One-Page Executive Summary for Finding Investors - Updated and Simplified
This video is part of my series - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders, learn more by visiting https://bit.ly/3hExYJX
The 1-Page Executive Summary, or, 1-pager, is an acceptable starting point with potential investors. Although there are many versions of a 1-pager, this is one of my favorite one-pager formats.
1. The Grab: Why is this idea or business worth an investors' attention?
2. The Problem: What big and important problem are you solving? Describe the enormous pain in detail.
3. The Solution: What specifically are you offering to whom? Software, hardware, service, a combination? What you have, or what you do, that solves the problem you’ve identified.
4. The Opportunity: Describe the market size, growth, characteristics, etc.
5. Your Competitive Advantage: Who is your competition and how will you be better?
6. The Model: How specifically are you going to generate revenues, and from whom? Why is your model leverageable and scalable?
7. The Team: Who is going to help you implement your solution?
8. The Promise: How are you going to make us BOTH a boatload of money?
Eventually want your 1-pager to be one page and properly designed for maximum impact. In the beginning just focus on getting your thoughts into some form of document for meaningful discussions.
If you want the a more detailed explanation of the the 1-pager, visit How Entrepreneurs Create a One-Page Executive Summary for Finding Angel Investors, TaskRabbit One-Pager, $38 Million Funding Success Story - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 6 - https://rencarlton.blogspot.com/2021/06/how-entrepreneurs-create-one-page.html
Are you looking for funding for an idea or business, send us your stuff and we will take a look, Funding@OmegaSeedFund.com
Are you interested in investing time or money into any of our businesses, info@omegaseedfund.com
Are you interested in promoting your product or service to our audience, contact Opportunities@OmegaSeedFund.com
Disclaimer: This is only for informational and discussion purposes. This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice.
Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 6
This video is part of my series - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders, learn more by visiting https://bit.ly/3hExYJX
This is one of my favorite hacks/shortcuts for raising money. It will save you a ton of time and get more attention from potential investors.
When you start a business and raise money, you obviously need to have a plan. But how long should that plan be?
According to U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), "Most business experts and counselors say it (Business Plans) should be 30 to 50 pages, as a minimum, while others may say even less or more than this depending on their own personal perspective."
Do you know how many pages are in the business plans I use for raising money? Would you believe only one?
There is a great tool called a one-page executive summary, or one-pager, which is a perfect way to communicate your idea to potential investors. A 1-page executive summary summarizes your thoughts, thesis, traction, and your predictions for the future of your business. Your 1-pager needs to give investors the gist of why they should invest.
The 1-Page Executive Summary has replaced the business plan in our 140-character-or-less world. It hits all of the major areas of a business. It demonstrates a business' potential, while leaving enough flexibility for possible changes and pivots. Although there are many versions of a 1-pager, this is one of my favorite one-pager formats.
1. The Grab: You should lead with the most compelling statement of why you have a really big idea. This sentence (or two) sets the tone for the rest of the executive summary. Usually, this is a concise statement of the unique solution you have developed to a big problem. It should be direct and specific, not abstract and conceptual. If you can drop some impressive names in the first paragraph you should—world-class advisors, companies you are already working with, a brand name founding investor. Don’t expect an investor to discover that you have two Nobel laureates on your advisory board six paragraphs later. He or she may never get that far.
2. The Problem: You need to make it clear that there is a big, important problem (current or emerging) that you are going to solve. In this context you are establishing your Value Proposition—there is enormous pain out there, and you are going to increase revenues, reduce costs, increase speed, expand reach, eliminate inefficiency, increase effectiveness, whatever. Don’t confuse your statement of the problem with the size of the opportunity (see below).
3. The Solution: What specifically are you offering to whom? Software, hardware, service, a combination? Use commonly used terms to state concretely what you have, or what you do, that solves the problem you’ve identified. Avoid acronyms and don’t try to use this opportunity to create and trademark a bunch of terms that won’t mean anything to most people. You might need to clarify where you fit in the value chain or distribution channels—who do you work with in the ecosystem of your sector, and why will they be eager to work with you. If you have customers and revenues, make it clear. If not, tell the investor when you will.
