Informed Networker Blog

I’d been working on a business plan for some time - basing it off several examples I’d found on the internet. Eventually I purchased Palo Alto’s Business Plan Pro 11.0 software, a company started by Tim Berry. I found this software exceptionally well-designed and intuitive to use. I spent hours working on my business plan but when it was done I hated it. Not because of Palo Alto’s failure in any way but because I felt like so much of the business plan was redundant, boring crap. Why did I need this book when I could write more concisely and effectively the contents of my plan in ten pages? The purchase of the Business Plan software wasn’t a waste - it included a lot of great calculators and spreadsheets for creating cash flow estimates and items of a similar nature - something that I dreaded. But in the end while I have my official business plan - I don’t want to give it to anyone. I made a new one, one I call the “Informal Plan” but which offers the information needed concisely and hopefully in a interesting manner.

Meanwhile, I realized just how much work it took to raise capital. More time than I cared to dedicate to this purpose. Like the young man in the previous post informed me - it was practically a full-time job. I wanted to build things, not mess with securing money and giving away significant portions of the business. So I decided to bootstrap it. It wasn’t that I was closed to receiving venture funds (in fact, if you are reading this and want to give me money, please contact me!) but I decided that I could do it without the funds, if need be - it’d just be a bit more scary. See, Informed Networker doesn’t have a lot of costs - I’m only looking for $100,000. A little over half of that would pay my salary for the first year and we would expect to be cash flow positive within seven months of my starting full-time. The reason I wanted the money was for two purposes (a) allow me to focus on Informed Networker without worrying where next month’s mortgage payment is coming from and (b) increase marketing efforts. But the time spent raising money was outweighing the money - so I decided to deal with the stress and move forward.

I secured a $4,000 line of credit with Dell and purchased the two systems I would need - a laptop (my main workstation) and a desktop (for virtual machines, task processing, debugging, etc.). I secured another $4,000 on a credit card for business purchases and began dumping the small cash reservoirs I had available into the business. Kind of scary right? Yeah. Good news is as a Network Engineer I do some freelance consulting on the side - which brings in a slick $100/hr. - so I know that I can always ramp up that business a little should Informed Networker need a little cash infusion…

That said, the great guy who has been my proactive support in raising capital (Dick) has continued to work on finding me possible financers. Something I greatly appreciate and take advantage of to the fullest. Recently he was able to coordinate a meeting for me with Chris Fralic of First Round Capital. While I knew statistically my chances where low and that I’d have to drive a good hour each way to Conshohocken and back I wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to raise capital. In addition to the “hey, maybe they’ll fund me” thought line I’d also met Chris at the FundingPost event and he seemed like a nice guy. I’d read up on his business background and love a couple of the companies he worked for - so it seemed like a good time investment. So I drove. Chris and one of his associates met with me for a solid hour. Wow. I pitched my heart out. They were friendly and inquisitive. They pulled no punches and pushed me to explain my reasoning in every corner. You can’t call them incomplete. At the end I knew I had failed to convince them. They encouraged me that it might be a nice “lifestyle business” but I saw the money tap wasn’t going to open up for me. Still, come on, when smart guys like this give you the time of day you have to be thankful. Chris also put me in contact with a CTO at a venture First Round did fund - something I appreciated greatly.

So that is where we are at right now. Do I expect to take venture funding? Probably not. Am I running away from this venture? Not a chance in heaven. How do I intend to keep bread on the table? Great question, you’ll have to wait till next time to find out.

Interesting Footnote: The way to Conshohoken has a toll road. I meant to bring quarters but I forgot. By the time I remembered I was too far along to turn back. I hoped I had enough cash in the car to make it - and I did, but there was none for the way back. I’m a plastic guy, I don’t carry cash. My wife has my debit card. I was in Conshohoken without any cash. Sweet. Well, I headed back, wondering what happens when you can’t pay your toll. Did they send you to jail? Detain you till someone came and paid your debt? Charge you a ridiculous amount and shoot you a bill my mail? As I pulled up to the teller it was a young lady. With a sheepish grin I said, “I’m sorry. I have absolutely no cash. What do I do?” She replied, “Its okay, go ahead.” Wow! Whoever you are you made my day.

Footnote to Footnote: I would not recommend trying this. If I had any way around this I would have taken it. I have no clue what official policy is when you can’t pay your toll. Maybe it is a big fine and she paid my toll for me? Perhaps someone can clarify. In any case, don’t do it! I think I’m finally going to sign up for EasyPass. I’d like to say I won’t forget again, but remembering to carry cash is not at the top of my priority list.

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