Great talk last week at EmergeMemphis with Rey Flemings, the Founder of Stipple which is cool thriving early stage company based in San Francisco. Rey was back in Memphis and gave a inspiring overview on "What it takes to secure Angel and VC funding". Having secured angels like Naval Ravikant, Rick Marini, Eghosa Omoigui, Mike Maples, and Justin Timberlake, as well as VCs with Kleiner Perkins and Nest-TN, he speaks from experience. His story on the funding process is one that he refers to as 'gaining social proof' which is all about gaining momentum. Another way to look at it is the 'country club' approach. Knowing who else is in 'the social tree', if they are the right folks, can really help validate and lock up funds pretty quickly, esp in Silicon Valley. Certain angels are the right catalysts and influencers for getting into a hot deal and that is exactly what Rey conveyed in his talk and was how his process evolved.
He also touched on what has to be the compelling argument for investing. Of 3 core areas in team, product, and market....the market is the most important component. A startup can have a rock solid team and a great product, but if the market isnt ready or accepting of what they are offering, the company will not be successful. Ive seen all sides of the equation here....and it is especially upsetting when the market is ready and ripe, but the team is off and the players are not the right ones. At least that can be fixed, but a market is harder to fix and out of your control.
Thx Rey and we will get you over again soon.
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