Open Coffee Entrepreneur Group » media http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee Just another WordPress weblog Thu, 07 May 2009 00:08:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 en hourly 1 Will bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding be the future for techmedia start-ups? http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-6613.html http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-6613.html#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 07:16:00 +0000 admin http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-6613.html

Paul

 

Thanks
for this insightful post.

 

Having
been in development for several years we are now 2 – 3 months away from generating
sufficient revenue to cover our costs. But our investors, having suffered major
losses on all their other investments, have lost the stomach to continue. We
have been bootstrapping for 4 months now and are about £30k short of
reaching sustainability.

 

Our
business is a platform enabling entrepreneurs to create virtual outsourcing businesses
with almost zero capital. I would be very interested in discussing a crowdsourcing/crowdfunding
solution that would help us over this current hump.

 

Michael

 

Michael Wolff – CEO

http://ki-work.com

 

tel +44
(0) 1667 452123  style='color:#990033'>mob +44 (0)
7788 870262  skype michaelwolff style='color:#1F497D'>

http://ki-work.com/ki-profile/michaelwolff

http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelwolff

http://twitter.com/michaelwolff

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode","sans-serif"'> href="http://www.ki-work.com/">ki work style='color:#1F497D'> - powering
the online business revolution

 

 

]]> http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-6613.html/feed 0 Will bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding be the future for techmedia start-ups? http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-2-6614.html http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-2-6614.html#comments Tue, 05 May 2009 04:47:00 +0000 Simon Jenner http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-2-6614.html

Paul,

 

It may be interesting to have a chat maybe there are things we
could do together?

 

Thanks

 

Simon

 

 

Simon Jenner, stirring the pot of entrepreneurial magic

inbizvest - Dragons’ Den for the internet

Chief Entrepreneur

[address removed]

M: 07900 885371

Web: www.inbizvest.com

Twitter: style='color:blue'>@inbizvest

Blog: blog.inbizvest.com

 

 

 

From: [address removed]
[mailto:[address removed]] On Behalf Of Paul Dowling
Sent: 04 May 2009 11:39
To: [address removed]
Subject: [entrepreneur-1056] Will bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and
crowdfunding be the future for techmedia start-ups?

 

Will bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and
crowdfunding be the future for techmedia start-ups?

It seems to me that technology and media
start-ups have always found it difficult to find adequate start-up funding even
in the good times. Now it is even more difficult. However, as founder and CEO
of www.dreamstake.ning.com it
occurs to me that the environment is becoming more conducive to a new more self
contained business model with less reliance on external sources of funding.
Firstly, the bootstrapping of technology solutions has become a real
possibility. The entry point for many technologies is extremely low, sometimes
free of cost. Providers such as Ning, Google and Huddle offer a ‘freemium’
model that makes it extremely easy to launch ‘beta’ services at minimal cost.
Open source also facilitates this process.
Next, there are many excellent individuals available to offer their services at
good rates or even to barter services. The internet allows us to access this
talent pool and consider the ‘crowdsourcing’ of projects as a real option. We
are currently building this model on DreamStake and will announce our approach
very shortly.
Finally, crowdfunding becomes a distinct possibility. In this model a community
such as DreamStake elects to fund certain projects through the membership
voting for the best.
I truly believe that we can change the model for launching ventures. We need to
build up critical mass and put in place the structures to support this approach.
It is all happening as we speak.and I appreciate everyones support and patience
in making it a success.

If you are not already a member please join
on www.dreamstake.ning.com.
 We are having an event tomorrow evening which will be a quick way to find
out more about our plans.

Best regards,

Paul Dowling

 

style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:navy'> 

No virus
found in this incoming message.
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16:51:00

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from London OpenCoffee Meetup.
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To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, href="http://www.meetup.com/account/comm/">click here

Meetup Support: [address removed]
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]]> http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-2-6614.html/feed 0 Will bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding be the future for techmedia start-ups? http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-3-6616.html http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-3-6616.html#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 19:01:00 +0000 Santosh http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-3-6616.html

Hi Paul,
Looking forward to this event. Though there has been angel investors and startup incubation initiatives, its interesting to see your 'different' initiatives.

-Santosh

On Mon, May 4, 2009 at 11:38 AM, Paul Dowling <[address removed]> wrote:

Will
bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding be the future for techmedia
start-ups?

