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grasshopper
04-03-2015, 06:01 PM
I'm looking for a website where you can post up a business idea and it will be seen by investors.
Not something crazy expensive and complicated like funded or kickstarter, etc.. more like a forum or a craigslist type of situation (yeah we posted on craigslist too). Looking to approach anyone with extra money wanting to invest, not just large corporations or celebrities. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Harold Mansfield
04-03-2015, 06:15 PM
Here's my 2 cents.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is everything. If all you have is an idea and no prototype, no patents, nothing tangible..not even market research...I wouldn't talk to you either.
Show that you've actually invested your own money in this and taken it as far as you can on your own, and show me something tangible and I'll at least listen.

Otherwise, like I said. Ideas are a dime a dozen and if that's all you have, I don't really need you to pull it off.

Not knowing anything about your idea, the fact that you've approached so many people and no one was interested tells me that what you were presenting and how you were presenting it is more about you, and not the lack of vision of the workers as you call it.

If it's good enough, the "workers" will get it. That's why they're the front lines of communication. To qualify what is worth sending forward. So you have to impress them, not discount them. If you can't present it in a way where they get it, neither will anyone else.

If their position was beneath you, they wouldn't be standing in your way.
I think you need to readjust.

grasshopper
04-03-2015, 07:48 PM
Allright, thanks for your opinion on the matter. Yes, if it's just vaporware with nothing tangible and no experience and the idea is stupid and does not really help people, ur right...it's a dime a dozen. Agreed.

Such is not the case with our offering however.
If anyone has anything relating to my original question, please post it up.

Harold Mansfield
04-03-2015, 08:04 PM
Allright, thanks for your opinion on the matter. Yes, if it's just vaporware with nothing tangible and no experience and the idea is stupid and does not really help people, ur right...it's a dime a dozen. Agreed.


No. That's not what you should take from that. I have no idea if what you have is helpful or can be successful. What I'm saying is that investors want to see that you've exhausted your own funds and resources to put together at least a prototype or a patent or something before they're going to take you seriously with their own money.

Besides whether or not it's a good idea, they want to see your level of commitment. How much do YOU believe in it? Anyone can come up with great ideas for other people's money.

I'm sure you watch Shark Tank. Have you ever seen anyone walk in there with nothing to show?

Fulcrum
04-03-2015, 08:16 PM
I doubt there is anything out there for what you want - primarily due to SEC regulations on soliciting for investment.

Harold is right on with what he said. Sarcasm won't get you anywhere. You would be better suited to give us an idea of what your product/service is and how you are going about getting it marketed or produced.

grasshopper
04-03-2015, 08:38 PM
I appreciate your replies.

I don't watch or own a TV, though I have heard of Shark Tank.

As I said, I agree...nothing to show is useless. I am not disagreeing with you. We have over 15 years of traction in this industry and are leaders in our area. We are seeking capitol to expand our operation, implement our unique programs and take over a billion dollar industry, nationwide.

After chasing investors on our hands and knees, it just seems far more efficient, dignified and logical to take the position of putting ourselves out there so anyone with money, large and small, can come to us.

Millions of people have extra cash for millions of reasons, but they are virtually impossible to find and contact individually. If there is a site where people with money go to look for businesses for sale, people to partner with, ideas, etc..that's much more efficient and allows motivated investors to contact people who are looking for investment.

There must be some website out there where people can post their business idea and what-not in a simple, free way for many investors to view.
If not, hey...business niche.

Harold Mansfield
04-07-2015, 11:33 AM
Millions of people have extra cash for millions of reasons, but they are virtually impossible to find and contact individually. If there is a site where people with money go to look for businesses for sale, people to partner with, ideas, etc..that's much more efficient and allows motivated investors to contact people who are looking for investment
They are unreachable for a reason. Because every day 100 people are hitting them up with ideas on how to spend their money.
Make a splash in the industry with your invention or business model and they will contact you.

In my experience, when they want to reach you, they will. The ones who want to be solicited make it known and build business incubators or angel investment funds. Or run conventions and trade shows.



There must be some website out there where people can post their business idea and what-not in a simple, free way for many investors to view.
If not, hey...business niche.

