The Start-Up Bra
The only rule of Start-Up Club is that there are no rules. I paraphrase Fight Club and I have included a picture of a bra stuck on a wall, you’re going to have to bear with me on this post which contains a lot of mixed metaphors.
We’re 6 weeks from a beta version of Qajack, which is 6 weeks away from needing to raise necessary finance so that we can see it to the next level. But how do we find this fabled finance? Bootstrapping has gotten us this far; relatives, credit cards and organ donation have kept us in second hand laces, but now the boots are starting to fall apart.
What we need is a stranger in a suit to buy us a new pair of trainers and tell us why they’re good for our cardio workout.
An Angel Investor, a pre-VC, a new-VC, a rich dead Uncle prepared to die in 6 weeks time.
This picture is a good representation of the UK start-up post-bootstrapped dilemma.
The Start-Up is the whistling boy, the Investor is the large bra and the down pipe is the Blogosphere, the buzz that lies between them. Currently the boy has his back turned, not wanting to look too keen for fear of frightening away the bra, but whistling so as to attract just enough attention to himself. The bra has one cup lifted towards the down pipe, listening (let’s posit bra’s can hear in this scenario) for the whistle in the buzz, or trying to ignore the buzz and listen out for the clearest whistle with a view to helping it get some buzz.
I shall be seeking to propagate and regularly detail the Qajack buzz, be it inane pictorial stunts such as this one, or genuine traction with key influencer blogs.
Having the idea, and the really useful ‘video’ game is a great idea (it’s even got a business model!), is only a part of it, the early adopter crowd have to take to you and have to be courted, conferences and coffee mornings attended and a risk taking, high net worth tech investor uncovered.
But just like Qajack, you got to gamble with what you know…
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