Good place to find micro startups needing capital/time investment?

[johnmclean]

Hi all,

Is UKBF a good place to find micro startups needing both time and capital investment?

Any suggestions of other platforms will be greatly appreciated too.

thanks

John

 

[japancool]

Judging by the emails that keep dropping into my inbox, people just look on companies house and send out bulk emails.

 

[Kerwin]

Hi all,

Is UKBF a good place to find micro startups needing both time and capital investment?

Any suggestions of other platforms will be greatly appreciated too.

thanks

John

I am but I'm still very early in the process and probably not quite ready to make a pitch.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Hi all,

Is UKBF a good place to find micro startups needing both time and capital investment?

Any suggestions of other platforms will be greatly appreciated too.

thanks

John

Pretty much any business platform

As someone said to me when I first got involved with Start Up Loans ' you don't sell start up loans, you mention them and put strong filters in place'

 

[WaveJumper]

Welcome to the UKBF - its a good start as a general business forum, but of course it also depends on what type of business your looking for ie do you specialise in tec start ups, on line retail etc I would suggest depending on your area of expertise this may define the type of business forum you would want to focus on or risk as mentioned above the flood gates may well and truly open

 

[Paddy @ Hatch]

Hi all,

Is UKBF a good place to find micro startups needing both time and capital investment?

Any suggestions of other platforms will be greatly appreciated too.

thanks

John

Are you looking to invest?

 

[johnmclean]

Hi Paddy,

Yes both time and money (<£1000).

 

[japancool]

Hi Paddy,

Yes both time and money (<£1000).

A few hundred quid isn't going to go very far towards setting up or helping to grow a company.

Your time might be more valuable though, what kind of expertise do you have?

 

[johnmclean]

Japancool, you're probably right on £1000 being too little to make a positive dent.

Was hoping there was some type of portal with a breakdown of the numerous micro ventures needing capital or expertise in return for a profit/shares.... Each venture putting all their cards on the table: turnover, debt, projection, video summary.... and a reason for needing the investment. Multiple investors putting in both expertise and capital might see their business lift off, or the contrary LOL.

Can't seem to find anything of this nature on the web. Guess most small ventures might be reluctant to spell out their mission/venture publicly.

My expertise has been in the IT operational area (servers, hosting, software.....) area. From my perspective small enterprises shouldn't have any issues on the IT front, basically nearly everything (mail, billing, eCommerce, accountancy, telephone/VOIP, backups.....) has been turned into a SAAS offering with little to appraise besides: reliability, cost and vendor lock-in.

 

[Mark T Jones]

Japancool, you're probably right on £1000 being too little to make a positive dent.

Was hoping there was some type of portal with a breakdown of the numerous micro ventures needing capital or expertise in return for a profit/shares.... Each venture putting all their cards on the table: turnover, debt, projection, video summary.... and a reason for needing the investment. Multiple investors putting in both expertise and capital might see their business lift off, or the contrary LOL.

Can't seem to find anything of this nature on the web. Guess most small ventures might be reluctant to spell out their mission/venture publicly.

My expertise has been in the IT operational area (servers, hosting, software.....) area. From my perspective small enterprises shouldn't have any issues on the IT front, basically nearly everything (mail, billing, eCommerce, accountancy, telephone/VOIP, backups.....) has been turned into a SAAS offering with little to appraise besides: reliability, cost and vendor lock-in.

That's crowd funding. There are lots of sites, ranging from huge ones like Ki kstarter, smaller, more professional ones like CrowdCube or many niches sites

 

[Kerwin]

This is an interesting subject for me as I'm building a project right now and will be looking for funding in the future. I have the same problem but the other way around. I have no idea how to go about finding funding sources for my business. I can build the product (I'm a programmer / sys admin) but dealing with finance will be difficult for me.

 

[Mark T Jones]

This is an interesting subject for me as I'm building a project right now and will be looking for funding in the future. I have the same problem but the other way around. I have no idea how to go about finding funding sources for my business. I can build the product (I'm a programmer / sys admin) but dealing with finance will be difficult for me.

There are a number of potential avenues, but as the one seeking finance there are a number of considerations

In particular, how much and what type of funding is best suited to your needs. That will largely be revealed by your cashflow projections.

Then - what do you have to offer / attract / comfort a potential lender or investor.

Crowdfunding might suit the OP, as the platforms offer him the choice and flexibility he is looking for (albeit with significant risk). As the one seeking funding, you really need to stand out against all the noise

 

[Kerwin]

There are a number of potential avenues, but as the one seeking finance there are a number of considerations

In particular, how much and what type of funding is best suited to your needs. That will largely be revealed by your cashflow projections.

Then - what do you have to offer / attract / comfort a potential lender or investor.

Crowdfunding might suit the OP, as the platforms offer him the choice and flexibility he is looking for (albeit with significant risk). As the one seeking funding, you really need to stand out against all the noise

Thank you. I won't be pursuing anything in the near term as I'm still building things and testing whether certain ideas work but I'll make sure I have done the research moneywise before I look for funding.

 

[Washington]

Japancool, you're probably right on £1000 being too little to make a positive dent.

Was hoping there was some type of portal with a breakdown of the numerous micro ventures needing capital or expertise in return for a profit/shares.... Each venture putting all their cards on the table: turnover, debt, projection, video summary.... and a reason for needing the investment. Multiple investors putting in both expertise and capital might see their business lift off, or the contrary LOL.

Can't seem to find anything of this nature on the web. Guess most small ventures might be reluctant to spell out their mission/venture publicly.

My expertise has been in the IT operational area (servers, hosting, software.....) area. From my perspective small enterprises shouldn't have any issues on the IT front, basically nearly everything (mail, billing, eCommerce, accountancy, telephone/VOIP, backups.....) has been turned into a SAAS offering with little to appraise besides: reliability, cost and vendor lock-in.

Maybe you should be using your experience to set up such a portal

You should get first mover advantage as you would see whatever was posted up first

 

[m4hmo]

Im willing to gamble £5k each on 5 projects ?

 

[Ditata]

@johnmclean - are there any co-working spaces near you? I bet those places are teaming with people that have the seed of an idea and tonnes of motivation but no funding to get the ball moving.

To a recent graduate or student, your guidance and £1,000 could be the initial funding they need to get a proof of concept going and that ball moving.

Maybe try hanging out in one of those and just start chatting to people.

There's a guy on LinkedIn that gives away similar amounts of money to promote entrepreneurship in young people... /simonsquibb he's got a YouTube and stuff that he posts it one, maybe check his content or even reach out to him and see if he has any advice.