If you haven’t heard about the ground breaking accomplishment made by SpaceX, one of Elon Musk’s companies, then you don’t know what you are missing! For a long time, large governments steered their countries into space using resources and technologies not easily available to private companies for use (let alone experimenting with either). Well, that changed a few years ago when private companies/startups decided we needed to change that. Yes, Richard Branson and several other notable entrepreneurs pitched in but no one accomplished such a feat as Musk’s Dragon space craft that docked with the International Space Station a few days back. That’s passion, dedication and commitment to taking an idea and making it into a reality (something every entrepreneur needs to keep in mind).

Key Takeaways

Startups are the breeding grounds for innovative thinking and creativity. Majority of the time, smaller enterprises lack the bureaucratic management that larger enterprises often create within their culture. With that, startups such as SpaceX were able to efficently do something that only a wel funded government once could even imagine of achieving. Is your company as creative, humble, disruptive and innovative? If not, make sure it becomes that! 

Risk Taking

Yes, Elon Musk didn’t succeed the first time or the second time during his efforts at making space travel a reality but he sure did now. What set him apart from the nay-sayers (including some pretty notable and famous astronauts who said he was crazy)? Pure passion and need to take risks. After all, isn’t that what keeps us entrepreneurs excited about doing the next big thing?

Space exploration is a huge feat but your startup doesn’t have to be as ambitious. What matters is that you are creating a culture that looks at traditional ways of achieving something and aims to improve it. Whether that is farming, renting apartments, finding parking spaces etc. Make it efficient, faster, easier, simpler and appealing for anyone to fall in love with your idea or startup.

Personal hint of the INISMO founders: Keep your tail up - but know your skills. It seems to be easier than ever to start your own business, but starting is only one half of the journey to success. To run a sustainable business, you need to know your skills and get people on board that can help you in achieving your vision. Flexibility to adapt to changes quickly is only possible with a dynamic and skilled team. Best of luck!

About Us:

INISMO.com is here to provide you with advice, tips and resources to maximize your chances at building a successful startup. INISMO.com is the world’s best platform for accredited investors and entrepreneurs to interact on in a secure environment. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join us on Facebook too!

-The INISMO.com Team

Today, we know hundreds of blogs, advice and tips for startup entrepreneurs on how to start a business and what to do to find the right investor. Opposed to it, I’m taking you on a short journey into the near future of funding.

Funding 2.0:

The investment and venture capital industry has changed profoundly, since the early days, where it is now possible to use technology to better facilitate the deal flow process. With new tools, faster technologies etc., it is now possible for investors to become more efficient with their efforts. In return, this will bring new challenges to entrepreneurs seeking capital and process their funding activities.

Since investors are now more active than ever with early stage startups, future regulations and rules are bound to be implemented. The JOBS act is one such example that pertains crowdfunding (and is now influencing European governments to take notice as well).

The new changes within the investment and venture capital industry will force investors to manage larger loads of inquiries when looking for the right deal(s). As a result, the entire funding process needs to become innovative, quick and easily scalable, yet another development that affects entrepreneurs as well.

Using the latest technologies will enable investors to outsource the deal flow management process. With that, negotiations can be more transparent as well as simpler to navigate (for both entrepreneurs and investors alike).

It isn’t and won’t be easy in future to find the right partner for your business, because it’s all about the idea and the way entrepreneurs present it. Tools are making the funding process easier and quicker, saving time and costs, and increases your chances through several new opportunities drawing attention to new businesses, but it is still about yourself to convince others to believe in your vision and use the provided chances.

Finding the right tools to facilitate the entire funding activities will be more important than ever in the future. It is should be the aim to provide tools to make the process easier and quicker which will help to save not only cost but valuable time (that is often spent on inefficiency). While this sounds great, entrepreneurs still have the responsibility to present themselves in a professional and convincing manner to show that their idea is worth the time and investment an investor may end up committing to their project.

About Us:

INISMO.com is here to provide you with advice, tips and resources to maximize your chances at building a successful startup. INISMO.com is the world’s best platform for accredited investors and entrepreneurs to interact on in a secure environment. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join us on Facebook too!

