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Posts Tagged ‘Grow VC’

Grow VC has no commission and costs per investment are less than 0.5%
Monday, August 9th, 2010
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Our model has several components and we have noticed that there have been misunderstandings about our commission. Of the membership fee, we keep 25% to run our operations – but it doesn’t mean we have 25% commission. It would be a skyrocket high commission, no way.

Instead of keeping whole membership fee as our revenue, we use 75% of the membership fees for community fund investments, so it goes to startups, and community members decide, how it is invested. We then reward members for these selections, if the investments are good. When a member has paid the fee, the one with funder role (investors) can then make direct investment without any commission and entrepreneurs can raise money to their startup without any commission. To clarify; there are no traditional commission, only the membership fee.
We made some calculations to see an effective cost per investment level by using the 25% of the membership fee as a fixed fee. You can see the results in the table below. The first three cases are for monthly membership, i.e. if an investor or entrepreneur make or get the full investment in a month, the last two cases for a year.

Fee

Investment cap

To Community fund

Effective fee

Effective cost per investment

Remarks

$ 110.00

$ 500,000

$ 82.50

$ 27.50

0.01%

for montly investments

$ 30.00

$ 50,000

$ 22.50

$ 7.50

0.01%

for montly investments

$ 20.00

$ 25,000

$ 15.00

$ 5.00

0.02%

for montly investments

$ 950.00

$ 50,000

$ 712.50

$ 237.50

0.47%

for annual investments

$ 400.00

$ 100,000

$ 300.00

$ 100.00

0.10%

for annual investments

As you can see, the effective costs are always less than 0.5%. Of course, if an investor or entrepreneur doesn’t use the full amount, the effective cost is higher. But that’s why we have those steps that everyone can find her or his right level and pay an optimal membership fee.

Grow VC is really a costs effective model to make and look for investments. We also work to find standard models for investment agreements, due diligence and other needed services, to keep those costs down too. The Grow VC model is cost effective compared to any investment service, but especially the costs structure is totally different from the traditional VC model. Our aim is really to create an effective market for startup funding. Startups and investors need it.

Update: You can also read the related blog post about our model in full detail and listen for related audio below.

 
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Closing our service investment round & moving on to first funding round
Friday, May 28th, 2010
Google Buzz

We’re now moving in such pace that some of the new stuff we do, quickly becomes yesterdays news and I almost forgot to share our yesterdays announcement also in here. Hit this link to read the release. In our release we announced our own Service Investment round with some great new members joining our team and also that we are now opening our own first funding round.

In case you didn’t know, Grow VC have been fully self funded for past two years, but now we feel ready and confident that it’s time to add a dose of rocket fuel and kick in another gear to extend our reach and add even more speed to our progress. Based on requests we get all the time, it feels that’s also what the people are expecting from us.

As mentioned in our release, we are planning to follow our own rules here and do our own funding round in the “Grow VC style”. So we are looking to do this as part Angel round and part crowdfunding.

For crowdfunding part, we still have some stuff to figure out, as using the community funding model we now have in our service, would perhaps be unfair for others if we would just jump in – so we are also thinking additional ways to structure it so that it would not be taking anything away from others in our service and ways where everyone can really feel to be part of Grow VC.  – Naturally if we find a good new model, we will release that for everyone else in our community to use as well.

So far, when meeting different people and also talking about us doing crowdfunding to Grow VC we have mostly got; “yes you should” -type of replies and many have even suggested it without us even asking. So we do think it would be only natural for us to do it and also feels it’s what’s expected from us.

Naturally we would like to get your feedback as well, so feel free to voice your opinion in the comments below, so we can get some discussions going :)

Should Grow VC crowdfund part of it’s funding round or not?

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Grow VC Podcast: Funding
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Google Buzz

We’ve just released the newest episode to our Grow VC Podcasts – Everyone Funding Startups. This episode’s title is Funding – a Startups Perspective. I was joined by Grow VC founders Jouko Ahvenainen and Valto Loikkanen in the discussion.

Some bullet points from the episode:

> Member Highlight: Ear Android

Check out Ear Android in the Grow VC Community or on their homepage at www.ear-project.com. Also, see what the team wrote on our StartUp Stories Blog here.

> Main Discussion Point: Funding – how to get funded?

  • The importance of credibility and positive signals
  • Passion that is communicated to the audience
  • Identifying the right opportunities in the market

You can listen to the Podcast below. In case you have any inquiries or want to suggest a topic for discussion, or want to get involved more hands-on, send me an email directly at markus@growvc.com.

Thanks for listening and stay tuned!

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Grow VC at Mobile Brain Bank – 13th of April
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
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Tonight Grow VC is participating in an event hosted by Mobile Brain Bank. The presentation from this event is available here for your viewing pleasure!

