[DuValEnterprises]

Alright, so yesterday I made a few posts in this forum and didn't really get any positive feedback. I want to apologize, I'm sure it was my fault. I can be very abrasive sometimes.

so anyways, I'm gonna give it another shot today, (my last day off for 2 months!) with all the advice I recieved yesterday in tow. Plus jmenq reminded me that I have everything finished already, so there's not much to worry about as far as idea-ganking goes.

so here's my story:
I've created a website ( Write In Your Vote - US Politics. For the people, by the people. ) and an online application to go with it. I still won't mention what the application is, it's too good of an idea, but I will share the rest of my plans with you. I am also in the process of incorporation and do have a business plan created.

The site is currently about 50% implemented onto the domain. Features will be added and the appearance changed a bit by next Monday.

So here's the idea: I'm creating a site where US Candidates and Voters can connect and discuss the current state of our Country and get involved.


MY STORY: I'm a 23 year old college student at St. Cloud State University in MN. All my time is taken up by school and work. I'm nearly done with school and will be graduating with a degree in Political Science and a minor in Public Administration. After graduation, I'm planning on attending a Master's Degree in Regulatory Affairs course in Minneapolis (the 2nd program of that type in the nation!) and working as a consultant with medical device companies. This is a very lucrative industry as we all know.

Anyways, I'm stuck. I need between $10,000 and $20,000 of capital to help finalize and launch Write In Your Vote, and I'm having a hell of a time finding someone to help. I think it's because I am not interested in giving away a large chunk of my business in exchange for $10,000-$20,000. Even though I don't have that much right now, it's just not that much money overall, and I'm not willing to give away half my business because I'm desperate to get it going. If anything, by desperate I mean willing to accept a really high rate loan.

Some good advice would really be appreciated.

[DuValEnterprises]

by the way, anybody who wants to can sign up..... I do need some help stress-testing the site.

here's my account if you want to add me as a friend!
MNJibber: peace is not impossible

[jasaunders]

Well here are my thoughts:
After I got through 3/4 of your post I was somewhat interested and was considering asking for additional information about investing. Then I read the last part where you say you have HORRIBLE credit in caps. This turned me off immediately; I won't invest in someone who has bad credit. This shows that you had a consistent lack of judgement and made bad financial decisions in the past and still might be presently and as such are a high risk. Why would I give $20,000 of my money to someone who can't handle their own money? Almost every investor or lender is going to check your credit or want to know your financial status, they want to insure you are fiscally responsible.

So my advice is really to work on fixing up your credit. There are many things you can do to improve your FICO score, but it will take time. In the meantime for this venture, you really should concentrate on getting investments from friends and family. Especially with an amount as low as $10-20k, this is really your only route and shouldn't be too difficult. Even outside investors want to see that other people, such as family and friends, are willng to invest in you. If they aren't willng, it shows a lack of confidence in you personally.

[akula]

Originally Posted by DuValEnterprises

Anyways, I'm stuck. I need between $10,000 and $20,000 of capital to help finalize and launch Write In Your Vote, and I'm having a hell of a time finding someone to help. I think it's because I am not interested in giving away a large chunk of my business in exchange for $10,000-$20,000. Even though I don't have that much right now, it's just not that much money overall, and I'm not willing to give away half my business because I'm desperate to get it going. If anything, by desperate I mean willing to accept a really high rate loan.

See the thing is, is that I have HORRIBLE credit, and virtually no assets, other than my car, which I need. I literally have no options. Some good advice would really be appreciated.

okey dokey..let's try to solve your financing problem
I'll put you a question, you give me an answer and we'll expand your answer with a list of options

there's about 1-1.2 million new ventures started every year in america. 20-30 thousand of these ventures are consumer facing, content websites (i.e. WriteInYourVote.com)

what are the top 5 most common sources of seed capital for all these entrepreneurs?

[ADVERTISE HERE!]