-The INISMO.com Team

Nowadays, there are a lot of startup & venture capital related events. But how do you know that they are worth it to join?

SInce about 2 years our INISMO team is attending several festivals all around Europe and partly in the U.S. Some of them are great events, because they are well-organized, you meet passionate entrepreneurs and mostly open investors as well as any kind of service providers and advisors. Sounds good, isn’t it?

Partially. Entrepreneurs need to get their startups of the ground, so any kind of networking might be useful to get forward. The people you meet there most are entrepreneurs and service providers promoting their products. Investors are there as well, doing business. This means to getting in touch with exciting companies and entrepreneurs, talking to other investors and discussing the future with branch leaders.

Another big advantage are the lectures, seminars and panels. They inform you about the recent activity in the funding business and may provide you with the opportunity to get in touch with a prominent figure of the startup business.

Personal hint of the INISMO founders: Startup events offer a great opportunity to get to know investors and entrepreneurs from many different locations all over the world. Choose those in cities that are know as entrepreneurial hubs like London and Berlin in Europe, because a lot of international people are going to attend events there more often.

But, don’t overestimate their value, without a good story and a plan what exactly you want to achieve at each event, you’ll get lost in the mass of collected business cards.

Meet us next time at the 42Conference in Moscow! 

What is the future of investment, venture capital, startups etc? Well, at INISMO we like to call the future, “Funding 2.0”. It’s a future where the startup ecosystem around the world will begin to see different approaches being taken to 1) invest in startups and 2) help startups get off the ground. So let’s dive in.

Funding 2.0 means to simplify the funding process and to make the entire funding transaction more efficient. Instead of the old email submission for investment proposals, and file exchange via email, INISMO provides a self-screening application of basic investment criteria plus easy to use tools to manage your deal flow or transaction. Managing the deal flow more than just having the right people on the team. With INISMO, it’s a matter of simplifying your entire deal flow based on your specific criteria and needs. A controlled project submission including an automated screening of the project which not only saves you the hassle of going through inadequate projects but also provides the “cream of the crop” submissions.

The business plan is an old and non-dynamic instrument that has existed for decades as the first step to learn about any given business. With Funding 2.0, we aim to change that! Of course, entrepreneurs need a plan to measure their milestones, etc. but they can do that much easily than possible before. Entrepreneurs need documents for various reasons, including presentations and analytical reports on projects, but creating such files is easier than ever. The “Project Pitch”, a presentation of the business or concept, provides all the pertinent information an investor needs to know in order to understand the business. As the entrepreneur, all you have to do is present it! Being able to publish an idea, business or concept on a platform where professional investors could have a chance to view it, was difficult before. Today, INISMO provides the Funding 2.0 capability to all entrepreneurs and investors looking to meet each other. Not only do we provide the tool set and knowledge for entrepreneurs, but individuals looking to promote their project can do so through various means (including showcasing their website and their status (whether seeking capital or advice/knowledge) so that investors may have a clear idea of the project.

Our team has been working hard since our launch in February 2012 to bring you the best experience possible at INISMO.com. According to the emerging environment, INISMO has updated its funding platform which will be known as, “funding 2.0”. Therefore, we released some new features to improve your funding activities and increase your chance to find the right funding partner and get your business off the ground. So lets dive in!

Project Pitch

The project pitch is going to be the section where you can build a business plan using the simple tools available. As the first step of funding 2.0, INISMO enables entrepreneurs to work with a dynamic and focused business plan that covers all essential details for a new startup. Investors benefit from a focused and work-flow oriented business presentation to get all relevant details at a glimpse (no more struggling to learn more about an idea etc.).

The included video pitch and media section supports entrepreneurs to present their business in a sound and personal way. In addition, investors benefit by being able to have a first impression about the project and the team without wasting any time. In addition, the early feedback area helps entrepreneurs to receive a timely opinion from experienced investors which is a valuable information to improve their project and pitch further.

Funding Opportunities

The INISMO team developed a voting feature, that allows entrepreneurs to promote their business project to friends, colleagues and others using their existing social media accounts. People voting for your project help you draw attention to it. The highest voted projects will be listed on the top of our project list. They are also featured in the “Thuesday’s Activity Pitch for Investors” newsletter, and once a week on our blog, facebook and twitter account. The more people you win over your project, the higher the chance that you will gain the attention of accredited investors. 