4. The Opportunity: Spend a few more sentences providing the basic market segmentation, size, growth and dynamics—how many people or companies, how many dollars, how fast the growth, and what is driving the segment. You will be better off targeting a meaningful percentage of a well-defined, growing market than claiming a microscopic percentage of a huge, mature market. Don’t claim you are addressing the $24 billion widget market, when you are really addressing the $85 million market for specialized arc-widgets used in the emerging wocket sector.
5. Your Competitive Advantage: No matter what you might think, you have competition. At a minimum, you compete with the current way of doing business. Most likely, there is a near competitor, or a direct competitor that is about to emerge (are you sufficiently paranoid yet??). So, understand what your real, sustainable competitive advantage is, and state it clearly. Do not try to convince investors that your only competitive asset is your “first mover advantage.” Here is where you can articulate your unique benefits and advantages. Believe it or not, in most cases, you should be able to make this point in one or two sentences.
6. The Model: How specifically are you going to generate revenues, and from whom? Why is your model leverageable and scaleable? Why will it be capital efficient? What are the critical metrics on which you will be evaluated—customers, licenses, units, revenues, margin? Whatever it is, what impressive levels will you reach within three to five years?
7. The Team: Why is your team uniquely qualified to win? Don’t tell us you have 48 combined years of expertise in widget development; tell us your CTO was the lead widget developer for Intel, and she was on the original IEEE standards committee for arc-widgets. Don’t just regurgitate a shortened form of each founder’s resume; explain why the background of each team member fits. If you can, state the names of brand name companies your team has worked for. Don’t drop a name if it’s an unknown name, and don’t drop a name if you aren’t happy to give the contact as a reference at a later date.
8. The Promise ($$): When you are pitching to investors, your fundamental promise is that you are going to make them a boatload of money. The only way you can do that is if you can achieve a level of success that far exceeds the capital. What is your path to profitability and positive cash-flow? When will you get there? When will your investors start enjoying a financial return on their investment?
Remember, a 1-Page Executive Summaries need to be one page!
TaskRabbit, founded in 2008 by Leah Busque, is a two-sided marketplace that helps connect TaskPosters and TaskRabbits. Task Posters, people who require help with their regular tasks. TaskRabbits, people who have skills and time needed to help others in their regular tasks in return for some money. Tasks include planting, cleaning, pet care, plumbing, and more.
TaskRabbit raised around $38 million funding as of July 2015. Then the IKEA Group acquired it in 2017. As of 2020, there were more than 140,000 Taskers on the network. On average, Taskers in the U.S. earned $35/hour. Below is an example of a Task Rabbit one-pager.
Below are some of the advantages of the one-page executive summary over the traditional, 30-50 page business plans when raising money.
-Increased likelihood of being read by potential investors, 1 versus 30+ pages
-Less work
-Easier to pivot/modify when you learn new information
I am not suggesting this is the only support for your business. You obviously need to do the work to support your one-pager. However, this still saves you from wasting a ton of time creating a formal 30-50 page document.
Your one-page executive summary is important for every angel funding campaign. It helps you clarify your thoughts and communicate your vision. If you cannot summarize your concept in a 1-pager, you probably need to work on your business more before pitching investors.
Are you looking for funding for an idea or business, send us your stuff and we will take a look, Funding@OmegaSeedFund.com
Are you interested in investing time or money into any of our businesses, info@omegaseedfund.com
Are you interested in promoting your product or service to our audience, contact Opportunities@OmegaSeedFund.com
Disclaimer: This is only for informational and discussion purposes. This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice.
Previous Post - Pitch Investors Using the Perfect Slide Deck and What Air Bed & Breakfast, Better Known as Airbnb, Included in Their First Pitch Deck - Find Angel Funding & Venture Capital for Business Startups, Entrepreneurs, & First Time Founders – Episode 5
Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything
In my previous article, I discussed how I found my lead investor with an idea and a plate of calamari.
Was it really that simple? Yes and no.
Today I am going to describe some of the details to help you your find investor.
Proper environment - I was at a country club. Was I there to do business? No, I was there to play golf and eat my appetizer. it just happened. The more often you can put yourself in the right environment to make connections, the better. How do you pick the right environment? Analyze your target market. For example, if you are selling business insurance, chamber of commerce card exchanges. If you are a pharmaceutical rep, maybe medical society events?
