My final MBA capstone presentation: Glia Business Plan, August 2011

Notas do Editor

1. I would like to start by taking a quick poll. By a show of hands, how many of you would say you’ve heard some great business ideas tonight? Great!. Well as much as we’d like to see them take off, the unfortunate truth is that many of them will never find the funding they need to get off the ground. Banks aren’t lending like they used to. Angel investors and venture capitalists won’t give you the time of day unless you’re the next Google or Facebook. If you’re lucky enough to have the rich uncle, well great, but that’s not an option for many of us. And the rest of us may have a few hundred or a thousand dollars to throw at something, but what’s that going to do. (pause)\n\nWell, imagine if there WERE a way for us to leverage that shared interest we all have in a way that gives these businesses a chance. IMAGINE taking whatever amount you’re comfortable with, combining it with everybody else’s, and then handing all that to an entrepreneur, and say, “here, this ought to do it”\n
2. Well that’s the inspiration behind Glia, the world’s first crowdfunding service dedicated to funding sustainable businesses from ordinary people. I’m Carlisle Haworth, founder of Glia.\n
3. so what exactly IS crowdfunding. It has recently emerged as an alternative way to raise money. Instead of having to find and convince one source to part with all the money, crowdfunding combines smaller amounts of money from a large group of individuals. It opens up this opportunity to ordinary people like you and me. (PAUSE)\nMost of it takes places online, enabled by Web 2.0 technologies, and the fast and cheap financial transactions available today.\n
4. Crowdfunding a business has some unique advantages as well. As an entrepreneur, you can test your market. If you post your business idea online and nobody likes it, well it doesn’t get funded but that’s ok. In fact, this is valuable information. Regroup, refine your idea, and try again. (PAUSE)\nIf your idea IS funded, that’s a good indication of acceptance by the marketplace, and you have essentially just pre-marketed your business in the process. (PAUSE)\nIt’s a much cheaper way to raise money since investors want to see YOU succeed, and particularly for sustainable businesses, if it’s not the person investors support, it’s the idea itself. This creates a strong community of support, along with an army of word-of-mouth marketers.\n
5. Crowdfunding a business has some unique advantages as well. As an entrepreneur, you can test your market. If you post your business idea online and nobody likes it, well it doesn’t get funded but that’s ok. In fact, this is valuable information. Regroup, refine your idea, and try again. (PAUSE)\nIf your idea IS funded, that’s a good indication of acceptance by the marketplace, and you have essentially just pre-marketed your business in the process. (PAUSE)\nIt’s a much cheaper way to raise money since investors want to see YOU succeed, and particularly for sustainable businesses, if it’s not the person investors support, it’s the idea itself. This creates a strong community of support, along with an army of word-of-mouth marketers.\n
6. Crowdfunding a business has some unique advantages as well. As an entrepreneur, you can test your market. If you post your business idea online and nobody likes it, well it doesn’t get funded but that’s ok. In fact, this is valuable information. Regroup, refine your idea, and try again. (PAUSE)\nIf your idea IS funded, that’s a good indication of acceptance by the marketplace, and you have essentially just pre-marketed your business in the process. (PAUSE)\nIt’s a much cheaper way to raise money since investors want to see YOU succeed, and particularly for sustainable businesses, if it’s not the person investors support, it’s the idea itself. This creates a strong community of support, along with an army of word-of-mouth marketers.\n
7. Crowdfunding a business has some unique advantages as well. As an entrepreneur, you can test your market. If you post your business idea online and nobody likes it, well it doesn’t get funded but that’s ok. In fact, this is valuable information. Regroup, refine your idea, and try again. (PAUSE)\nIf your idea IS funded, that’s a good indication of acceptance by the marketplace, and you have essentially just pre-marketed your business in the process. (PAUSE)\nIt’s a much cheaper way to raise money since investors want to see YOU succeed, and particularly for sustainable businesses, if it’s not the person investors support, it’s the idea itself. This creates a strong community of support, along with an army of word-of-mouth marketers.\n
