Where to find 40,000?

[themightyflog]

Hey ya'll,

I was hoping to find the answer to this question. I have invested the first 15,000 of my business through bootstrapping and a loan.

I was wondering though where I can find the 40,000 to get the rest off the ground.

Currently I am making an online animated series and need help financing the rest. Any ideas?

[mikek]

play the lottery?

[Dmoore323]

your moms purse?

[Nordstrom]

Tooth-fairy?

[Jamie]

These are all quite good suggestions, I would reccomend them...

[tw0]

Follow the rainbow to the end.

[Gene]

Do you have any friends who might be able to loan you that money?

[themightyflog]

Okay, I really appreciate the sarcastic answers. Thanks

Okay let's just give you a fill in on the online series and how revenue is generated.

I'm sure you've seen Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Xmen, etc on toy shelves, theatres, television and underwear.

What they all have in common besides the superhero theme (not the important part) is they all had their beginning on paper we call comic books.

Comic books are a great incubator for intellectual property. They still are and always have been. Not however a great way to make money.

The newest incubator is online series and they have a good way to make money especially if you get past the common barriers, namely, quality or lack of time.

You have tons of bad series out there with no quality. And tons of great series out there but lack of quantity. In this current new and still growing frontier when you combine both it does open avenues and is a great incubator for Intellectual Property.

Intellectual property if it catches on can make money for decades. Superman and Batman have been around since the 40s and they are still making money till this day.

HEre are the avenues for profit.
1) online advertising and sponsorship (advertisers jumping ship on traditional and doing more online)

2) Merchandise (Homestarrunner great example of selling Tshirts and making money)

3) DVD sales (sweet spot for niche indies is 5,000-10,000 units)

4) Extension (Television, Bigger Distribution, Movie rights)

In honesty some great advice I got from Doug Tenapel, when it comes to media, "if you make it they will come"

He said just make something interesting the "Extension" will come.
Thing is you have to make it and not go the old route, where someone tried to go to a studio or production company and hope they like your idea. People have the tools to build it now and have those companies come to you when you want to expand.

In essense I need the 40,000 to make a movie, which I will then cut into 3x30s and distribut them free biweekly. Keep them online for awhile and then move on to the next season, removing the first season and selling them on DVD. I even have a large distributor in South Asia who is going along with the idea, so Asia is covered. I have the talent needed and involved in the project. I just need the rest to finish it off.

I've bootstrapped and borrowed from the bank.

No I don't have friends with money they can lend me. Most of my friends are poor artists or working class like me. They operate on thinner margins and money is in 401K plans.

I'd like to thank everyone for their professional suggestions, I was hoping to get better suggestions considering this is an Entrepreneur hopefuls' sight.

[ZingerIntl]

Leverage the 401k against a loan.
OR
easy math here.... Building Y + weapon X = $$$ ??? can you find Y?
right above the word.......clown...

just joking but you really can leverage a 401k. If you ask an outside investor for money they will ask you about your 401k and then even IF that is every dollar you have, they will make their decision based on your willingness to use it as security. If you are not willing then they think you are not confident enough to repay them, and they will not lend you anything. Thats were the man with the money makes the rules.

Good luck, I like how you are doing something different and interesting.
\
I must have mis read you... I think you are saying your friends have 401k s... If you do not then you might need a partner, (hopefully I got yo thinking.)

[themightyflog]

Oh that is the thing. I got a loan leveraging the 401K and also cashed some out. I believe in my project. I also sold stock, did some DJing gigs and virtually used most of my pizza money.

That is why I'm looking for the 40k to finish it off.

The good thing about the project is the 40K will be used to build the assets that can be reused a million times.

I tried going for more loan to finish it off but I cannot get 40K. I'm just trying to see where I can find a partner or investor.

I've pretty much exhausted these resources

Bootstrapping (was doing really well until I got laid off)
Friends and Family (I was making more money than most of my friends and family)
Banks (I did that and put collateral down against my 401K)

Now looking for partner,investor or government folks.

I do have some great case studies on the few folks who are doing what I'm doing.

:We are the Strange: An animated feature film by M dot Strange:
(thousands of dvds sold, film festivals including Sundance. Offers to direct Hollywood films for 100,000s but turned them down for own projects)

Everybody! Everybody!
(millions of viewers and enough money in merchandise to keep them running including a WII game)

Xombie Online - XOMBIE: REANIMATED NOW AVAILABLE
(Optioned to become a live action movie)

Happy Tree Friends
(500,000 DVDs sold x $15 retail need we say more?)

| Afterworld |
(offered $3 million dollars to make more and another NBC series with Rosario Dawson)

Sanctuary - Official Website
(Big investment, now TV show on SCi Fi Fridays)

Voices of a Distant Star
(7 Million dollars made so far)

Studio ArtFX: Artistic Dreams Into Reality
(10,000+Dvds sold, retail 17. Money maid 100,000+, this is the lower end)

The Home Of Broken Saints
100,000 DVDs sold at a retail of 45USD. Optioned for movie that they get to keep rights too.

Plankton Invasion
Opted for Television show.

There are a ton of youtube type series but very few with special fx and animation. Granted this is not a youtube series but an online series which will also be distributed on DVD.
Sure you have Animations and movies but usually just shorts and not something people can invest in like a series. It's like a one time thing vs something someone comes back to see each week.

We are combining the two as the ones above have. The market is not oversaturated for niche market online animation and special fx shows.

Think about that 40,000 and what can be obtained through that 40,000.

You have several avenues for profit.

1)Online Advertisements and Sponsorship
2)Merchandise
3)DVD sales per season
4)Options from larger venues
5)Percentage of my non related services.

I want to get this thing going during Comicon 2009. I want to be in attendance to build the buzz. IT could get optioned there for 40,000. At the end of the day it is a small investment but can have potential for high returns.

Many great franchises started like this.
From the 300 Dollar rights to Spiderman to the 800,000,000 dollar movie.

[mtheory]

You may have a winning idea but it doesn't look like you are the person to bring it to fruition.

Your initial business plan of investing 15k into a project that required 65K to work without a solid plan for obtaining the needed additional funding doesn't lead me to believe you would be the best choice for investing my money.

[Nordstrom]

I have to agree with this. What I believe would be the best way to take it, is investing 15 k doing less movies. Even IF you lose it all then, you are not in debt for that much.

If you need an investor for 40 K the best way is to use your own money on something the same but "smaller" in the start, to try it out.

You may have a winning idea but it doesn't look like you are the person to bring it to fruition.

Your initial business plan of investing 15k into a project that required 65K to work without a solid plan for obtaining the needed additional funding doesn't lead me to believe you would be the best choice for investing my money.

[windroadtosuccess]

check your couches, maybe your parents' couches

[Dmoore323]

its in the same spot where the 80,000 is

[CapitalistFool]

Can you give a breakout of how you plan to spend the $40k and how you spent or plan to spend the first $15k?

Perhaps you can find a way to develop, release, and market your series that is less expensive than your current strategy.