It's been a long dry winter with respect to funding start ups. Investors are still wary, funds are still all but closed and only the superstars in certain sectors seem to be able to attract investors and actually close a deal. Some investors are dancing around the table, unwilling to commit but not wanting to let potential winners float away. Most start ups are simply getting a deafening silence in response to inquiries as investors try to assess what the coming years will be like - what markets might light up, what investments will make sense. It's like hiking on a trail and suddenly losing all the guideposts or cairns - the path isn't clearly defined and no one wants to commit to a direction for fear of being lost in the wilderness alone. So much for a update on the current investing environment...but there is a small light on the horizon.
A new company has formed that provides some fundamental legal documents to start ups. They wisely understood that start ups are often crushed under the weight of creating legal documents to get themselves funded. It's ironic but the process of raising $500K or $1M, typical for the seed round, can be so costly as to make it too onerous for a start up.
Series Seed was founded by a group that includes VC investors and an attorney so they could provide templates from which start ups could start. I haven't read through the documents thoroughly yet, but suffice it to say that this is good news. When you have starting point, you can move forward more quickly and with more confidence that if you're starting from scratch.
Check out Series Seed at www.seriesseed.com if you're looking for documents. It might not help you thaw out the angel/VC markets, but it will help you prepare for funding when the markets finally warm up enough for investors to jump in again.
Need help with your start up?
www.virtualteam.com - Accelerate Your Success
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