Investors also have the opportunity to share exciting projects with their colleagues, advisors and others to get a some addition opinion or feedback on a project, and secondly, to invite partners to collaborate with them in funding issues (or even deals).

Pitch your Project

Beside the fact that the project is published at the INISMO deal list, we know that entrepreneurs get to know lots of business people, investors and potential advisor. Therefore, we created the feature for entrepreneurs to pitch their project directly to investors who they already know, using the same professional project pitch they already created on INISMO. This makes it possible to attract further attention of investors and increases the chance of getting funded through the usage of a structured and reviewed project pitch. If interest is there, investors can get in touch with you directly and start funding negotiations with the online deal room to exchange files, discuss terms, handle the due diligence and arrange meetings. Sound interesting?

Personal hint from the INISMO founders: -The best way to convince your potential customer of your product is to give them the opportunity to try your service.
So, sign up for free - here -  and test it!

About Us:

INISMO.com is here to provide you with advice, tips and resources to maximize your chances at building a successful startup. INISMO.com is the world’s best platform for accredited investors and entrepreneurs to interact on in a secure environment. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join us on Facebook too!

-The INISMO.com Team

So you may have heard about the latest reports on Occupy Wallstreet in the United States where thousands of people took to the streets in protest earlier Tuesday on May 1. One may wonder why would anyone spend so much time doing nothing but preventing people from entering banks, yelling, singing etc. for an entire day. Well, you may be surprised because job opportunities are not enough for many of the unemployed individuals and college graduates. What do you do then? Well, one idea may be starting your own business  that requires little investment other than your time (which can be better spent than sitting on the street).

Start a Business

If you have an idea or just want to make a small amount of revenue, start a small business. It doesn’t have to be a fancy store or a software that will require hours of coding. Maybe you find affiliate marketing interesting or perhaps you are a great writer and want to start a blog to talk about what you are passionate about. The possibilities are endless so long as you direct your energy and focus to the right subject matter.

Attend Meetups and Conferences

We talked about networking and the power of relationship building before and we couldn’t emphasize that enough. The best way to find an opportunity to co-found a startup or find a job is through referrals. How do you get those? Well, NETWORK! Build relationships with industry influencers and well known individuals within the startup community. Searching on eventbrite.com or meetup.com can give you a slew of events and options from which you just need to pick a few to attend. Make sure you have business cards with your contact info.

Attend Startup Job Fairs

Almost every major city that has a large startup community tends to have startup job fairs where companies list their job openings. Isn’t that a major opportunity for you to shine bright and show the startup employers why you are worth hiring? Sounds better than yelling or marching on the street all day, right? Search for fairs, even regular job fairs, in your local newspaper or online. Depending on your city, you should be able to find some opportunities.

Personal hint of the INISMO founders: Of course it is important to declare your displeasure of your environments’ development and you have to stand up for your rights and visions, but also try to change something you can influence. It’s our motto to ‘put your own house in order first’, that means think of a problem you’re currently facing and of an opinion to solve it. Make a brain-storming and search for a team and -> Get Started and live your vision! You’ll see, this solution spreads itself and is an impulse to make big things happen.

About Us:

INISMO.com is here to provide you with advice, tips and resources to maximize your chances at building a successful startup. INISMO.com is the world’s best platform for accredited investors and entrepreneurs to interact on in a secure environment. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join us on Facebook too!

-The INISMO.com Team

The field of start up businesses today is full of first time entrepreneurs who are trying hard in raising capital. For starters, a good way to find agencies that offer startup capital loan is by doing a search for online funding platform. You can get funding from business angels, who are accredited investors that are providing venture capital for businesses. But getting approved for a startup capital request is a different story. You must provide accredited investors enough proofs that your investment deal is worth it. 

Getting approved for a startup capital is almost similar to getting approved for a personal loan from a bank. Most of these accredited investors whether they’re business angels or venture capital firms; they all look at the credit scores of the business. Your business credit scores is an indicator whether your business deserves financing or not. Establishing a good business credit score is vital if you want to have your startup capital loan request be approved or not. 

