on One Pitch Event in the U.S.

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Over 80 of the Top Investors in the U.S. are Attending

 

 

Expert DOJO, the fastest growing startup community in Santa Monica, is hosting the Investor Festival. Starting August 29thto August 30th 2018, startups will pitch one on one for some of the biggest investors in the United States.

The Investor Festival is designed to help early-stage startup founders who have identified a very specific problem or challenge in growing their startup and could find investment to make a difference in overcoming that challenge.

 

This is the largest One on One Pitch Event in the United States. Over 80 of the top investors in the U.S. including Sequoia Capital, Greycroft, Rubicon, NEA, March Capital and more.

 

Here are two prime examples of companies who received funding through our Investor Festival:   

 

ZAPP

Zapp raised $1M through our Investor Festival earlier this year. Zapp provides a fully shared, multi-vehicle solution proven to solve last mile logistic in colleges through the U.S.

 

 

 

Smart CSM

Smart CSM is an easy-to-use technology to visualize and manage your building’s utilities from any device, anytime, anywhere.
They raised $1,5 M through our Investor Festival.

 

 

If you want to know more about Investor Festival CLICK HERE

Expert Dojo: Startup Spotlight – Zebra Instant

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One of Expert DOJO’s https://expertdojo.com members is Zebra Instant, which is a platform that turns smartphone pictures, via Facebook messenger and text messaging, into printed photos and merchandise. Zebra Instant provides the most frictionless way to turn those special moments into gifts. Another amazing product that Zebra Instant offers are “Printbots”. Printbots provide a program to different messaging platforms for instant access to an online marketplace. With a few clicks, a client can order prints to various merchandise, ranging from phone cases to mugs to tote bags.

 

Anton Pereiaslavtsev, the founder of Zebra Instant, has always had a passion for photography. Anton was born and raised in Russia and moved to the states in the late 90’s. His background is in IT and business but eventually became interested in pursuing his own business. Anton also has 10 years of experience in finance.

 

His idea for Zebra Instant emerged from various events while traveling abroad. As a huge photography fan, he would travel and snap photos with a DSLR camera. These types of cameras tend to be big and bulky, which causes a huge inconvenience for travelers. He saw an opportunity when a merger of cell phones and photography became a thing. People were starting to use their smartphones to document their special moments on a daily basis. The convenience of snapping photos stemmed Anton into to creating a convenience in publishing prints and gifts. By sending in the photos taken on a cell phone, a user is able to publish those prints onto various merchandise, creating a custom product, which will be sure to make a huge statement.

 

To learn more about Zebra Instant, visit their website at www.zebrainstant.com

Expert DOJO’s Startup Spotlight – Healora

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Expert DOJO’s Startup Spotlight – Healora

One of Expert DOJO’s https://expertdojo.com members: Healora is a direct pay cash network with access to the best doctors. Healora reduces medical procedure costs by removing the middlemen. This is possible by connecting doctors and patients directly, which removes up to 70% percent of the costly administrative middle layers for patients and employers. With this program, individuals have the ability to access the best doctors from around the United States. “Healora’s Mission is to make healthcare more accessible for everyone”.

Thomas Farmer, the CEO, and founder of Healora developed this program, through a personal struggle he dealt with. In the past, Thomas suffered from a severe knee injury, which cost him a vast amount of money. After multiple doctor visits and bills, he found out that he could have handled the situation in a less costly way. These events triggered him into creating Healora, which drove him to remove third parties and to reduce the cost of healthcare. He was dedicated to providing a doctor-patient partnership, through an online platform. Healora’s fees are transaction based, and everything is 100% transparent.

Healora consists of three easy steps: finding your procedure, choosing your doctor, then reserving your price. The website is user-friendly, easy to navigate, and simplified with images. Currently, the founder, Thomas Farmer, is looking for investors with a medical background. His ideal investors are doctors, that are well connected within the medical field, with a great impact on healthcare. Currently, Healora is looking for fifteen investors, to help fund their marketing platform.

Currently, Healora is on their second phase, with 2,500 doctors connected through LinkedIn and a fully functional website. They just need investors to help fund their marketing campaigns, to take their company to the next level. For further detail on their company, check out their website at www.healora.com, where you can listen to podcasts pertaining to health, wellness, and pricing.

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