At a crossroads

My Project Neo updates have been few and far between lately for a number of reasons. Although part of the reason is general busy-ness, the other part has been a bit of pain after hitting the wall head first.

Some initial meetings had set up a possible partner to assist with the foundation of the system setup [someone who's skill set seemed to fit perfectly] – it looked like the main puzzle piece was in place, or at least almost there. This fell through [also due to busy-ness on their side, understandable and nobody's fault], as did some other request I had made for quotes and/or assistance from other people. This all compounded for a rather disappointing couple of weeks.

crossroadsI don’t think it’s a dead end, but I’m being forced to re-think something I didn’t want to have to. The fact is that I’m not making the progress that I would like to. I do believe everything happens for a reason [as painful as it is], so I’m trying to be patient. But it’s driving me up the wall a little bit.

Mark Cuban [owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and successful dot com billionaire] has quite a strong opinion on many things – I was challenged by his article about the value of sweat equity in a startup business. He shares his experience starting his business, and it’s quite eye-opening to read his take on the value of cash for a startup:

It’s OK to start slow. It’s ok to grow slow. As much as you want to think that all things would change if you only had more cash available, they probably won’t. The reality is that for most businesses, they don’t need more cash, they need more brains.

This resonates with me because of what I’m struggling with – getting the skills to build the system. My first thoughts [and the obvious solution] was to fund it via equity and cash from funders, but this has challenged me to consider alternatives.

Wonderful! But excruciatingly painful!

So back to the drawing board. Thankfully there are some feasible alternatives coming to mind. Let the games begin. Again.

You can follow my progress with Project Neo here

[Mark also wrote about an open-source funding project, but that's a whole other story for another day. I suggest having a look through his blog. If nothing else, it will give some insight into a totally different perspective on internet businesses]

Photo: “Crossroads” by Captain DJ, via flickr

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This entry was posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 3:17 pm and is filed under Starting up. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Darren
    Hi Shireez

    When you say they couldn't help, I'm not sure what the reason was but it would be key to understand that better.

    If you're struggling just to get a meeting with them then I can only suggest that you focus on increasing your network [through your existing contacts and going to networking meetings] - this would increase your chances of getting face-to-face meetings with someone who is able to provide funding.

    If it was due to concerns around the business plan or business model then I assume you would be looking for someone to assist in relooking at it [a mentor perhaps] - for this your best starting point might be a business person or close successful relative that you trust and who could lend some constructive criticism. You could also try the Blue Catalyst network or something similar where you could submit your idea and would possibly get some valuable feedback. Altneratively, try entering the FNB Enablis competition, as I am, for this reason.

    [you can find some other organisations to contact for funding listed here -> Funding for startups and new ventures in SA
    and read more about the FNB Enablis competition here -> FNB Enablis competition - it closes on 18/8/09 so better be quick if you want to]

    Hope this helps a bit.
  • shireez
    hi
    i have a business plan and no startup capital to get the ball rolling and ive tried just about everything and nothing seems to go right ,but am not ready to give up hope yet.The business am hoping to open is a family entertainment center .i went through all the companies you listed above and not one person could help.if in any way you can get me in contact with people that will be willing to assist me i will appreciate that .
  • Darren
    Hilton, how are you?

    Thanks for the encouragement and good wishes! Documenting the journey here has certainly been enlightening, and it's good to hear that it has created at least a bit of interest.

    Hope you'll stick around to see how it pans out - whatever happens, it's bound to be an interesting ride. Please do leave your thoughts as it goes, would be greatly appreciated!
  • Hey Darren,
    Stumbled across this now - Project Neo (whatever it turns out to be) has piqued my interest and sounds really great. Did some (all of the) back-reading and the progress is awesome. [Even though you're at a temporary "crossroads" now.]
    Best of luck dude!
    H
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