8. Crowdfunding a business has some unique advantages as well. As an entrepreneur, you can test your market. If you post your business idea online and nobody likes it, well it doesn’t get funded but that’s ok. In fact, this is valuable information. Regroup, refine your idea, and try again. (PAUSE)\nIf your idea IS funded, that’s a good indication of acceptance by the marketplace, and you have essentially just pre-marketed your business in the process. (PAUSE)\nIt’s a much cheaper way to raise money since investors want to see YOU succeed, and particularly for sustainable businesses, if it’s not the person investors support, it’s the idea itself. This creates a strong community of support, along with an army of word-of-mouth marketers.\n
9. Here are some reasons why I think this is a great opportunity. The SBA recently counted about 627,000 new employer firms opened in 2008. Out of these, 80% said they needed money to launch, at an average amount of $60k.\nLoans to existing businesses came to around $700B in 2009, and I would argue that in both cases, crowdfunding is well positioned to gain considerable market share.\nHowever, and this is important, What’s NOT shown up here are ALLLLL the businesses that never even had a chance because they couldn’t find funding in the first place. And THIS, may be the biggest opportunity of all.\n
10. Here are some reasons why I think this is a great opportunity. The SBA recently counted about 627,000 new employer firms opened in 2008. Out of these, 80% said they needed money to launch, at an average amount of $60k.\nLoans to existing businesses came to around $700B in 2009, and I would argue that in both cases, crowdfunding is well positioned to gain considerable market share.\nHowever, and this is important, What’s NOT shown up here are ALLLLL the businesses that never even had a chance because they couldn’t find funding in the first place. And THIS, may be the biggest opportunity of all.\n
11. Here are some reasons why I think this is a great opportunity. The SBA recently counted about 627,000 new employer firms opened in 2008. Out of these, 80% said they needed money to launch, at an average amount of $60k.\nLoans to existing businesses came to around $700B in 2009, and I would argue that in both cases, crowdfunding is well positioned to gain considerable market share.\nHowever, and this is important, What’s NOT shown up here are ALLLLL the businesses that never even had a chance because they couldn’t find funding in the first place. And THIS, may be the biggest opportunity of all.\n
12. So it sounds like a good idea, but do you think people would really do it? Well fortunately, that question has been answered. Kickstarter pioneered the approach when they started funding creative projects in 2008, like music recordings and movies. Well last month \nthey saw their 10,000th project get funded! \nIn fact, every month they see another thousand projects reach their goal.\nThe largest single project to date has been just under $1M, which was for a really cool watch.\nIn all, $75M dollars have been pledged by about 800k backers, and what’s REALLY crazy is that all of this money was just GIVEN away! It’s fun to support projects you believe in. (PAUSE)\nI have NO issues saying that WE want to be the Green Kickstarter...though with some important differences.\n\n
13. So with that let’s turn back to Glia. First, these are real investments in actual businesses. They aren’t donations. Every business is vetted using a sustainability score card. All capital raised by entrepreneurs comes in one of three forms: a loan, revenue sharing, or equity ownership. Entrepreneurs choose the method that works best for them, and even set their own terms. Our revenue comes from a 3% transaction fee from each client.\n
14. So with that let’s turn back to Glia. First, these are real investments in actual businesses. They aren’t donations. Every business is vetted using a sustainability score card. All capital raised by entrepreneurs comes in one of three forms: a loan, revenue sharing, or equity ownership. Entrepreneurs choose the method that works best for them, and even set their own terms. Our revenue comes from a 3% transaction fee from each client.\n
15. So with that let’s turn back to Glia. First, these are real investments in actual businesses. They aren’t donations. Every business is vetted using a sustainability score card. All capital raised by entrepreneurs comes in one of three forms: a loan, revenue sharing, or equity ownership. Entrepreneurs choose the method that works best for them, and even set their own terms. Our revenue comes from a 3% transaction fee from each client.\n
16. So with that let’s turn back to Glia. First, these are real investments in actual businesses. They aren’t donations. Every business is vetted using a sustainability score card. All capital raised by entrepreneurs comes in one of three forms: a loan, revenue sharing, or equity ownership. Entrepreneurs choose the method that works best for them, and even set their own terms. Our revenue comes from a 3% transaction fee from each client.\n
