We did this post a couple weeks back and I thought I should repost them onto Startup-Stories, mainly because of their relevance. This is the first part and I'll post the second one in a while. Hope you enjoy these posts and get something out of them! - Markus

Campaigning for an election. That’s perhaps the closest scenario one can equate in successfully getting crowdfunding to work for your next startup. It takes some energetic pitches in promoting your campaign, constant communication, winning the support of peers and bit of charisma can go a long way in winning votes.

Crowdfunding which fits in with just about any social web or community based activity demands much the same from those seeking to fund their next venture. If people are going to support you, they have to like you. If people have to like you, they have to know you exist and that doesn’t happen by waiting around. In fact, it’s not just online but offline too, investors and funders don’t actively seek startups all the time. It’s the startups that have to be more pro-active in creating awareness among the right people and making sure they get noticed. You need to reach out and make them believe in you!

There is no better recent example in getting things done quickly through networking than the Whitehouse with this post from CNN- White House taps young entrepreneurs to get things done. The article covered how President Obama’s office ( a man known for using social traction to create awareness and spark activity) has engaged young entrepreneurs to gather momentum for several initiatives. If the use of social media to engage wide audiences towards his election campaign is anything to go by, here is one person who really understands the power of spreading the word online. Here’s an extract from the post which highlights what it’s all about:

"It's all about networks," said attendee Mike Del Ponte, the Founder & CEO of Sparkseed which funds college students who have ideas for start-ups intended to improve society. "Legislation can take years, but the next-gen leaders who met at the White House can move mountains with a quick phone call, or even a tweet."

About a year ago, Brandon Mendleson published a post on Mashable titled : A Guide To Crowdfunding Success where he talks about the reasons attributed to failure in crowdfunding initiatives for some bands on MyBandStock:

Taylor Hulyk, Public Relations Manager for MyBandStock, a “social web community that allows fans the opportunity to ‘buy stock’ in a band,” suggested what contributes to a crowdfunding project’s failure in terms of his project:

All inhibiting issues root from a lack of communication and commitment on the part of the collaborators. For MyBandStock, everything rests on the work ethic, motivations and dedication of the entities involved in the crowdfunding project. The goal must be mutually beneficial and must inspire action on the part of all involved. An unsuccessful MyBandStock crowdfunding project would be due to fans lacking a belief in the artist’s continued career, or perhaps when an artist does not recognize and appreciate fan contribution to his success.

Constant outreach, communication and networking will not just help spread the word about what you’re doing but inspire the belief which will ultimately get others to support your startup venture. Participate in or spark conversation within the community, update others on your activity as often as you can and bring out your personality as well as that of your startup for others to be able to connect with you and the support is a by-product. There may have been a time when investors would fund a business idea on paper without taking a closer look into the people behind the venture but in the social web era, it’s as much about making connections and building relationships than it is about break even dates and ROI projections.

I thought i would post a slightly different type of start-up story today.

Rather than tell you about my business and my aims, which are specific only to me, I thought i would talk about the experience of starting a business. This is something that we all have in common and hopefully some of which you will identify with.

When i meet with other entrepreneurs, successful or just starting out, invariably the conversation ends up being about the challenges and the mishaps that we all experience along the way. A bit like soldiers and war stories - the battles may all be different, but the experiences are the same.

I think that starting a business is a bit like skydiving, for a number of reasons:

1. It seemed like a MUCH better idea at the time

When you first think about doing it, it's exciting, thrilling. A goal that you set yourself and something that you know will be character building and a milestone in your life. When you actually get to do it - it costs a lot of money, there are a lot of details that you need to pay attention to if you dont want it to all go horribly wrong and you occassionally feel like you would rather be anywhere else than there, but you still make yourself see it through.

2. Don't look down

The risks, or certainly the perception of the risks, are huge. Sacrificed income, uncertainty of outcome, family stress, the competitive risks. The more you think about them all , the harder the challenges become. It's better to just focus on the overall goal, and the next step in achieving it. Do one thing at a time, do it properly, check that the outcome was what you expected and move on, just don't look down!

3. You're on your own

For all the training, instruction and help that you get in the run up to the event, when it comes down to doing it - you are on your own. The problems are yours alone, there's no one with you to ask for help. When it starts to go wrong, you have to fix it fast and by yourself before you hit the ground.

4. You only do it because you want to

No one MAKES you do it. It's actually easier and simpler to not do it. But that misses the point. These are things you choose to do because you want to, because it's something you have always wanted to do, because you feel you can do it and because you want the challenge.

5. It's very satisfying at the end

The point when your toes touch the ground, or the pen touches your first customers order, or the contract to sell the business, that is when it all becomes worth it.And your reaction to all the fear, the adrenalin, the stresses ?  You just want to get back on the plane and jump again!

As for me, well to continue the analogy, I would say I am on the plane and just about to jump. My company, CINTEP, makes showers that recycle water. They use 70% less water and energy than normal showers and save an average family about $940 per year. We just opened our first funding round and we have a crowdfunding option via GrowVC.

Visit our website for more information http://www.recyclingshower.com.au

Or visit our profile on GrowVC http://www.growvc.com/startups/10532

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and best of luck with your own adventures,

Nick

Paris, France - Red Herring announced its Top 100 Award in recognition of the leading private companies from Europe, celebrating these startups’ innovations and technologies across their respective industries.

Red Herring’s Top 100 Europe list has become a mark of distinction for identifying promising new companies and entrepreneurs. Red Herring editors were among the first to recognize that companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, YouTube, and eBay would change the way we live and work. 