You say you have 15 years in the industry, and yet you're still looking for someone else to lead the way and do what you want.
You're the expert, it's your idea, and you obviously think there's a need....why not create what you're looking for?

grasshopper
04-07-2015, 03:13 PM
Thanks for taking the time to reply. It's not the reply I expected, since I'm only asking for a URL...but let me try to tackle this.

I'm talking about private individuals who may have some money from retiring or who may have inherited money, etc.. They are usually looking for something to invest in, and are not inundated with people trying to get their money. I'm not just speaking of serial or institutional investors here exclusively.

We're trying to let them reach us.. hence the wanting to post our need on a website that does this sort of thing. Thankfully I found one on my own.

Yes, we have 15 years in this industry. Without divulging any proprietary information, we've worked for the past 7 years on a system to change the way this business is done. It will save millions of lives and prevent suffering on a massive scale. We've implemented these changes on a small scale, but need funding to take this state-wide, and then nationwide. We can boot-strap ourselves up to that level, or take a small bank loan to do basic expansion and rebranding, but it could take 10 years to go national. However many millions will suffer injury or be killed in that long of a wait time. Time is of the essence.

There are lives being lost daily and we are the ONLY ones to find a way to prevent it, to fix it.
For the past 40 years people, government and organizations have screamed that something should be done....well, we did it. We are the first. And we are leading the way.

We've created the system, the methods. We've created several never-before-seen innovations in this industry..but all of it needs money to be brought into the full light of day to serve the American public.

Again, there is an urgency here. Until our reforms and systems are put into place, lives will continue to be lost daily and millions will suffer.

We've done the footwork, we have the expertise...now we just need somebody to strike a match to light this bonfire. The "match" being expansion capital.

In short, we are talking about a business that will help people in a way that nothing does, better than any charity in existence. In a very practical way that will allow us to take over a billion dollar industry, a broken industry in desperate need for reform. Helping people on a massive scale while making huge money... yeah, it sounds impossible, but we honestly found the way.

Now we just have to find a way to explain our industry and model to people on the outside who have no idea how this industry works. It's a bit "closed" and those on the outside (meaning the public) have no clue whatsoever and every investor we ever approached was highly surprised to learn the facts about this industry.

I would say the biggest problem with the whole "trying to get investment" thing is virtually all investors will NOT tell you why they turned you down. Which is odd. IF it were me, if I saw something good with a small flaw I'd say "wow that sounds like a good idea, do xyz and then get back to me and we will talk." ...however in virtually every case they just ignore you or say "no" with no real explanation.

I hope this helps clarify the situation and again, thank you for taking the time to reply.

Harold Mansfield
04-07-2015, 03:53 PM
I completely understand what you're saying, but you're not listening.

No such website exists. If it did after 15 years running a business you would know about it. There's no way anyone can direct you to anything even close without knowing something about what field this is in. We can't give you any direction for an anonymous idea that you can't tell us anything about.

I suggest you tackle the people in your industry. That's the most logical place to start.
Targeting retirees and other such people who are not generally investors in start ups will likely get you in trouble. Every episode of American Greed I've ever watched started out like that.

I'm not discounting you or your idea, but your thought process is a little off. You say "You can bootstrap yourselves..to a certain point", and I say "Why haven't you yet?". At least you'd be one step closer to landing an investor.

You say it could take 10 years to go national. Yep. It could. Even with an investor. It's called hard work and everyone puts it in if they want to see success. No one hits a game winning home run immediately. No one.

Look, bottom line is unless you have some kind of patents, prototypes or something to show investors even if there was this website where people with money to invest were just sitting back waiting for something to throw their money into, it wouldn't matter.

Every industry has conventions, trade shows or some kind of industry gathering. THIS is where people go looking for scrappy start ups to invest in. Not websites. You need to go where the people that you seek hang out. And be prepared to put on the best presentation of your lives.

Also, if your idea is so ground breaking and original that no one has ever thought it up before, and governments will be singing your praises, then why don't you apply for a Government grant from the appropriate Federal Agency.

If time is of the essence and it's about saving lives, as you say, I would think you would have given the idea away already. Then you'd be a hero, genius, and everyone would be chomping at the bit to invest in your next idea. So that's obviously not your main motivation or you would have done that already. If I were you, I'd stop putting that in your pitch. It's not helping.