Mobile Brain Bank is a network of entrepreneurs creating new. The network joins the skills of experienced individuals who have left a safe corporate career behind, or are planning a renewal in their professional life. These experts have freed themselves to be able to plan for new products, services, inventions, any entrepreneurial activity. Mobile Brain Bank offers a forum for testing ideas, business cases, or to network with people who are going through the same pains and gains as you are.

Tonight Jouko Ahvenainen, cofounder of Grow VC illustrates new funding models for mobile and web startups. His one key point is that mobile web and apps – startups are not traditional tech startups, and they also need new models for funding. Grow VC has already now attracted several mobile companies to look for funding in its service.

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Grow VC Podcast: Credibility
Friday, April 9th, 2010
Google Buzz

The second Grow VC Podcast – Everyone Funding Startups was released onto the world just a while ago. This time around, our discussion topic was “Credibility: How To Convince Your Audience” as suggested by one of our online followers. Like we said in our Podcast, give us a topic and odds are, we will discuss it.  The discussants this time were Grow VC cofounder and CEO Valto Loikkanen and your community servant, Markus.

The second Podcast featured these points:

>> Grow VC Member Highlight: LetMeLinkYou

>> Main Discussion Topic: Credibility: How To Convince Your Audience (Check it out here)

  • Building Credibility on an Individual Level
  • Pointers on Startups seeking team members and other stakeholders
  • Making and Delivering Promises

>> Introducing StartUp Stories

StartUp Stories will feature stories of startups written by Grow VC startups, from recollections of inception to success adventures. By pooling many startup blog posts into one blog, the audience will grow more rapidly and you will reach a community of peers, investors and experts. Do you also share our vision with StartUp Stories? Give us an email (markus@growvc.com)!

Check out StartUp Stories here: www.startup-stories.com

You can listen to the Podcast below and subscribe to the Grow VC Podcasts on iTunes. Please feel free to suggest discussion topics and ideas relevant to these Podcasts for the future. We’re looking forward to developing all these new channels and means with the community, so make sure you get heard!

Thank you for listening. You can get in touch by sending email directly to me, at markus@growvc.com.

Here’s looking at the future!

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Grow VC Podcast – Everyone Funding Startups
Friday, April 2nd, 2010
Google Buzz

The first Grow VC Podcast – Everyone Funding Startups was launched just a few hours ago. Our first discussion topic was “the Future of Funding” as suggested by one of our Twitter followers, thank you for that! The discussants were Grow VC founders, Jouko Ahvenainen and Valto Loikkanen.

The first Podcast featured these points:

>> Introduction to the Grow VC Podcasts

>> Member Highlight: Executive Mindshare

>> Main Discussion Topic: Future of Funding

> Current market and inefficiency
> Experiences from other actors
> Possible solutions

You can listen to the Podcast below and subscribe to the Grow VC Podcasts on iTunes. Please feel free to suggest discussion topics and ideas relevant to these Podcasts for the future. We’re looking forward to developing all these new channels and means with the community, so make sure you get heard!

 
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Introducing your Community Servant
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010
Google Buzz

Every community needs it’s own Jonathan from Spotify, to bring you the latest updates and news – and that’s me. I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself to all you avid followers of this here Grow VC Blog. At the start of this post, I vow to keep it clear of any “I like long walks on the beach..” – phrases. Here’s hoping I won’t have to eat my hat.

So “Hi There”, I’m Markus. Like any strictly formal introduction, I’ll stick a funny looking picture of myself to this post. I’m a passionate and driven individual who’s proud to be a part of something as game-changing as Grow VC. I’ve studied at two universities, Helsinki University of Technology and Hanken School of Economics, and could argue that I’ve learned a thing or two. I’m particularly fascinated about the subject of Entrepreneurship, both on a practical, real-life level, as well as on a theoretical level.

Personally, I believe there is a mismatch between what we say we want to achieve as large collective societies and what we are actually doing. Having experienced the world as an entrepreneur, I am dedicated to change the way we see entrepreneurship, but also to give entrepreneurship the spotlight in the economy it deserves. One could spend days discussing the cultural differences in entrepreneurship. Having lived in three different countries, Finland, Sweden and the US, I dare go out on a limb and argue that entrepreneurship is in no way glorified enough, in my experience, despite the often broad mentality gap between the Nordic countries and the US. In addition, I’m involved in developing the entrepreneurship scene, both on a global and local plateau – active Vice Chairman of Hanken Entrepreneurship Society – doing what I can to inspire and motivate others to broaden their own mental horizons. It starts with small nudges..

Funny-Looking Picture: Birthday Cake Edition

Funny-Looking Picture: Birthday Cake Edition

I believe we are on the cusp of change with the Grow VC community, bringing some efficient models and practices to the funding market. Now it’s time to light that spark within the community, get that snowball rolling and gathering momentum. I know there are many others like us, that believe in this change. I thank all of you, but encourage you to further stretch your reach and help others get inspired!