Personal hint of the INISMO founders: Beside the hard skills, soft skills get more and more important for potential investors. They focus primarily on the team behind the business as well as on their long-term vision, where the business is going to be in the next 3 to 5 years. In addition: If you as an entrepreneur have convinced members of your family, friends or others to invest in your business, get back to them and ask what was the key point to lend you money.

About Us:

INISMO.com is here to provide you with advice, tips and resources to maximize your chances at building a successful startup. INISMO.com is the world’s best platform for accredited investors and entrepreneurs to interact on in a secure environment. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join us on Facebook too!

-The INISMO.com Team

In our last post we talked about how startups today are actually building companies that are similar to existing businesses. Some claim to be different and better while others are targeted towards a niche. But what happens when a giant, like Google, plays the “Me-Too” game itself? Well, if you haven’t heard about the latest product from Google, it’s a direct competitor to the likes of Box and DropBox called Google Drive. Guess even the big guys like to play the game.

While this is interesting to see, especially as many established companies are now beginning to either launch products or buy patents from others, we must question whether it’s the right choice or not. How big and diverse can a company get before it’s almost indistinguishable? Google and Microsoft are just a few examples of how diverse companies can get beyond their initial product (search and operating system respectively).

While this may seem like a coincidence, Microsoft itself upgraded its cloud based storage application, called SkyDrive, earlier this week. Who is next? Yahoo? AOL? While these companies are large and can, for the most part, afford to build products and market test them with large amounts of financing, startups today must still solve a “real problem”. VCs and angel investors have said it again and again that if you don’t solve a problem that someone is willing to pay you to solve, what is the purpose of your business then?

Personal hint of the INISMO founders: The old-fashioned game ‘David vs. Goliath’ is still alive. As well as David have found a weak point at Goliath, entrepreneurs need to find at least one weakness of their rival’s product or service. To become successful, you need to focus on the product’s or service’s core features and just improve the weakness. Point out the improved weakness as a strength, as a part of your core features and the indispensability of that strength to acquire satisfied customer.

About Us:

INISMO.com is here to provide you with advice, tips and resources to maximize your chances at building a successful startup. INISMO.com is the world’s best platform for accredited investors and entrepreneurs to interact on in a secure environment. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join us on Facebook too!

-The INISMO.com Team

If you haven’t heard about one of the largest acquisitions by Facebook then you may be living under a rock. Instagram, a small startup with a virally growing application was just acquired for $1 Billlion in cash and stock by Facebook a few days back. Do you think you can pull of something like that? WAIT!

Mergers and acquisitions are a funny business in the world of startups. It’s important to not build another “me-too” business just hoping that you are acquired as well. Instagram, with little to no monetization strategy, was acquired for an amount that most accredited investors are still trying to understand. That absolutely doesn’t mean that you build a company that doesn’t have any model for making money. Very few, almost none, startups survive that haven’t generated a single dollar from day one. We have always said, stay frugal and focused in our previous posts and that applies here as well. 

Another important aspect of Instagram’s acquisition was that the founders knew facebook executives beforehand. That also doesn’t mean you start building relationships with people at major startups just to hoping to be acquired. Building relationships is a two way street that is important in networking. Your story and how you succeed may have a completely different story than the founders of Instagram. No one is the same and that also applies to the businesses that are built.

At INISMO we want to encourage our member entrepreneurs to stay focused on their startup that is actually solving a real world problem. If you are going to build the next “Groupon” or “twitter” etc., you may be just chasing a dream and not helping anyone. 

Personal hint of the INISMO founders: Whether be on the look out for niche variations of already established startups with a proven business model or check out businesses that should run but don’t. Find out why and develop your own version of it. These two strategies raise the chance to get on the shopping list of big players.

About Us:

INISMO.com is here to provide you with advice, tips and resources to maximize your chances at building a successful startup. INISMO.com is the world’s best platform for accredited investors and entrepreneurs to interact on in a secure environment. Be sure to follow us on twitter and join us on Facebook too!

-The INISMO.com Team