“Choosing the companies with the strongest potential was by no means a small feat,” said Alex Vieux, publisher and CEO of Red Herring. “After rigorous contemplation and discussion, we narrowed our list down from hundreds of candidates from across Europe to the Top 100 Winners. We believe Zonerider embodies the vision, drive and innovation that define a successful entrepreneurial venture. Zonerider should be proud of its accomplishment, as the competition was very strong.”

Red Herring’s editorial staff evaluated the companies on both quantitative and qualitative criteria, such as financial performance, technology innovation, management quality, strategy, and market penetration. This assessment of potential is complemented by a review of the track record and standing of startups relative to their sector peers, allowing Red Herring to see past the “buzz” and make the list a valuable instrument of discovery and advocacy for the most promising new business models in Europe.

Tweet and follow Zonerider                                Become a Zonerider fan on Facebook  
@zonerider

Yours truly,

As we enter the age of rich media, HDtv, Social TV, 3Dtv, gaming, video conferencing, and cloud computing, our appetite for broadband will remain insatiable. Can mobile data keep up? It’s just a matter of time before we all start to seek better and more efficient means to satisfy our ever increasing bandwidth demand.  So just imagine a world where one may log onto superfast wireless broadband at speeds exceeding 20-50 or even 100 mbps and it does not matter where you are, paying fair price, driven by the market, not by a single operator, and with a growing number of areas you may be getting the service free.

I would ask you to further indulge in the idea of offering this service to others just like you are using right now, which is unlimited, unrestricted, and practically the same latency that you are experiencing at home or the office – we call this “User Generated Capacity” The nice and most important part is you - the User - gets paid for it, we call this "Getting Paid For Doing Nothing"

No this is not 3/4g Wimax, or other; this is all happening with the help of many clever and innovative companies in the wifi space, with Zonerider leading the charge. Zonerider has created patented windows software that monetizes any wifi network anywhere in the world. This “monetization tool” as we also like to call it - opens the opportunity for all forms of wifi and capacity sharing incentives, which is bound to upset the balance in the established arenas of mobile operators, Telcos and ISPs. Some operators have branded Zonerider a parasitical product, and have made veil threats of doing everything in their power to shut the system down. But the Genie is out and consumers will vote regardless; on how they want to make use of their broadband. Many others have dismissed the idea out of hand, but one only need to remind the pundits how the Internet was dismissed in the early 90s as a “fad that will never catch on”.

I started Zonerider in 2003 with the simple idea to turn every network into a socially and market driven commercial opportunity. Wireless signal leaks, has no control of propagation, and can be extended beyond walls and other boundaries. In time wifi has improved both in range and data capacity throughput, and we are soon to witness speeds of anywhere up to 1 gbps, that’s 1,000 megabits per second, with range of up to 20 metres radius, to put this in context, take any city street and one of these wifi routers can cover 3 to 4 houses at a stretch either way. The more people join the network the larger and stronger it becomes; eventually competing against Mobile operators worldwide on data consumption. The best part is its ethical purchase appeal, and it doesn’t get better knowing that most of the end user access fees or advertising revenue goes into Joe consumers pocket.

We have been through many harrowing and trying times, have made changes to the business plan and financial modeling more times than I can remember, but this is just the beginning, and we are excited to be where we are today. Zonerider has kept intentionally a low profile, preferring to establish its IPR, patents and trademarks before meeting the public eye. Things have already begun, Zonerider was selected to take part in the UKTI Mobile Mission to Boston March 2010 and recently won the Techtour 30 award out of over 300 entrants. I am excited to see how this vision is unfolding, and look forward to the next step in our ambitious growth.

For more information visit www.zonerider.com and follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/zonerider  (@zonerider) or become a Fan on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/#%21/pages/Zonerider/60352527637

This is my first post here . Thanks to GrowVC . 

The topic I mentioned was raised by Tetuan Valley and Okuri Ventures in Ecommretail 2010 .  

I just launched my startup www.letmecallu.com on 15th of April in ecommretail. I was bit nervous then excited. 

So I attended the presentation given by Alex (@abarrera) and Luis (@luisriverag). 

I really started to like these guys. I think I will learn a lot from them. The topic was “Ecommerce 2.0., de lo que todo el mundo habla pero nadie tiene ni idea” in English it means “Ecommerce 2.0 everybody talks about it, but nobody has an idea”

After hearing this topic I thought it's true. First of all, the companies who own a website, selling goods or services online should improve their service and reach their customers .

Why Facebook, Twitter or blogs are successful, is because they are maintained by real people. All the posts on the Facebook or Twitter are posted by real people . So the ecommerce 2.0 companies should give a humans touch to their clients.

People who want to buy something online are scared. Scared of what?  

1. They are scared because they do not know if the website is real. 
2. They do not know if they will receive the goods on time or in good shape if they buy the online. 
3. They do not want to call international numbers as in most cases. 
4. They do not want to be kept on hold by the customer service people for hours to find info what they need. 

So, how to solve these issues and make people buy more online? 

1. Treat the customer as KINGS.
2. Give a Human Touch to ecommerce 2.0.
3. Give the best delivery services, there are many, the companies should try talking to Couriers to make better delivery solutions
4. Use www.Letmecallu.com ( Just kidding….. ) Give a better customer care service providing better ways to contact the companies.
5. Make them feel that the companies are there for the customers always.

The companies who sell online, who does business online makes the customers feel that they are always there for them  and makes them comfortable with ecommerce.

MAKE THE CUSTOMERS HAPPY AND REAP BENEFITS

Follow me @letmecallu