Focus - Abandoning the calamari... One of my clients told me a story about how he was at a trade show and his competitors were busy shoveling chicken fingers down their throats while they were closing deals. My personal rule for networking events is not to eat until I’m done making connections unless it would be socially awkward not to eat. I have hosted several events where I didn’t even taste the food because I was so busy.
Trusted advisors - My attorneys pointed out the flaws in the purchase agreement, where the opposing counsel neglected to include a non-compete. I have saved tens of thousands of dollars in taxes because I hire CPAs that aggressively look for legal, tax saving strategies
Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties. All stories are based on true events, but are altered to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
I really enjoy learning about how successful people become successful; however, I am often frustrated by the lack of early details. Learning about major wins is great, but what about the details about the smaller wins that led to these successes? Today, I am going to do that for you. I going to deep-dive a small win that led to a major success.
It can be done. In this situation, My lead investor wrote the first check. This was before I had a investor deck, before I had a Minimum Viable Product (MVP), before I had product-market fit, before I formed a legal entity, before I invested a dime.
I barely even had an idea. But I did have an investor. This is more important than everything else. Working capital and third party validation.
How I Found My First Investor With Calamari
I was sitting at a bar at my club one Friday evening after a late round of golf. The rest of my group had plans so I was there by myself eating calamari and watching golf on TV. Life was good.
Two guys came in and sat next to me. Lumpy, the chubby one one of the pair, was staring at my appetizer.
Me: “Would you like some calamari?”
Lumpy: “Yes!”
Sheldon: “Sure.”
After inhaling what was left on my food, the two of them proceeded to describe the inner-workings of the club. Who was relevant. Who was not.
Both Lumpy and Sheldon were members of the club for a long time and knew almost everyone. Sheldon came from family money. He had a bit of a gambling problem and went through a nasty divorce. Lumpy was more of a grinder. Probably earned most of his money. The grinding took its toll, he had some serious eating and people issues.
They were both fascinated by the fact that I was an entrepreneur. I told them the story on how I was recently bought-out of a company I previously launched. I also told them that the purchasers neglected to include a non-compete in their purchase agreement. This meant that I could use all of the connections I accumulated and the information I learned to start a new company. A new company that could directly compete with the company I just sold.
This small interaction launched an extremely intense “friendship” that lasted about a year. Sheldon eventually became my lead investor. He introduced me to 85% of the outside investors. He wrote a check before I did. Lumpy eventually wrote a check as well.
No plan, no business, just investors.
Not a bad return on investment for a plate of Calamari.
I will dissect the details of this transaction in a future post.
Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties. All stories are based on true events, but are altered to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
You have a better chance of dying in a car accident than catching the corona virus.
*The chance of dying in a car accident is 0.0167%
*Based on driving 10,000 miles.
*The chance of catching the corona virus is 0.01515%.
*That’s if we have 50,000 cases in the USA.
*There has been only 1600 cases in the USA so far.
…So that’s good news, right?
Everyone drives without worrying about dying. But based on the numbers: there’s a better chance you will die behind the wheel than the chance of you catching this corona virus.
If you do catch the corona virus, your chance of dying is less than 2.5%*.
So your chance of catching the corona virus and then actually dying from it is 0.000388%*.
To compare:
The chance of dying by getting struck by lightning is 0.00125%.
You are 3.2x more likely to get struck and killed by lightning than dying from the Coronavirus.
Thank you Alex Aleksandrovski Founder and CEO, Wooter for this information.
Are Lightning Strikes Really More Deadly than this Corona Virus? Update - 3/16/2020
As of today, there are 4,421 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 81 deaths in the United States. According to the National Weather Service, the U.S. has averaged 43 lightning fatalities per year. Based on that data, you are statistically more likely to die from this corona virus than from being struck by lightning. There are approximately 330,000,000 people in the U.S.
According to this data, there is a 0.0000130% chance of being struck by lightning in The U.S.
There is a 0.0000245% chance you will die of this corona virus in the United States.
Thank you Michael Andrews for bringing this to my attention.
Corona Virus Update - 3/17/2020
As of this morning, there are 4,510 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 87 deaths in the United States. Again, there are approximately 330,000,000 people in the U.S.
According to this data,
There is a 0.0013667% chance of catching this corona virus in the U.S.
There is a 0.0000264% chance you will die of this corona virus in the United States.
