Andi Gillentine Talks about Launching Startup Grind Austin

Andi Gillentine Talks about Launching Startup Grind Austin

Where are you from originally?

 This is never easy for me to answer. I was born outside of Chicago, but I barely remember it. My family moved frequently thanks to the Air Force. I went to 13 schools before I graduated from high school. I spent time in Texas, Colorado, Illinois (twice), Michigan, Ohio (twice) and Alabama. I have been living in Texas for the last 17 years.

What university did you go to?

I attended Bryn Mawr College, outside of Philadelphia for undergrad and went to the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston for graduate school.

What brought you to Austin?

My first job out of graduate school was in Austin and my husband and I loved it.

So we found him a job here as well.


What is your group’s mission?

Startup Grind in a community of founders, entrepreneurs, and wantrapreneurs looking to be inspired, educated, and network with the smartest startup minds. You can learn more and see past interviews at startupgrind.com

 What need does it fulfill?

 Startup Grind provides support and help startup founders and early employees through the ups and downs of Startup life through blogs, interviews and networking with others people who have been there.

 What exactly does it bring to startups?

 For tech entrepreneurs, Startup Grind provides the opportunity to learn from others who may have already faced the challenges that your startup is going through.

 What type of startup would benefit from your group?

 The focus is primarily on technology startups at any stage.

 What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the initiative?

 Finding the right speakers and the right space. I really wanted the first event to bring a founder or early employee from a company started in Austin, but that is a household name. I was lucky enough to connect with Ross Buhrdorf, the CTO of Homeaway, through running buddies and he agreed to be our first speaker. It was a fantastic event. As for the space, I really wanted the space to be part of the Austin Startup Community and CoSpace is exactly that. It’s a co-working space supporting startups in North Austin.

 What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

 You are going to make mistakes. One of the ways to identify and fix those mistakes is through talking with people, reading the blogs and books they recommend and listening to people who have been there. Most entrepreneurs will talk candidly about things they wish they had done differently or things they wished they had known a year ago. (My list is long.) And, find a co-founder who has different strengths and a different perspective than you do. This will not always be easy, but it will make your company and product stronger. 


What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

Capital Factory is doing great things in Austin, really supporting and growing local startups through their incubator. Best regards, Hall T.

Interview with Rethink Books Entrepreneur Jason Illian

Where are you from originally?
I was born in the Omaha, NE, but I grew up in Lake Havasu City, AZ. Both of my parents were educators, so we moved around quite a bit until high school. My parents were always looking for the best educational and athletic opportunities for their three boys.

What university did you go to?
I attended TCU (Texas Christian University). I played collegiate football for the Horned Frogs and studied International Finance.


What brought you to Dallas?
I originally came to DFW to go to school at TCU. After school, I moved to London for about 6 months and then took a job with a large institutional money management firm in the Midwest. After being away from DFW for 3-4 years, I moved back with the intent to re-engage the growing startup and technology ecosystem in the metroplex.


What is the idea behind your startup?
Our company is called Rethink Books, and our flagship technology is called Bookshout! Bookshout! is a group and social reading platform designed to build community around books. It is our belief that long-form content can be more viral, collaborative, and engaging when like-minded people can interact with it.


What need does it fulfill?
For readers, Bookshout! provides a number of social and collaborative tools that make the reading experience more robust and interactive. For publisher and authors, it creates viral marketing and sales, as well as a creative distribution channel. It leverages the concept that people sell books to each other better than any retailer can.


What exactly does your product do?
Bookshout! is a social and group reading platform that allows friends to read a book together. Imagine a teacher reading and sharing her notes with the class and the students with each other. Imagine a CEO having a virtual book study with his executives. Imagine a pastor sharing his thoughts over multiple books with his congregation. These are the types of things Bookshout! can accommodate.

Who is it for?
It’s a B2C play. It’s for readers and individual users. We have developed partnerships with major publishers and key organizations, but the end game is to provide the best reading experience for the users.

What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
In DFW, one of the most challenging aspects is raising capital. It’s ironic, really, because DFW is packed full of successful businessmen and thriving companies. But very few have experience in funding or operating a tech start-up. Once we are able to redirect some of the capital that now goes to more traditional ventures, we’ll have the ability to create a vibrant tech ecosystem which will draw and retain talented entrepreneurs, unlock the resources of larger corporations, and create wealth in the metroplex.

What is the next step for you and your startup?
We just launched our Bookshout! platform, which is a group and social reading application connecting users around books. We are in the ramp-up phase of our company, generating growing revenues and acquiring new users.

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Know what time it is. There is a time for building companies, and there is a time for working for others. There’s a time to raise big capital, and there’s a time to bootstrap a company. There’s a time to swing for the fence, and there’s a time to just get on base. As an entrepreneur, very rarely will you find yourself in the same season of life for very long. If you do, it’s time to start hanging a question mark on some sentences that you often end with a period.


