What will BoomStartup companies receive?
One of the purposes of BoomStartup is to help companies obtain access to money, mentors, and markets. Startups may receive up to $15,000 in funding to help launch an idea. This isn’t a lot of money, but the purpose is to get entrepreneurs to think lean and mean. Next are the mentors, which experience has proven to be by far the most valuable asset for the participating entrepreneurs. As the program proceeds mentors and entrepreneurs will form valuable relationships and open up their list of personal contacts to expose them to mentors and new clients.
BoomStartup has teamed up with technical service providers to help BoomStartup companies launch. They include BTJD Law, Snapp Conner PR, CFO Solutions, and Grant Thornton CPA. Additionally, Canyon Park Technology Center has provided startups with Class A office space in a location within a close drive to many of the mentors. Startups have flexibility to work from their home or office space. However, since many of the events will be hosted on location it will be very advantageous to make the best use of your private office space (there are minimum requirements for face time at the office).
What is the “Investor Demo Day” that BoomStartup talks about?
The purpose of BoomStartup is to work with companies that will change the world. If your idea won’t radically change the way that we live and play within five years, then it is likely that your idea might not need angel or venture funding. BoomStartup helps its participants strategize and network to acquire sales, develop the product, build an excellent business plan, and secure funding.
The Investor Demo Day occurs in September at the end of the program where leading investors will meet with BoomStartup’s participants and fund them to the next level.
What types of companies will BoomStartup work with?
All of our investor-mentors and mentors have started and/or invested in companies ranging from Omniture to Skull Candy. For the purpose of this program, all selected companies will be technology-related, with a particular emphasis on software for the web and mobile devices.
When building my team, what do I need to consider?
It is important to remember that BoomStartup places most of its emphasis on the qualification of team members over the idea. We prefer to mentor an “A” team with a “B” idea as opposed to a “B” team with an “A” idea. The better your idea, the easier it will be to find qualified team members. We encourage you to be selective in your process and perform a fair amount of due diligence researching your team members.
What if I am a single founder?
It is important to remember that BoomStartup will not invest in a soloist; it is even better when there are two or more full-time individuals on your team.
While there may be some individuals on your team that are part-time, founders are required to commit full time. When selecting your co-founders be sure to find out what distractions may exist in their life as it may slow down your efforts.
Last, too many entrepreneurs approach us with tech ideas and yet do not have programming skills. As such, we expect that you have a software engineer (who is the chief “coder”) on your team with at least 20% equity to insure that he/she has incentive to see it through.