17. The process for getting setup is simple. You go to the website and let Glia know you have an idea. Once approved, there are only three steps. First, you build your business profile. Think of this as your pitch to potential investors. You want it to be utterly enchanting, videos, stories, and business details. Next you decide if the profile will be available to the general public, or by invitation only. Finally, choose one of the three financing structures and all related terms of the deal. That’s it!\n
18. The process for getting setup is simple. You go to the website and let Glia know you have an idea. Once approved, there are only three steps. First, you build your business profile. Think of this as your pitch to potential investors. You want it to be utterly enchanting, videos, stories, and business details. Next you decide if the profile will be available to the general public, or by invitation only. Finally, choose one of the three financing structures and all related terms of the deal. That’s it!\n
19. The process for getting setup is simple. You go to the website and let Glia know you have an idea. Once approved, there are only three steps. First, you build your business profile. Think of this as your pitch to potential investors. You want it to be utterly enchanting, videos, stories, and business details. Next you decide if the profile will be available to the general public, or by invitation only. Finally, choose one of the three financing structures and all related terms of the deal. That’s it!\n
20. The process for getting setup is simple. You go to the website and let Glia know you have an idea. Once approved, there are only three steps. First, you build your business profile. Think of this as your pitch to potential investors. You want it to be utterly enchanting, videos, stories, and business details. Next you decide if the profile will be available to the general public, or by invitation only. Finally, choose one of the three financing structures and all related terms of the deal. That’s it!\n
21. Here’s the team behind Glia. Rob Benson is the Director of Technology and is responsible for building the underlying platform that makes all this happen. Rob currently manages the infrastructure performance at Twitter, and has had technical management stints at some of Silicon Valley’s leading firms.\nJudy Lee is Director of Innovation. She has 7 years experience as a design and innovation consultant at IDEO and will lead both the development of our internal vision and help our clients turn their ideas into realities.\nThen there’s me, the Managing Director. I have several years of experience in engineering and environmental consulting management, and soon to have an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise.\n
22. Here’s a look at our financials. Like most Web 2.0 Firms, it takes a couple years until we become profitable. We hit positive cash flow during the 28th month of operation, when we plan to have about 46 new clients every month and by the end of year 5, we are looking at revenues just over $2M, with a 20% net profit margin.\n
23. Here’s a look at our financials. Like most Web 2.0 Firms, it takes a couple years until we become profitable. We hit positive cash flow during the 28th month of operation, when we plan to have about 46 new clients every month and by the end of year 5, we are looking at revenues just over $2M, with a 20% net profit margin.\n
24. We are closely following SEC regulations that directly relate to crowdfunding and raising equitable securities. Fortunately, there are several discussions underway at the SEC which should make it easier to navigate regulations. In the meantime we’ll consult the best securities lawyer we can find.\n
25. Now, i know what you’re thinking. Why not crowdfund this yourself? Well, we do plan to use our own services in the future, but we need to build the platform first. And to do this, we are looking for $225k in exchange for a 27% ownership. This should safely carry us through the low-cash period. We are also open to doing an “offline” crowdfunding in the initial round of fund raising, where for every $8k, you get 1% ownership.\nWe are also looking for beta clients and beta investors. So if anyone here tonight wants to be a PART of this, let me know. \n
26. Now, i know what you’re thinking. Why not crowdfund this yourself? Well, we do plan to use our own services in the future, but we need to build the platform first. And to do this, we are looking for $225k in exchange for a 27% ownership. We are open to doing an “offline” crowdfunding in the initial round of fund raising, where for every $8k, you get 1% ownership.\nWe are also looking for beta clients and beta investors. So if anyone here tonight wants to be a PART of this, let me know. \n
27. Thank you for listening. Here’s my contact info, and now I’d like to open it up for questions.\n