RABBIT HOLES
Karl Dakin
Capital Coach | Stakeholder Investor Campaigns | Design, Stage, and Manage or Support | Reduce Time, Money, and Risk of Raising Funding | Increase Probability of Success! | Opportunity Management
QUICK CALENDAR
?MONDAY, September 2, Labor Day.
?TUESDAY, September 3, Successful Funding show, 8 am, MDT, LinkedIn Live
?NEXT THURSDAY, September 5, Community Revitalization show, 8 am, MDT, LinkedIn Live
?FUNDING HAPPENINGS
There are no free lunches in funding.
As I availed myself of the library of knowledge within Wikipedia instead of making a request through Chat GPT, I was reminded by Wikipedia that they have a cost in providing their service, and I was asked to make a donation to their foundation. I made the donation because they provide value to me, and I would like them to continue doing so. I also have a subscription to Open AI for Chat GPT for the same reason. As an entrepreneur, I work to limit my expenses, but there comes a point where other entrepreneurs should be rewarded for their efforts.
?FUNDING POINT – RABBIT HOLES
?"Down the rabbit hole" is an English-language?idiom?or?trope?which refers to getting deep into something, or ending up somewhere strange.?Lewis Carroll?introduced the phrase as the title for chapter one of his 1865 novel?Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
?The term is usually used as a metaphor for distraction but within the entrepreneur industry it is more often used to describe chasing an opportunity that did not exist in reality.
?During the early stage of an opportunity, when it is still no more than a concept, it is altogether too easy to forget that one is working with a concept and start acting like it is a full-fledged opportunity. It is possible to invest a substantial amount of time and money into a concept to see it vanish in the light of full day like a ghost. Worse yet, entrepreneurs have formally started a business, raised funding, and entered the market before realizing how deep in the rabbit hole they are.
?Pursuing a concept to determine if it will become an opportunity, is a risk. This is what entrepreneurs do and will continue to do.
?The funding point is for entrepreneurs to invest no more time and money than necessary before determining if a concept can grow into an opportunity.
?Entrepreneurs should engage in a due diligence review of the concept. Like conducting due diligence of a business, examining a concept is the same but more focused on the fundamentals:
·??????? Can value be achieved?
·??????? Does it (whatever the product or service) work?
·??????? Will customers buy it?
·??????? What talent is necessary to bring the concept to product or service form?
·??????? What other resources are needed (money or things that can be bought with money)?
·??????? Who will oppose or simply ignore the commercialization of the concept?
·??????? When all is said and done, will the outcome justify the investment?
As may be seen from the questions, they all may be answered positively except for the last one, only to realize that this is another rabbit hole.
?The entrepreneur must think through to the end of the story before moving forward. Too often, you will hear entrepreneurs making statements that assume market acceptance, that someone else will solve a problem or if only they can get the concept to market that the rewards are so great that they will justify all risks.
?The concept should be tested early and often. Each test will increase the knowledge of the entrepreneur and enable them to engage in more rigorous testing. This becomes a delicate dance between reasonable questioning and overly optimistic enthusiasm.
?When two or more people are considering the concept, each person should describe carefully their understanding of the concept. The other person should state back to the first person what they thought they heard in their own words. Anything other than a mirror image of each other’s statement provides grounds for more discussion.
?Entrepreneurs should draw upon the experience of other, more seasoned entrepreneurs. However, even this practice must be implemented with care. Experienced entrepreneurs may now be too successful, too paranoid (some is good, too much is bad for this activity), or not in a position to add valuable advice.
?Like an investor evaluating an investment opportunity, an entrepreneur should take the time to thoughtfully develop their own criteria for consideration of a new concept.
?SUCCESSFUL FUNDING
TUESDAY, Ron Yeager was my guest on the Successful Funding show. We discussed funding campaigns that worked and those that did not work. Establishing a quality relationship with investors and keeping them informed during good times and bad both made and saved investments.
You may see a recording of the show at:
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?You may view recordings of all past Successful Funding shows at my LinkedIn profile under Events:
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RCI COMMUNITY FUNDS
As a member of this new company, I am working with a team of professionals to craft a new funding mechanism for revitalizing underserved communities.
THIS MORNING, @RCI Community Funds presented the Community Revitalization show. Our featured guest was @Devin Thorpe of Super Crowd. An accomplished businessperson and entrepreneur, Devin founded Super Crowd to advocate for impact investing in small businesses using Reg CF investment crowdfunding. We talked about the positive impact of investing in small businesses, which helps rebuild disinvested communities.
You may see a recording at:
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DON COHEN SHOW
YESTERDAY, I was a guest on Don Cohen’s show where we talked about ‘cooperation.’ We were digging into the need for cooperation when seeking to do anything more than the capabilities of a single person. Cooperation is a matter of give and receive (not take) where each participant is working towards a common goal. We experienced an Internet disconnect and our show was brief.
You may see a recording of this abbreviated show at:
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?Don is my mentor and guru on using LinkedIn as a social media platform to build my brand and build my community of individuals and organizations who work like me to help small businesses and communities raise funding.
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You may subscribe to this Weekly edition of my Instant Funding Newsletter, or you may subscribe to my Daily edition.
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Karl Dakin, the Capital Coach
Dakin Capital LLC
Capital Coach | Stakeholder Investor Campaigns | Design, Stage, and Manage or Support | Reduce Time, Money, and Risk of Raising Funding | Increase Probability of Success! | Opportunity Management
6 个月Have you ever chased a concept beyond the point where you should have let it go?