"We bring great ideas to life. Innova partners with scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs to bring leading edge technology and service concepts to market."
Ken Woody, President of Innova Memphis, and partner Jan Bouten along with Andrew Forsdick of Venture Capital, gave a panel presentation discussing ideas and strategies to consider when trying to get your product or service funded. In presenting your idea, here are a few things you should do:
* Expound on your story giving potential investors information not only on what you are trying to do, but adding a personal feel to it at the same time.
* Know your audience, do research and come up with target market strategies.
* Have a distribution plan for your product or service and acquire necessary patents for your ideas to keep others from stealing them.
* What makes your product or service different? Know your competitive advantage.
* Don' get offended if an investor turns you down. Ask for feedback and improve upon that and try again, Never Give Up.
* What is your "BHAG" (Big Hairy Audacious Gold) In other words, what are you good at? What is your passion and what would be the economic advantage from it?
Finally, you must utilize networking. Networking is very important and it is good to know someone. Find ways to meet people that can further assist you in making your goals a reality.
BHAG is goal at the end...:) But I cannot stress enough the importance of "putting yourself out there" with networking. There are a lot of great organizations I've been promoting to you all.
ReplyDeleteKeep these up, hope you are learning a little about social technologies with this experience.