The problem isn't that you aren't explaining yourself clearly. It's that you have unrealistic expectations and act like investors owe you a sit down because your idea is so great. It's not always about the idea or the product..it's about whether or not they want to be in business with you.

The way I see it you have options that you could investigate and things that you could be doing, but they take too long so you just want someone to give you the money. That's not going to work.

grasshopper
04-07-2015, 04:58 PM
Thank you for your reply.

Again, not the reply I was expecting, but I will try to tackle this one also.

You are incorrect. A website does exist, at least one that I know of. People of all walks of life looking for things to invest in, people seeking investment, etc etc. I posted this in a previous post, you must have missed it.

We're not "targeting" anyone...that's the opposite of our intent. We want to put it out in the general population, for anyone with money to invest. After 2 years of presentations, pitch-deck "stand up and tell us about yourself" meetings and everything in between, we felt it best to expand our search and instead of begging other for money, letting them come to us.

As I said, yes..we have been in this industry for 15 years, however at first we were just like every other company like ours and did not know that our industry was causing death and suffering on a massive scale. Once we realized it, we set about to correct the flaws and bring in new methods. This took several years to think of, create and implement. Even with partial implementation we have had amazing results.

The details are too complicated to speak of here in just a casual discussion, but we sought expansion capital as soon as we knew we had a purpose, that we could help the world and we had the way to do it.

As for how long it would take us to go national.. You would have to know this industry and how it is currently run and how it is marketed..which I won't go into. If I were to sit down with you and tell you how it could be done, you would agree in a heartbeat. But it would require an understanding of this industry, a basic understanding human psychology and marketing, etc.

This industry does not have conventions or trade shows. It's comprised of independent mom-and-pop operators who do their own thing and are not regulated by federal, state or local governments beyond the basics of licensing and bonding.

The problem is that everyone thought they could just get "the industry" to change the way it did things. This has not worked in over 40 years. The only way to change it, is to take-over this industry and do it our way. Then we can save lives. No other approach has worked or will work. Only by becoming the biggest name in this industry can we save lives and prevent suffering on a massive scale. Period.

The Government is not interested in saving lives or helping people, their own efforts have only been unenforced "suggestions" and nobody cares about them or implements them.

As far as a "grant"..I don't think they would give money to a single company to take over an industry (for profit) but one never knows. I will look into it and I thank you for the suggestion.

Yes, we did come up with something that will save lives on a massive scale, but it's not a product. It's not something that can be "given" away, for the same reason no company in our industry has ever taken the suggestions of the government to improve this industry. Nobody cares about saving lives, they only care about money. We can cover both very, very well.

I apologize if this explanation is not clear, as you said. But this was never meant to degenerate into a "conversation"... I just wanted a URL and there is a lot of proprietary information I cannot share here.

As far as options, we are trying everything. As I said, we've done this the conventional way and now we are trying other ways that seem more efficient and more dignified than running around to pitch competitions and trying to get people with no vision to see a vision.

A few years back, Virgin had a contest to find the super most amazing business idea they would fund...you know what it was? A self-storage place that comes and picks up your stuff for you. Yes, believe it or not..that's the best anyone could think of. Nobody needs it, uphill battle to sell it. Saves nobody, does not really improve lives. It's a joke, but Virgin thought it was great. This is what I mean by a "lack of vision."

Bottom line: We are here to save lives and take-over a billion dollar industry. We invented the methods, we have implemented the systems and now we want to take it nationwide as quickly as possible.

And, again...if anyone has any sites like the one I'm requesting, please post it up.

Have a nice day.

Harold Mansfield
04-07-2015, 05:28 PM
Again, you're saying "I can't tell you about it, or what industry it is, or anything at all...but if you know a website where I can find investors for this mystery thing, please post it".
How are we supposed to make any suggestions?

There is no all purpose, every industry website like you're asking for.

Freelancier
04-07-2015, 06:19 PM
Just google "angel network" and your closest major metropolitan area. See what happens.

