How Startup Evaluates Potential Seed and Series A Investors - Joe Stump

In Chapter 11 of 17 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, Internet entrepreneur and SimpleGeo CTO Joe Stump shares his approach to evaluating both Seed and Series A investors. In the early days, Stump looked for investors who had names and who understood the value proposition. He compares this to dating. Now, after two years, Stump looks for ex-entrepreneurs who invest their own money. He sets an investor cap at roughly $250,000, which at $50,000 per investor means about five angels. Stump is the co-founder and CTO at SimpleGeo (www.simplegeo.com), a San Francisco-based mobile location infrastructure services company. Previously Stump was Lead Architect at Digg. He programs in PHP, Python, Django and enjoys scaling websites. He earned a BBA in Computer Information Systems from Eastern Michigan University.

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[JKGeary]

I am in your shoes around :09 of your video. Should I still have that mentality of if you have money I will take it? I wish I had the luxury of finding that investor that understood my technology and could help. If you are out there let me know. I have a 17 minute animated movie presentation and a full business plan. We need a measly 50k to get it off the ground and I am offering 12% of the company. Our software conquers free advertising on EVERY social networking site in the world.

[captureyourflag]

@JKGeary Have you thought about entering any city-based or university-based startup contests?  Also, there are magazines, companies, and organizations that do these as well. For one, it could lead to awareness. Two, it could lead to feedback. Three, of coruse, financing. This is a great way to get that initial momentum and potentially cash to get going. Check out Capture Your Flag's interview w/ Slava Rubin - specifically how they worked with Lester Center Incubator at Cal Berkeley. - Erik

[JKGeary]

Erik,

I have tried a lot of things but nothing on that scale only because I cannot patent my process and nobody will sign a non disclosure. I believe in doing this when our prototypes are operating and we go into second round of funding. I cant find that right investor though. Howard Aiken said it best. "Dont worry about people stealing your idea. If it is truly original you will have to ram it down their throat."