What Dallas-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
Startup TX has been exceptionally valuable to me and Rethink Books. It has been so valuable that I volunteered some of my time to help ramp up the program on a state level. Through Startup TX, I’ve received access to discounted resources, connections, and potential capital. There is no substitute for connecting with other wise entrepreneurs and building out a network that can help you build, and later sustain, your company.

How to Find Angel Investors

So now that you have the idea, business plan, and (hopefully) a product that will change the world as we know it, all you need is a few thousand bucks--or a few tens or hundreds of thousands of bucks--to get get it up and running. All that stands between you and your success is finding the right angel investor. But where do they hang out?

It’s important to note that the rules for who is an angel investor were set in the late 1960s and have only changed once since that time, thanks to Bernie Madoff whose scandal forced lawmakers to make the recent revision. (They declared that you couldn’t count your house as part of your net worth for determining whether or not you were an accredited investor.)

Because the term angel investor is rather broadly defined, we’re going to talk mostly about the accredited investor or the professional investor that has some experience putting money into companies.

So where where do you find them? Here’s some ideas for starting your search.

Start close to home. Check out your family and friends, as your family members may qualify as accredited investors.

Start with your own rolodex -- Many of your coworkers and acquaintances may count as potential investors and you didn’t even realize.

Formal angel groups -- the Angel Capital Association (http://www.angelcapitalassociation.org/directory/) is the largest trade organization for angel networks and lists the groups that are members in their association.

Informal angel groups -- in your local community are investors who review deals. They are generally led by individuals with experience in angel investor and offer pitch sessions.

Pitch sessions and funding forums -- Other ways to find angel investors is through funding forums and pitch sessions which offer mentorship to practice in advance of pitching for funding. The mentors and coaches in these groups are angel investors or know those who are.

Business plan competitions -- these competitions draw mentors and judges who are angel investors.

Your attorney and accountant - often times your attorney knows potential investors

Social Networks -- LinkedIn is one potential source of finding investors

Web-based -- there are several web-based sites that offer to connect your with investors.

Building a Team for Startup

The team that you build has enormous importance when it comes to raising money from investors, and many entrepreneurs get this wrong.
In order to pique an investor’s interest, the entrepreneur must not only present a solid plan that details how they are going to make money (the business model) but also the team that in place with experience to get them there. If the management team fails to inspire confidence in potential investors, then the meeting is over at that point. .

The core team typically consists of someone that is building the product and someone selling it. You should also Identify those plan to hire in the future. As your company grows it will bring on more of the team you have identified and existing hires will increase their hours and salaries accordingly.

For positions you cannot afford to hire filling them with a board of advisors. This includes people who you don’t pay, but you do meet once a week for coffee/lunch and use as a sounding board. Make a list of the topics you need help with and then fill with board of advisors.

For key management positions, you can bring them on your board of advisors for a period of time (say 2 to 3 months) before deciding to hire them.

Finally, choose service providers (attorneys, accountants, etc.) who have worked for companies similar to yours and leverage their knowledge and experience beyond their stated tasks.

Another issue that you should be aware of includes the addition of management and board members that have fancy corporate pedigrees, but little in the way of actual entrepreneurial experience. (I’m talking about the one that has experience with Big Company X, that you go around touting so you can name drop). Be advised that this kind of experience is not impressive to potential investors. Why?

Because investors know that fundraising for startup is a much different skill than working as a corporate Vice President--much different. And most startups with this type of expertise only have a poor track record for success.

Having a capable, qualified management team enables a entrepreneur to do whatever it is that they do best. Founders need to know that hiring people or good investors doesn’t mean they have to give up control; nor does it make it any less their company. In fact, if you research the beginnings of many successful companies you’ll find the people responsible for the technology were not the ones who took it to market. Take Apple for example: Steve Wozniak was at the core of technology development while Steve Jobs was out evangelizing it.

Of course there will always be the exceptional exception, but I challenge founders to surround themselves with managers and board members who have both entrepreneurial and experience relevant to their venture and in its current stage.

What should go in your Executive Summary?

The executive summary of your business plan should contain the highlights of your plan. And where this may be obvious, consider this: most investors won’t read past this section unless you have something truly compelling.

Most entrepreneurs I know write the executive summary last, after they’ve completed all of the market projections and financial analysis.

When you’re ready to write the summary, you should include the following items in one page:

1. Problem the company Solves—It must be a large problem in the market place creating a great opportunity for you to sell widgets.

2. Product/Service offered—a description of your product or service that solves this massive problem that you’ve outlined above.

3. Competitive Advantage/Analysis—And please don’t say that you have no competition (unless you want an investor to immediately discredit you and move on to the next plan). Even if another company does not have a direct product that competes with yours, you’re always competing for dollars that are allotted elsewhere.