Harold Mansfield
04-07-2015, 06:39 PM
If I had some "big new thing", here's what I'd do:

I'd build a GREAT website about the thing that CLEARLY explains what it is, what patents I hold ( or whatever) and calls to action to contact me to find out more, or join my mailing list for updates.

I'd do a couple of awesome press releases about the thing.
I'd get on any radio show, podcast or panel that I could to talk about the thing.
I'd get in touch with any reporters or bloggers in the industry to see if they'll do a story.
I'd create video(s) demonstrating the problem I hope to solve with the new thing.
I'd blog about the thing, industry, and problems that this thing solves.

Plain and simple, I'd get my thing out there for all to see.

Do that and if it's a sound idea, eventually people will contact you.

You'll never do it the way you're trying to do it. You need to go the extra mile with your presentation and marketing. Not just sit back pitching people on an idea. Create your own buzz, put some resources into it and the right people will find you.

Fulcrum
04-07-2015, 07:11 PM
Can you at least tell us what industry this is? Not all of us on this site operate in the digital world. Who knows, maybe someone here knows a guy who knows a guy who's banker is looking for something like this. If your pitch is anything like what you have posted here than I'm not surprised at the responses you've got. I don't say this to be condescending or mean. Investors do not want to feel like they are pulling teeth when looking for information (reminds me that I need to call the dentist).

If your product/service is a good as it sounds, I don't understand why the major players in this "industry" are not willing to come on board. OSHA rules and regulations get tighter every year and lawsuits from families of the dead or those who have been injured can be, and have been, disastrous for the liable party.

grasshopper
04-09-2015, 01:46 PM
I appreciate your replies, however they are beyond the scope of what I was asking for. I did not intend this to become a discussion, I was only asking for a simple URL...copy/pasted... done.

Harold Mansfield, I appreciate your replies also but since I previously mentioned, twice at least, that such as site _does_ exist, it means you did not read it carefully enough to catch that (in two separate posts) or ?

I would suggest you grab a copy of "The Law of Success in 16 Lessons" by Napoleon Hill, 1928...and review the section on "Accurate Thinking."
Lack of accurate thinking is a KILLER in any business and I suggest you work on that.

To set the record straight, yes..such a site does exist. I don't know about "every industry" as those are your words, not mine..however it suits my needs and I have at least found one.. Glad I could clear that up.

If anyone has others, please post them.

Harold Mansfield
04-09-2015, 02:12 PM
To set the record straight, yes..such a site does exist. .
Then why are you here asking us where it is?
We're telling you what we know based on our experience and your limited information and you're telling us we're wrong and you know this exists, yet you can't seem to find it.

I'm also trying to help you help yourself. If you want attention, I gave you some clear direction on how to get it. How others do it. How other people find investors or people interested in their product. It's marketing 101, go to where your target audience is. You aren't going to find that in a ready made website were people are just sitting around waiting for you to hit the scene. It's not the 90's. You have to do more than that and I gave some pretty solid ideas on how to do it that work.

There may be someone here with that knowledge or experience that can help guide you. But no one can help with just a general "Where can I post my idea for investors to see". It doesn't work that way.

vweconsulting
04-10-2015, 02:57 AM
Here's my 2 cents.

Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is everything. If all you have is an idea and no prototype, no patents, nothing tangible..not even market research...I wouldn't talk to you either.
Show that you've actually invested your own money in this and taken it as far as you can on your own, and show me something tangible and I'll at least listen.

Otherwise, like I said. Ideas are a dime a dozen and if that's all you have, I don't really need you to pull it off.

Not knowing anything about your idea, the fact that you've approached so many people and no one was interested tells me that what you were presenting and how you were presenting it is more about you, and not the lack of vision of the workers as you call it.

If it's good enough, the "workers" will get it. That's why they're the front lines of communication. To qualify what is worth sending forward. So you have to impress them, not discount them. If you can't present it in a way where they get it, neither will anyone else.

If their position was beneath you, they wouldn't be standing in your way.
I think you need to readjust.

Well said!

bgallegos
06-03-2015, 12:47 PM
EquityNet | The Leading Business Crowdfunding Platform (http://www.equitynet.com)

I didn't have any success with them and their subscription fees seemed high to me, but if you really want to give it a go this is one platform for that.