It
seems to me that technology and media start-ups have always found it difficult
to find adequate start-up funding even in the good times. Now it is even more
difficult. However, as founder and CEO of www.dreamstake.ning.com it occurs to
me that the environment is becoming more conducive to a new more self contained
business model with less reliance on external sources of funding.
Firstly, the bootstrapping of technology solutions has become a real
possibility. The entry point for many technologies is extremely low, sometimes
free of cost. Providers such as Ning, Google and Huddle offer a 'freemium'
model that makes it extremely easy to launch 'beta' services at minimal cost.
Open source also facilitates this process.
Next, there are many excellent individuals available to offer their services at
good rates or even to barter services. The internet allows us to access this
talent pool and consider the 'crowdsourcing' of projects as a real option. We
are currently building this model on DreamStake and will announce our approach
very shortly.
Finally, crowdfunding becomes a distinct possibility. In this model a community
such as DreamStake elects to fund certain projects through the membership
voting for the best.
I truly believe that we can change the model for launching ventures. We need to
build up critical mass and put in place the structures to support this
approach. It is all happening as we speak.and I appreciate everyones support
and patience in making it a success.

If
you are not already a member please join on www.dreamstake.ning.com.  We are
having an event tomorrow evening which will be a quick way to find out more
about our plans.

Best
regards,

Paul
Dowling

 

 

No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG – www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.9/2087 – Release Date: 05/03/09 16:51:00

–
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Paul Dowling ([address removed]) from London OpenCoffee Meetup.

To learn more about Paul Dowling, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here


Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA



–
Santosh Panda
CEO & Chief Software Architect
Signure Technologies
www.Signure.com

UK
14 Birchwood Close
Morden, London
SM4 5NH, UK
Phone : +44.208.640.4659

India
12, R. M. Corner, Paud Road, Kothrud
Pune 411 038 INDIA
Phone : +91.20.2528.6616 ]]> http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-3-6616.html/feed 0 Will bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding be the future for techmedia start-ups? http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-4-6617.html http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-4-6617.html#comments Mon, 04 May 2009 18:37:00 +0000 Paul Dowling http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-4-6617.html

lang=EN style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:black'>Will
bootstrapping, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding be the future for techmedia
start-ups?

face=Arial>It
seems to me that technology and media start-ups have always found it difficult
to find adequate start-up funding even in the good times. Now it is even more
difficult. However, as founder and CEO of href="http://www.dreamstake.ning.com/">www.dreamstake.ning.com it occurs to
me that the environment is becoming more conducive to a new more self contained
business model with less reliance on external sources of funding.
Firstly, the bootstrapping of technology solutions has become a real
possibility. The entry point for many technologies is extremely low, sometimes
free of cost. Providers such as Ning, Google and Huddle offer a ‘freemium’
model that makes it extremely easy to launch ‘beta’ services at minimal cost.
Open source also facilitates this process.
Next, there are many excellent individuals available to offer their services at
good rates or even to barter services. The internet allows us to access this
talent pool and consider the ‘crowdsourcing’ of projects as a real option. We
are currently building this model on DreamStake and will announce our approach
very shortly.
Finally, crowdfunding becomes a distinct possibility. In this model a community
such as DreamStake elects to fund certain projects through the membership
voting for the best.
I truly believe that we can change the model for launching ventures. We need to
build up critical mass and put in place the structures to support this
approach. It is all happening as we speak.and I appreciate everyones support
and patience in making it a success.

face=Arial>If
you are not already a member please join on href="http://www.dreamstake.ning.com/">www.dreamstake.ning.com.  We are
having an event tomorrow evening which will be a quick way to find out more
about our plans.

face=Arial>Best
regards,

face=Arial>Paul
Dowling

face=Arial> 

 

No virus found in this incoming message.

Checked by AVG – www.avg.com

Version: 8.0.238 / Virus Database: 270.12.9/2087 – Release Date: 05/03/09 16:51:00

]]> http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/will-bootstrapping-crowdsourcing-and-crowdfunding-be-the-future-for-techmedia-start-ups-4-6617.html/feed 0 looking for a friends and family convertible loan doc http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/looking-for-a-friends-and-family-convertible-loan-doc-6618.html http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/looking-for-a-friends-and-family-convertible-loan-doc-6618.html#comments Fri, 01 May 2009 17:30:00 +0000 Peter Cunningham http://mashinteractive.com/opencoffee/miscellaneous/looking-for-a-friends-and-family-convertible-loan-doc-6618.html