1. The slide deck below is “Designing For Social Traction” and starts off with issues related to users of a (new) website, and moves on to how design affects users & behavior on a website. It includes some of the psychological reasons for what happens online as users decide to commit to joining and interacting with a site (& community):

2. Marketing online now includes old-school PR & ads, and newer social media campaigns.  The largest social media site, Facebook,  may one day become the largest social marketing site.  Online startups need to factor a Facebook presence into their marketing strategy (and participate in the community that is there):

3. The presentation below is “Find Investors” and covers some of the basics:

4. 12 Fold Way To Venture Capital Funding – shows a longer overview including roadmap, business plans, financials, and investor pitches:

5. And to wrap up, a humorous yet serious look titled “Startup Metrics for Pirates: AARRR! (SXSW March 2008)” that mixes a hearty pirate outlook with web 2.0 aspects. Besides looking at customer lifecycle & conversion behavior, it gives a real-case experience of challenges faced by dogster. And, did you ever want to know the definition of “AARRR“? Click away, maties:

As a follow-up to last week’s post DC Investors Venture Capital (VC) List, here are some resources to reach out beyond your local geographic area, wherever you are.

Some of these sites attempt to use the best aspects of online social communities to enable entrepreneurs to help each other, in areas of financing their ventures, and in other areas such as networking and business planning.

Before we get to the list, you may want to take an online quiz or take this online survey to see if you’re ready for funding. Or, perhaps read up on why some plans don’t get funded.

Online Funding Communities For Entrepreneurs

 
Angelsoft

A community designed “to bring the power of collaboration technologies to the early-stage investment industry”, from both the entrepreneur side and the investor side.

eFactor

“Entrepreneur Factor” – A community and virtual marketplace portal that includes a venture Financing section, along with a jobs directory, coaching, videos, events, networking and other tools.

FundingPost

An online listing service for entrepreneurs & investors.   They also have in-person community events and conferences, and have videos of past events online.

Go4Funding

Online portal “platform to bring entrepreneurs, business owners and investors (angel investors and venture capitalists) closer”, including a section for posting & viewing ideas.

GoBigNetwork

Provides a “virtual rolodex” portal for funding requests, along with business plan help from advisors and experts in the community.

Mid-Atlantic Investor Network

A regionally-focused, web-based matching service, which also connects entrepreneurs to investors in “30 of our other investment network sites located around the world”.

Prosper

Focuses on small loans, including entrepreneurial start-up funding.

RaiseCapital

A portal who’s mission is “to connect entrepreneurs and investors”, and also showcases submitted videos on RaiseCapitalTV.

TheFunded

A portal which is an “online community of entrepreneurs to research, rate, and review funding sources worldwide”.

Vencorps

A “community powered capital” website that allows funding of ideas using crowd-powered techniques.  Members can submit ideas, and also vote on ones they like with a points-based system.  Winners get real financing.

Other Resources

These additional sites below offer similar resources to those listed above by operating as more of a listing or evaluation service without as much community-based interaction:

• CapitalVector – offers a paid downloadable list
• FundingUniverse - makes recommendations based on each funding needs situation
• VCAonline – A listing service along with related tools sold to help in the pitching and funding aspects.
• vFinance – A site that has both a VC search and an angel search.

The video for this post is a bit tongue-in-cheek connection to the subject discussed – Dire Straits‘ “Money For Nothing” song, performed live in October 1985 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.

The video is almost 7 minutes long. If you want to hear a version with Sting singing the “I want my MTV” part you can try here for a 1997 live version including Eric Clapton & Phil Collins (Music for Montserrat concert).