4. Target Market - This should address how large you think the market is (based on your research). This section should also contain your strategy to establish entry into that market (your beachhead).

5. Business Model—How are you going to make money? Investors are funding capital efficient deals only, meaning that you have a solid business model with excellent profit potential.

6. Sales Model—You should describe the channel, the sales funnel, and the metrics for selling your product or service into the market.

7. Intellectual Property—This includes trade secrets, patents, copyrights, etc that you own that have value.

8. Management Team—The team that you’ve built should show completeness and experience. Ideally you have some people on your team that have experience raising money for startups, significant industry experience, or something that gets an investor excited that these people are involved with your company.

9. Revenue, Costs, EBITDA projections for five years—Obviously a big section. Many investors are going to go right to this paragraph. Show the high level revenue potential over 5 years

10. Funds Sought and Use of Funds—Demonstrate how the dollars invested in your company will translate into business results.

11. Exit--Show potential acquirers and comparables to your company.

Overall, the executive summary should be interesting tell YOUR story succinctly and highlight the values you’ve built into your company. Make extensive use of pictures, graphs, charts and keep word count to a minimum.

How much Funding Should you Pursue?

Obviously, this question is the place to start, but you'd be surprised how many start ups don't have an answer that is well researched. When I ask entrepreneurs how much they are raising the automatic answer is $1M. It just seems like the thing to do. And when I ask what they are going to do with it, many seem unsure. Or they provide generalizations like, "We need it for marketing, or hiring key personnel, or developing products" (and so on).

The response from investors (myself included) is usually along the lines of, "No S!#t?"

Before pursuing investment one needs to consider how much to raise and how it’s going to be used. And when you go to pitch investors, it should be clear from your financials as to exactly how you've come up with these funding requirements and exactly how you plan to put that money to work.

Of course, it's still an educated guess, but having these items researched and detailed in your business plan (and pitch presentation) will build more a lot more credibility with the potential investor.

Figuring out how much you need to raise starts with: How much do you need for equipment, inventory, contract services (such as legal costs, marketing, sales, and more.)? This financial model is a MUST before setting the fund raising amount.

I often recommend raising as little money as possible before you have customer sales because the valuation (how much the investor considers your company worth) is going to be quite low. Any money you raise in the beginning will cost a more significant portion of equity in your company than follow on investments down the road. In other words, the greater the risk, the greater the equity the investor is going to require.

It’s also better to raise a lower amount (say $250K) to get the product up and running and sold to a few customers. You always raise a larger round of funding later, but at that point, it should be a much better valuation for the entrepreneur--with the product and customer risks mitigated you don’t have to give away as much equity.

Also, for every $1M you are trying to raise you’ll spend one year raising it and NOT doing much of anything else on your business. Raising only $250K will reduce the amount of time spent fund raising allowing you to work on your product, marketing, sales, and team building.

The Angel Investor is the New Venture Capitalist

I started angel investing in the late 1990s. It was the heyday of the Venture Capitalist. Back in those days, entrepreneurs starting up a web company would stand up and ask for $5M in seed capital -- quite a sum by today’s standards. Back then the entrepreneur had to build their own server farm and buy all their computer equipment. They had to pay American wages for everything and so it cost quite a bit.

In the 10 years following, the cost of starting a web-based company dropped dramatically due to the falling cost of business services. Today those same companies now ask for $500K to get up and running because they pay only for the bandwidth they need from an existing server farm. They lease equipment rather than pay for it upfront and they offshore a number of functions to lower cost areas.

As the cost of business continues to devolve downwards, so do the funds sought to start a business. Today, a web-based company asks for $250K to get up and running. This level of fund raising takes most deals out of the Venture Capital realm and lands them in the area of angel Investors. Angels invest $200K to $2M in a deal with most rounds going for $500K to $1M. That’s too low for most VCs but just right for the individual investor seeking to get in on startup funding.

Angel groups have increased dramatically over the past five years. Some Venture Capitalists have repositioned themselves into the angel world and called themselves “Super Angels” indicating they are on the high-end of the angel world.

Another factor is the near disappearance of the IPO market which reduced returns. To maintain returns required to keep their investors engaged, Venture Capitalists are moving to later stage deals and engaging in private equity transactions. For these two reasons – deal flow falling below the threshold and investors requiring returns that push them into later stage deals, the VC community is about one-fourth what it was ten years ago.

Some VCs focus on the early stage companies and bring additional services to help startups such as management consulting, strategic partnerships, and back office administration. In their place now is the angel investor. Deal flow for angels is up along with the number of angel groups and their membership.

The angel investor is the new venture capitalist.

The Angel Investor is the New Venture Capitalist

I started angel investing in the late 1990s. It was the heyday of the Venture Capitalist. Back in those days, entrepreneurs starting up a web company would stand up and ask for $5M in seed capital -- quite a sum by today’s standards. Back then the entrepreneur had to build their own server farm and buy all their computer equipment. They had to pay American wages for everything and so it cost quite a bit.