Here’s wishing you a great day!
Markus

Markus LinkedIN
Markus in the funding community

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Podcast: Grow VC presentation at Sun, Sand and Startups event
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Google Buzz

On Thursday the 18th of Feb just few days after our launch, the second triple-s/Founders Lounge co-production by Sun, Sand and Startups group took place at the Gran Foc, featuring a talk by Jouko, titled “New funding opportunities for web and mobile startups around the world”.

Thanks to Kristian and his team here is the recorded podcast from the event. Below is some of the topics from Jouko’s presentation:

You can listen for the podcast below and you can also subscribe to Grow VC podcast via iTunes. Sorry for the occasional background noise and that it was cut short at the end. Again big thanks to Kristian and his team.

 
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“everyone funding startups” – Grow VC’s community funding model is launched
Monday, February 15th, 2010
Google Buzz

fee_splitCrowdfunding becomes a reality for startups

15th of February 2010 – Hong Kong – Grow VC today launched its one long-awaited core business model, a community funding model. Under this model Grow VC will pool 75 per cent of membership fees into a community fund that gets invested back into promising member startups. Community fund investments are managed by Grow VC, but all investment decisions are made by Grow VC members who determine how to invest their portion of the fund to other startup companies that they feel have the most potential.

Grow VC is fixing the inefficiencies of private seed funding for web and mobile companies with a global social network and crowdfunding. The service includes the tools needed for building a startup from the ground up, to getting funding at the seed level. It introduces startups to investors, experts and other entrepreneurs, helping them discover common interests and providing new transparent ways of achieving investment.

The community-fund feature includes a members leaderboard based on the merit of the members’ investment decisions. The most successful decision makers will be financially rewarded when the community fund begins earning return on investment (ROI). All decisions are completely transparent so Grow VC members can always view how successful past and ongoing investments are.

Grow VC cofounder and CEO Valto Loikkanen said: “Our model gets startups acquainted with the entire investment process and we are the first to offer this type of peer-to-peer crowdfunding. For our service to have a sustainable future, the cost structure must be kept low and our own interests must clearly align with our members’ interests – so that our success is dependent on the success of other startups, investors and experts in our community.”

Grow VC cofounder and chairman Jouko Ahvenainen said: “Early phase funding requires new solutions. VC’s are moving their focus to more mature companies, and LP’s are decreasing investments in VC funds. Entrepreneurs want to have more competition and transparency in the funding market, and business angels require better tools to find good startups and for easier dealmaking. This new model opens totally new opportunities in funding, and it also offers practical help like transparent term sheets and investment agreements.”

More about the community funding model

The model encourages entrepreneurs to start looking at other startups from an investors’ point of view, helping them to improve their own profile and communication. Through their funding process in Grow VC, startups can also build a global, multilingual and geographically distributed network of industry peers of Grow VC members, motivated to support their venture.

For early stage investors, or “funders”, the information that the community decisions provide about noteworthy startups brings a level of transparency not seen before in investing in tech, web and mobile startups.

The patent-pending community fund model is the original core innovation in Grow VC’s arsenal of unique funding models and the reason behind Grow VC’s inception. In 2009 the company was also the first to announce a global service-investment model, whereby service providers in the industry can invest in companies using work resources as “sweat equity,” in addition to money.

Joining Grow VC, and the basic features such as building a person profile, are free. Premium features including the services above come with subscriptions ranging from $20 to $140 per month, depending on how much money the startup company is seeking or how much the investor is looking to invest. For unlimited service investments, the monthly subscription fee is $90 per month.

Following its first five months in public beta, Grow VC’s community just reached 700 registered users from within the startup and investment communities.

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Welcome to The Year Of Tiger
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
Google Buzz
Chinese New Year Tiger
Image by Fuzzybunn via Flickr

Happy Chinese New Year!

The Year of the Tiger will bring far reaching changes for everyone. New inventions and incredible technological advances have a good chance of occurring. For all of the Chinese horoscope signs, this year is one to be active – seizing opportunities and making the most of our personal and very individual talents. Everything happens quickly and dramatically in a Tiger year – blink and you could miss an important chance of a lifetime!

This is the last day for claiming your free “premium account” for 2010 valued up to $1,200, that includes one or many of the following:

  • active startup profile (+ entrepreneur role)
  • expert role
  • funder role

Steps to claim your free “premium account” for 2010:

  1. Register
  2. After registration, complete your profile
  3. Go to the Subscription & Role page
  4. Select your subscription type
  5. Click “apply for subscription”


Tell a friend
Small things that you do can create great opportunities for you and people you care for. Let your friends know there’s only 1 day left to get their own free Grow VC premium subscription for 2010. You can even use your affiliate link if you like.
More details about the affiliate model

Good luck for the year of the Tiger!

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