Fund Raising
The winner of The NextWomen Pitch Event tells her story about leaving the legal sector to fulfil her ambition to start her own business with her brother.
In a past life I was a commercial lawyer, advising clients ranging from startups to multinational corporations on commercial, contract, advertising and IP issues. I enjoyed the work, loved my boss but in terms of my vision for the future, as the months ticked by I found that I never aspired to be a partner in that organisation.
And, if you don’t aspire to be the top dog in the place you work then my view is that you are probably in the wrong place.
Carin Luna-Ostaseski fulfilled a personal dream when she launched her own brand of Scotch, , which she funded using Kickstarter. If you've ever wondered how to create a successful campaign on this popular funding platform, look no further than her comprehensive guide.
SIA Scotch Whisky was successfully funded in November exceeding my goal of $39,000 for production of my first run. Many friends and strangers asked me how I did it? Well, here you go….
First off, I should say, my situation is quite unique. There are very few projects on Kickstarter for spirits brands. The challenge here is most people are used to pre-ordering a product they are funding, and they receive the product as a reward for their contribution.
A brief introduction:
I'm Alyssa, and since January of this year I've been working with The
NextWomen interning as an editorial assistant. I've had the
opportunity to immerse myself in this wonderful community and, most
recently, had the pleasure of attending the NextWomen pitching event
in London on 30th April.
It was an evening of firsts: For some pitchpreneurs it was their first experience pitching and for some guests (including myself) it was an introduction to events of this kind. Filled with enthusiasm at making my début in the NextWomen community, I headed to the venue (beautiful offices over looking St Pauls Cathedral, provided by our sponsor, Orrick) early in order to see the workshop which preceeded the evening event.
The NextWomen and Astia are hosting the Global Pitch Competition in collaboration with the 2013 We Own It Summit June 27-28 in London.
In this interview Heather Boggini of PSDNetwork asks Simone for an overview of the pitch competition including who should apply; what to expect; and how each applicant and finalist benefits from the competition.
We absolutely love Elizabeth's comprehensive series on funding! Click here to view Part 3: Incubators & Acccelerators.
Not sure incubators and accelerators are the best way to fund your company?
I'm happy to report that you can gain some of the same experience and exposure through business plan competitions.
Prize money is growing exponentially for the hundreds of business plan competitions held every year. And the number of competitions is growing, too. The public and private sectors have now joined in what was once mostly the domain of universities, making for a dizzying array of options.
Kate Jackson, Founder & CEO at TableCrowd was given the Best Pitch award at The NextWomen's London Pitch Event last night.
TableCrowd is a real life social network where you can meet people over food for business networking, common interests, romance or friendship.
Astia and The NextWomen
present the 2013 Global Pitch Competition in collaboration with the 2013 We Own It Summit.
This annual event seeks to showcase the most promising woman-led companies from around the world and will invite finalists to compete for cash prizes, global visibility and the chance to pitch in front of an international audience at the Fourth Annual We Own It Summit in London on June 27.
Applications are open until New Date: June 1, 2013! Click here to apply.
Spring was in the air
at last month's Own It Ventures Conference and Pitch Expo at the City
University of NY (CUNY) Graduate Center. The ground floor of the building was bustling at 8am with a busy yet
inviting atmosphere. Over 200 women filled the center, all entrepreneurs eager
to trade their start-up stories and secrets to success.
The day began with opening remarks by Own It Ventures Founder Melissa Cloeter and Julie Pilas, owner of The Elephant Nose Pet Store and the reigning Product Pitch Tank champ.
Taking to my reporter-for-a-day role, I made it a point to visit as many “pitch rooms” as I could. The judges in the Media pitch room were three women representing leading news outlets USA Today, Forbes and the Huffington Post. Laura Petrecca, USA Today Deputy Bureau Chief and Reporter, had mentioned that she was expecting to see a variety of women at various stages in their startups. Following up with Laura after the event, her response was both positive and inspired, “I walked away once again reminded of how creative entrepreneurs can be. It was also amazing to see that great ideas came from women of all ages. If someone has a viable idea – and the passion to pursue it – age shouldn’t be a deterrent.”
On Friday 19th April in Amsterdam, The NextWomen are running a morning workshop for entrepreneurs who want to review their business proposition, pitch deck, and investor presentation.
The workshop will use a peer to peer format, with an expert leader from The NextWomen community.
The Workshop will discuss:
Once you have your basic business education, what comes next? We talked about business assistance programs in Part II. While these programs offer the basics of starting and operating a business, they don’t necessarily provide a connection to market makers and equity investors.
In some circles, incubators and accelerators are the Holy Grail of business creation and funding, but beware because this is an area rife with errors and confusion. The terms “incubator” and “accelerator” are often used interchangeably, even within the industry.
Upcoming Events
27 Jun 2013 - 08:00 - 28 Jun 2013 - 17:00London, UK
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