In the 10 years following, the cost of starting a web-based company dropped dramatically due to the falling cost of business services. Today those same companies now ask for $500K to get up and running because they pay only for the bandwidth they need from an existing server farm. They lease equipment rather than pay for it upfront and they offshore a number of functions to lower cost areas.

As the cost of business continues to devolve downwards, so do the funds sought to start a business. Today, a web-based company asks for $250K to get up and running. This level of fund raising takes most deals out of the Venture Capital realm and lands them in the area of angel Investors. Angels invest $200K to $2M in a deal with most rounds going for $500K to $1M. That’s too low for most VCs but just right for the individual investor seeking to get in on startup funding.

Angel groups have increased dramatically over the past five years. Some Venture Capitalists have repositioned themselves into the angel world and called themselves “Super Angels” indicating they are on the high-end of the angel world.

Another factor is the near disappearance of the IPO market which reduced returns. To maintain returns required to keep their investors engaged, Venture Capitalists are moving to later stage deals and engaging in private equity transactions. For these two reasons – deal flow falling below the threshold and investors requiring returns that push them into later stage deals, the VC community is about one-fourth what it was ten years ago.

Some VCs focus on the early stage companies and bring additional services to help startups such as management consulting, strategic partnerships, and back office administration. In their place now is the angel investor. Deal flow for angels is up along with the number of angel groups and their membership.

The angel investor is the new venture capitalist.

What are Angel Investors and Why do You Want Them?

Angels are high net-worth individuals that are seeking to make a return on an investment (not donations). But they do usually have additional motivations such as “do a little good, make a little money, and have a little fun.”

To invest in startups they must meet the Accredited Investor requirement set out by the SEC which you can see at this link:

http://www.sec.gov/answers/accred.htm

Typically they are not professional investors but have substantial business experience having started and run their own business successfully. Often times they are ex-CEO and VPs of large companies, and there are many different kinds (such as the fund raiser, the networker, the Jack of all Trades, the strategist and the industry specialist).

Each angel has their own criteria for what makes a good investment. Some of the questions they may ask about your start-up include:
1. Does the company have a strong management team?
2. How large is the market? Is it growing fast?
3. Does the company have strong intellectual property protection?
4. Does the company have a platform product that can produce many products?
5. Is there a clear exit path for the company?

Angels bring expertise through industry experience as many have run successful businesses in the past. They potentially bring their network of experienced and successful people, and they often have a standing in the community - so if they lend their support to your start-up, it should help you in raising more funding and attracting support.

Assess the needs of your startup and look for angel investors who can bring more than just funding to your start-up. Even if they don’t invest, you may find some angel investors are good candidates to join your board of advisors. Angel investors typically know other angels that can be referred to your deal.


Best regards,
Hall T.

What’s your timeline for raising funding?

If you answered, “right away!” as many entrepreneurs do, you’re probably not being realistic.

In fact, the benchmark is that for every million dollars you are raising, it will take you one year.

But even if you’re fund raise isn’t that large, it can still take many months of planning and executing to raise funding from Angel Investors.

Here’s a rough outline of what you should be ready for when developing your plan:

Month 1—Check readiness. Assess your readiness for raising funding, and be honest. Ideally, you have a product and have sold some units. You should also have built core team. Communicate with your current team and investors you already have about raising funding. And don’t forget to check with your attorney about the legal aspect. You may have to consider modifying your legal entity to allow for outside investment.

Month 2—Prepare the company. Planning your fund raising strategy includes assembling your key documents including, the Executive Summary, Slide Deck, Financials, and Due Diligence documentation. Take steps to fill out your board of advisors and build a set of email updates for monthly transmission to the potential investors.

Month 3 to 5—Prepare the investors. Identify potential investors to put on your investor prospect list. Start with ten investors you already know and have made contact with and add ten new investors per month to your list. Setup meetings to introduce investors to your deal and tell them that you will start raising money in a few months. Ask permission to keep the investor on the list for updates you will be sending out.

Start sending monthly updates on your company’s progress using personalized emails – not ‘broadcast’ emails. Customize the mailings to build a personal relationship. And don’t send them your press releases. Demonstrate how you are actually achieving milestones.

Month 6 to 9—Pitch the investors. Follow up each potential investor and pitch the deal. Identify the lead Investor and close the first round with investor friendly terms. Offer an incentive to the lead investor for the additional risk he is taking by going first.

Month 10 to 11—Close the investors. Invite other investors to follow on. Keep the relationship with all investor prospects--some may join in a future round.

Month 12—Finish the round. Oh, but you’re not done at this point. Continue sending updates to investors AND the investors on your prospect list on a quarterly basis to prepare for the next round of funding.