These numbers may go up, so we may periodically update this information as new data becomes available.
Corona Virus Update - 3/22/2020
27,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 354 deaths in the United States.
Some data for comparison purposes:
430 B.C.: Athens: As much as two-thirds of the population died.
1350: The Black Death: Responsible for the death of one-third of the world population.
1665: The Great Plague of London: deaths of 20 percent of London’s population
1918: Spanish Flu: 50 million deaths worldwide
1957: Asian flu: 1.1 million deaths globally, with 116,000 deaths in the United States.
1981: HIV/AIDS: 35 million people worldwide have died
2003: SARS: Infecting 8,096 people, with 774 deaths
Corona Virus Update - 4/10/2020
469,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 17,000 deaths in the United States.
21,500 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 1,076 deaths in Michigan.
330,000 million people in the United States, 10 million in Michigan.
676,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 35,000 deaths in the United States.
29,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 2,093 deaths in Michigan.
Corona Virus Update - 4/28/2020
1,035,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 59,000 deaths in the United States.
39,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 3,567 deaths in Michigan.
Corona Virus Update - 5/3/2020
1,188,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 69,000 deaths in the United States.
43,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 4,049 deaths in Michigan.
Corona Virus Update - 5/25/2020
1,678,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 98,000 deaths in the United States.
55,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 5,228 deaths in Michigan.
Corona Virus Update - 6/13/2020
2,117,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 117,000 deaths in the United States.
66,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 5,990 deaths in Michigan.
Corona Virus Update - 7/3/2020
2,837,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 131,000 deaths in the United States.
71,000 confirmed cases of this corona virus and 6,212 deaths in Michigan.
The Long-Term Damage Being Caused by the Corona Virus
I am deeply concerned about the long-term damage being caused by this corona virus. The stock market is experiencing a huge sell-off. Inflation is a serious concern. The unintended negative impact of regulatory policy surrounding the Corona Virus is also dangerous. Kids being forced to stay home from school. Sports seasons on every level being cancelled. Hourly workers being terminated or laid off.
Possibly the most damage is being inflicted on entrepreneurs and small business owners.
L.A. bars forced to close, restaurants go takeout-only. Mayor Eric Garcetti ordered bars to close and forced restaurants to halt dine-in service. Food and nightlife proprietors fear some establishments might not reopen.
The restrictions, announced by Garcetti in a Sunday night video news conference, went into effect at midnight and run through March 31. They also apply to movie theaters, gyms and fitness centers.
These type of regulatory actions can have a devastating impact on small businesses. Most restaurants are bars are small businesses. Restaurants are known for high overhead costs and relatively narrow margins. Chefs say an extended shutdown could have far-reaching consequences for the largest private-sector industry in the county, accounting for 355,540 jobs, according to a 2017 L.A. County Economic Development Corp. report. This is just in L.A. County.
If you shut down the main sources of revenue for these establishments, who is going to pay their bills? For how long? Again, restaurants are known for high overhead costs and relatively narrow margins.
This is happening across the United States.
What You Can do as an Entrepreneur or Small Business Owner
Raise capital early and often. Running out of cash is the #1 cause of business failure. This is why I preach the importance of raising capital. Entrepreneurs need cash to weather storms. In addition, equity capital is often not a loan, so this type of funding can come without interest or a defined payback schedule.
Innovate. Amazing businesses are born in tough times. Where are the opportunities? Where is the pain? Can you create a business to address that pain?
Review your insurance policies. You may be covered for some or all of your losses. Some policies include reimbursement for loss of income. This saved me and one of my businesses after a car ran into our office building!
Assistance. Federal, State, and Local governments often offer assistance to business owners in crisis. There are programs coming to assist those being impacted by the Corona Virus. President Trump signed a bill that allows the Small Business Administration to issue an estimated $7 billion in low-interest loans. The U.S. Small Business Administration announced on Thursday that small businesses with financial burdens caused by the pandemic and don't have credit available elsewhere can be eligible for loans of up to $2 million at 3.75%. Based on my research, your State Governor has to request these loans before they become available in your state. You can check the status here, https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/. As of this writing of this article, Oakland County, Michigan, has not requested access to these loans. Anyone connected with Governor Gretchen Whitmer may want to ask her when she plans on requesting these loans for Michigan businesses.
