Tag: Barry Goss

“Your number one job is DROC” – Barry Goss

DROC is “Don’t run out of cash”.

You can’t wait until you have 3 weeks of cash left to get serious about raising funding.  If you need Venture Capital, it takes 4- 6 months at best to close a deal and that’s only if you have an impending term sheet.

SBIR’s take several weeks to write and if you are awarded a grant, it takes three months for the check to arrive.

Even debt funding takes time for small businesses and you will have to go to more than one institution.

The time to raise capital is when you don’t need it.  Desperation does not improve your chances.  It shows you failed to plan for the next round of funding or that you misspent the capital you had.

You are always selling and you are always raising capital.

Blogging Gazelle is published daily by Shawn Carson

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“Gold is everywhere but it’s very rare” – Barry Goss

Understanding customer value is like panning for gold.  Of course once in a while you find a nugget of consequence but most of the time you have to collect a little dust here and there.  After a while, it adds up.

You can’t just ask 10 people what they think about your idea and then go raise funding.  If it were my money, I’d want evidence that you have interviewed a hundred or more.    Better yet, sell a prototype to a hundred or more.

Gold pans are cheap… 10 bucks or so.  And it’s designed to do the one most important thing, pan for gold.

So it is with your prototype.  Make it fast, make it cheap and give it to lots of people.

That’s where the gold is!