JoinIN.la held a get-together recently at the new WeWork shared work facility in Playa Vista.
The topic was fundraising for startups and the importance of story-telling; the basic theme of the night was “hang in there, don’t give up!”
JoinIn.la is a new and unique resource for Silicon Beach startups and professionals. JoinIN.la offers online and offline collaboration tools and meetings that make it easier for entrepreneurs to connect and ultimately succeed.
Sonya Sepahban, a former aerospace executive who is now an angel investor and startup mentor, is the organizer-in-chief of these popular networking events.
Jennifer P. Hopp, who started a company called WeMakeItSafer.com, which sends out alerts to consumers about product recalls, said it was really important to not just do any deal. An entrepreneur needs to be sure and take money only from those funders who entrepreneurs decide they really want to work with.
Taking money from someone is the start of a long-term relationship, she added. It’s important to choose wisely.
Hopp recently sold her company and is now a Bay Area-based angel investor. She is also spearheading a “Shark Tank” type streaming video show that showcases startups, only BizStart.Live “isn’t so shark-like,” she assured members of the audience.
Michelle Solomon of Adoorn, a company that allows its app users to enjoy a shopping mall-type experience via their smartphone. People don’t like actually going to the mall, she said, but they do like to see what’s hot these days.
Users can buy desired items directly and easily from their phones.
Solomon emphasized the importance of building a network, making friends.
Robert Macauley, whose company, LifePrintPhotos.com, invented a personal photo printing device, said it was important to remain open to the “opportunity web.”
That is, you should “just say yes to everything” and see what happens, was Macauley’s advice. You never know, he said, where a new contact might lead you.
After facing much rejection in his fundraising quest – a 95 percent failure rate – LifePrintPhotos just raised $3 million, which will enable LifePrint to go into production.
Tania Ranguelova of StressAway, a company that creates a healthier society by connecting natural health practitioners to consumers, said it was important to “hang in there.”
All the speakers, in their own ways, emphasized this point.
Sonya Sepahban said it was really important for entrepreneurs to quickly answer the following two questions when presenting your startup to potential funders: “Why?” and “Why you?”
One member of the audience said if you have a clearly stated purpose, it’s easy to connect with those who can help you.
Carey Chico, lead artist at Activision when it started, said having bad or unhappy people on your team is like a “virus,” and “viruses spread.”
He said it was important to weed out the viruses as quickly and humanely as possible. Chico went from Activision, the video game powerhouse, to Pandemic Studios, which he headed up. Pandemic later got purchased by EA (Electronic Arts) in 2008. Chico now heads up ZeroMassEnergy, a mobile app development company.
Sonya Sepahban added that many times she acted quickly to weed out those who weren’t fitting in, and she was generally at peace with those decisions. It’s when she waited too long that she came to have regrets.
Peter Mansfield told a story that drew a laugh. He said he was with a partner making a presentation to a group of venture capitalists on Sand Hill Road when one of the VCs started looking at his cell phone.
Mansfield’s partner slapped his laptop shut, ended his presentation and told the VC if he didn’t have the courtesy to listen, then the company didn’t want his money.
He stormed out, uttering a very loud two-word expletive (the first word starts with “f,” the second with “y”) as he left the room.
Mansfield was quite stunned and chased his partner out the building and across the parking lot, offering some expletives of his own – only Mansfield’s cursing was directed at his partner, who had surely just blown the opportunity of a lifetime, according to Mansfield.
But Mansfield said he has learned, over time, that it’s important to understand the equality of the investor-entrepreneur equation.
That is, just as an entrepreneur needs cash to propel his or her dreams forward, investors need deals to invest in. You can’t do a deal without both sides represented.
The more an entrepreneur can operate from a position of equal strength, according to Mansfield, the more successful he or she will be.
There’s a psychology to this, he observed: When investors think you don’t want money, that’s when they really want to invest. If you appear too desperate, he continued, you scare the money people away.
Mansfield heads up cmo.la, assisting startups with marketing and fundraising needs.
Robert Macauley wrapped things up by saying, “Don’t be afraid to ask for what you’re actually looking for. Be genuine, and speak from the heart. Most people really do want to help.”
Though startups are known for high failure rates, the mood in the room was decidedly upbeat and optimistic. Among entrepreneurs, hope springs eternal.
For more information about JoinIN.la and its upcoming events, go to joinin.la.