What You Can do as an Investor or Someone With a High Net Worth
Invest. There are massive opportunities for investing. Support the companies you already own and consider investing more into new opportunities. One of my favorite sayings is "You don't make money when you sell an investment, you make money when you buy your investment."
Hold. If you cannot justify investing new dollars, at least don't sell now. If you do, it will hurt everyone, including yourself. Buying stocks high and selling low is the opposite of a good investment strategy and it helps no one.
*Please read:
For healthy people, the chances of dying are even lower than 1%. Most common, you will feel symptoms similar to the flu and recover fully within 1-2 weeks.
But is very important to note: If you already have underlying conditions or serious ailments, such as an existing respiratory condition, then you can have fatal complications if you catch the corona virus. For these cases your chance of dying can be as high as 10%.
These conditions are rare but people do have them and for those people, they need to take the corona virus seriously. These same people must also consistently watch out for the influenza virus (better known as The Flu) as they can suffer fatal complications as well.
Additional Information: This information was received by me via email on 3/12/2020. Some of this information may have changed. In addition, none of the data in this article was verified me. Please contact me if you believe any of the information in this article is inaccurate.
Thank you again Alex Aleksandrovski Founder and CEO, Wooter for the email/data and www.videezy.com for the lightning video
Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties. All stories are based on true events, but are altered to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
Pitch your business ideas directly to angel investors! Ren Carlton will host the event.
Location
41000 Woodward Avenue, Suite 350
Bloomfield Hills, MI 48304
Time
Wednesday, November 6, 2019, 1:00 PM-4:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time - NOTE: CONTACT US FOR THE DATE OF OUR NEXT LIVE PITCH EVENT - Info@omegaaccelerator.com
You will have 45 seconds to pitch your business idea. If we like your idea, we will make you an offer to invest and help you find up to $5 million of additional funding.
Pre-Registration - Reserve Your Spot Today for Preferential Treatment
-The subject of your email needs to be “MFAS - Pre-Registration - Live Pitch Event - [YOUR NAME]" to avoid our spam filters.
-Your email must include your name, business name, phone number, business idea, and the date of the event you will attend.
-When you pre-register, you are welcome to send us supporting information about your business with your pre-registration email, e.g. website, social media links, videos, slide deck, business plan, projections, 1-page executive summary.
-We also accept video and remote pitches via Skype, however, live pitches are preferred. If you would like to Skype us your pitch, please include your Skype ID in your email. If you would like to send us a 45 second pitch video, please upload it to Youtube and send us the link.
Are you interested in investing in our startups or helping us host the program? Email Info@omegaaccelerator.com for details.
Are you interested in marketing to our participants, audience, and network of over 20,000 funding sources and entrepreneurs? Email Info@omegaaccelerator.com for details.
Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties. All stories are based on true events, but are altered to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
All offers will be contingent upon passing our due diligence process.
Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties. All stories are based on true events, but are altered to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
Pitch your business ideas directly to angel investors! Ren Carlton will host the event.
Location
Partnr Haus
2139 Cole Street
Birmingham, Michigan 48009
Time
Wednesday, October 23, 2019, 1:00 PM-4:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time - NOTE: CONTACT US FOR THE DATE OF OUR NEXT LIVE PITCH EVENT - Info@omegaaccelerator.com
Agenda
1:00 - Registration Opens
1:30 - 3:00 - 45 Second Pitches
3:30 - 4:00 - Offers Made
You will have 45 seconds to pitch your business idea. If we like your idea, we will make you an offer to invest and help you find up to $5 million of additional funding.
Pre-Registration - Reserve Your Spot Today for Preferential Treatment
-The subject of your email needs to be “MFAS - Pre-Registration - Live Pitch Event - [YOUR NAME]" to avoid our spam filters.
-Your email must include your name, business name, phone number, business idea, and the date of the event you will attend.
-When you pre-register, you are welcome to send us supporting information about your business with your pre-registration email, e.g. website, social media links, videos, slide deck, business plan, projections, 1-page executive summary.
-We also accept video and remote pitches via Skype, however, live pitches are preferred. If you would like to Skype us your pitch, please include your Skype ID in your email. If you would like to send us a 45 second pitch video, please upload it to Youtube and send us the link.
Are you interested in investing in our startups or helping us host the program? Email Info@omegaaccelerator.com for details.