A couple things:

1. I wouldn't advertise here or anywhere else that you have bad credit. If it comes up with an investor, then you need to be honest about it, but don't accentuate your weaknesses.

2. It looks like an interesting site, though I just glanced at it briefly. It seems clean and user friendly. Although this might not be an option, why not look into creating a Facebook app which could jack up the awareness of and interest in your site and produce revenue to help you finish it up? Maybe where Facebookers (Is that a word yet?!) pick their candidate of choice and, after they do, it shows the current polls on the app? Or where they go through a string of several issues and, based on their answers, are given the candidate that most aligns with their position on issue?

Just a few ideas to chew on.

J

[DuValEnterprises]

Akula: I would have to guess friends and family, or out of pocket.....

jasaunders: you see my problem. I need someone who will go out on a limb for me. In most cases I would guess that the tough decision for the investor would usually be whether or not they should take the risk because the idea isn't so solid, not because the creator's credit is bad. So I'm in an ass-backward situation here.

My credit situation is my fault, of course. I made the decision to be a ski bum in Colorado for 2 years after high school instead of going directly to college and my parents pretty much stopped talking to me after that (except my sisters, but they're poor students too ) Anyways, I don't regret it at all, but it did cause me to lose financial control for a bit. I've been on my own ever since then, and I've paid my way through 4 years of college by working pretty much all the time I'm not in class. I am improving my credit, but it's a slow hard process when your income has a barely-livable cap and you have no free time.

And like I said, I don't have the typical support system that most people seem to have. That's why I find myself here. If I had friends that could afford to loan me the money I would have done that already. They're all broke students like me.

I've put about $5000 of my money into this project so far, and that's all I can afford.

[DuValEnterprises]

thanks J I like the facebook app idea, I've thought about it briefly before. it might help if I could get it popularized, the only thing is that are like 20,000 facebook apps now, so it'd be hard to find.

but I agree, if I could create a solid core of users who would employ the app, I could drive a lot of traffic to my site that way.

and I'm not trying to accentuate the fact that I have bad credit... haha if my picture was attached to this thread I'd never have put that, I'm just trying to be honest so I can get some honest feedback.

and I have had 2 offers from "friends" (like my girlfriend's parents) to cover the costs, but they both asked for a pretty large stake of the business and at the time I thought I could do better. Maybe I'd better try and negotiate with one of them.

[ADVERTISE HERE!]

Just another idea. Interest in politics REALLY only heats up for about a year every four years. What are your plans after the presidential election? That would be my concern as an investor. I wouldn't invest that money and then have to sit around for a few years for interest in the site, and thus potential for return on my investment, to pick up.

[DuValEnterprises]

that's where my app comes in sorry but that's all I will say about that

[DuValEnterprises]

not to mention that the feedback I've received from local and state politicians leads me to believe that the community will stay lively after the presidential elections. In reality, there is always an election at some level going on in the US.

And if I have the funding available to do what I want with this site, there will be more than enough to keep users coming back when the US president is the furthest thing from their mind.

So it sounds like I'm gonna have to sell half my business to my girlfriends parents for $10,000? God that sucks.

[ltressel]

DuVal,

I just visited your website and I must say it's pretty clever and well put together. You've earned points for that. Also-sorry for the whole e-begging bashing at the other posts.

Here's my suggestion and I will already put my disclaimer upfront. I am not well versed with the VC/Angel investors as others here are. I'm just a little creative and use my common sense and experience.

Why haven't you solicited for advertisement money? Granted that you still have a low membership, but sell your potential clients on "future" members potential. "Take advantage of low ad space" before the website takes off rates or something like that.


Who can be your potential sponsors?

a) Non-profit organizations fighting for a cause
b) Political clubs
c) Small-Medium online businesses

Maybe by generating some ad revenue you can slowly add your bells and whistles you need to enhance your website.

Your biggest goal is increasing your membership because that will be your asset.

LT