Are you interested in marketing to our participants, audience, and network of over 20,000 funding sources and entrepreneurs? Email Info@omegaaccelerator.com for details.
Disclaimer: This does not constitute an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation of any security or any other product or service. We are not offering any legal, investment, tax, or medical advice. Please consult the appropriate professional before doing anything you learn from the content posted on any of our digital properties. All stories are based on true events, but are altered to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
All offers will be contingent upon passing our due diligence process.
New startups need to consider working with a business
accelerator since they provides a means for a business to grow quickly.According to Entreprenuer.com (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/271000),
there are more than 170 accelerator programs in the U.S.
which offer early-stage startups assistance, mentorship, and/or investment in
exchange for equity and/or fees.
In the article entitled, “The Top Seven Startup Accelerators
and What Makes Each Unique,” Entrepreneur.com takes on this trending
issue.According to Entreprenuer.com, “Y
Combinator remains the largest and best accelerator in the nation, and they
have an unparalleled global reputation in the tech world. The traits that set
them apart are their incredible mentorship and capital network (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/300026).”
There is also 500 Startups."500 Startups is a seed and early stage venture capital fund,
consisting of 4 major funds and 13 micro funds which have invested in startups
in at least 60 countries. Funded startups include Udemy and Credit Karma. Exits
have included sales to Google and Rakuten (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alejandrocremades/2018/08/07/top-10-startup-accelerators-based-on-successful-exits/#393f78734b3b).” It
is a well-established accelerator that has well proven the many benefits of
connecting with a startup accelerator.Several of the companies that have successfully exited their program are
now known “worldwide.”
Then there is Shark Tank, the reality show in which
entrepreneurs present their business idea on national television.According to ABC news.com, the show has
reinvigorated entrepreneurship in America.Contestants pitch their ideas to “sharks in a tank” who are industry
moguls that have already established their own empires.Contestants pitch their business ideas in
order to get the sharks to invest in their company.When more than one of the sharks decides to
invest, it can result in a bidding war, thereby increasing the investment.The show represents a televised accelerator experience
for business startups (https://www.cnbc.com/shark-tank/).
Is it worth it?According
to Business Insider, Techstars has achieved a 90 percent overall success
rate.While “Y Combinator” also produces
roughly about an 88 percent success rate.This means at least this percentage of the companies they have worked
with are still up and running or have been acquired by other businesses (https://www.businessinsider.com/why-hardly-any-techstars-companies-fail-2013-3).In fact, just a few of the successful
accelerator exits include Airbnb, Twilio and Classpass.
This is one of the reasons I founded Omega Accelerator.For more information on how to apply to our
accelerator programs, visit http://omegaaccelerator.com/contact/
or email me at Ren@OmegaAccelerator.com
You can also contact me if you would like to advise or
invest in our startups.
Foxhound - Ed-Tech, Software, Application - Foxhound
LLC is a software company that hopes to empower its users. Currently,
Foxhound is focused on helping others learn to code with the power of their
voice. Codeword by Foxhound is an application that helps teach people how to
code through interactive lessons and coding quizzes.
There are dozens of ways to learn to
code. In fact, EdTech spend is poised to reach $252
billion by 2020. So, there’s a lot of options out there. What makes
Codeword interesting? Think of an application like Duolingo, an application
that helps people learn to speak another language. Codeword is like Duolingo
for learning a computer language.
Codeword uses high-tech teaching
techniques that have yet to be explored such as using your voice to code to
help learners embrace computer programming.
Codeword is an educational tool that
will use the latest in voice recognition technology to help expand how we learn
to code. Additionally, Codeword will focus on bringing this type of interactive
learning to veterans as well as people living with disabilities.
Codeword will utilize a SaaS
(software-as-a-service) pricing model. Monthly subscriptions will be offered in
tiers. More
functionality will be coming as Foxhound develops the MVP.
“Codeword has the potential to
provide real social impact and value.”
“We need smaller, more digestible
chunks to improve how we learn to code. It’s exciting to see an app like
Codeword attempt to do this. I’d download that app.”
“Education tech is valued at over $8
billion and shows no sign of slowing. The team at Foxhound has a real
opportunity to tap into a global market.”
Check out Codeword in action below:
For more information about Codeword, contact me at Ren@OmegaAccelerator.com
