I have a great plan and software system. Just looking for keen investors.
The system is a Debtors/Banking system. The only difference between this system and any other banking system is that it does not have a variable interest rate facility. This can be ammended however by making thre interest calculations transactions on their own. Its written in VB6 front-end and SQL back-end. The target market is very difficult. I dont want to go for small lenders that charge high interest rates. The market must be between these lenders and banks. Maybe term loans of between £10 000 and £50 000 over 10 - 24 months. A credit card company is an option but there are too many of them out there and it is too high risk. This is just one of my ideas.
2 Answers
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I suggest that you try the Invesment Readiness Assessment to ensure that you have a crystal clear proposition to an investor.
For a more in-depth analysis, then the General Business Viability Assessment provides excellent feedback.
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Unfortunately there is more to making money from software than just creating the software, although it is a good starting point.
Some pointers follow that hopefully will be helpful.
Getting investment from institutional investors requires a solid business plan and market research. They will also want to know how you can protect your software from being copied. Unless there is a significant market with very good level of return they are unlikely to be interested. So independent investors are probably your best route if you need the investment. Also if you have not used investors before you will need to do your research and get some solid advice.
Another approach is to set up a business with Ltd of LLP and do it on a risk and reward basis. Which may enable you to get the thing off the ground with less real risk. You would have to share the rewards with investors putting cash in so what’s the difference. Remember 100% of noting is nothing. Better 50% or 30% of a solid and profitable business. If successful you would then have the freedom to exploit your other ideas.
Market research and getting feedback is paramount, what might be a great idea to you may not stand up in the market. Even if it does, how it is packaged, priced and solid is also of real importance. Good products can and do flounder for want of appropriate marketing and sales, while dross thrives. Fact of life.
I suggest you look at trade marking, it's cheaper than patients, can be used where patients are not appropriate and it affords some protection. It also has value as a subliminal message that imbues substance to your offering.
By the sound of things you already have a system and your trying finalise and get in ready for selling. I go back to my earlier point get some feedback from the market.
It doesn't have to cost a fortune - if you have something you can demo make some calls, get in front of people and see what they think. If the feedback is not great, don't get defensive, listen and adapt.
You also need to be very clear about the benefit for the client. Don’t bother them about the tech, all they will be really interested in is, what can it do to reduce risk, reduce costs or increase revenue. If you get past the buyer, the techies will want to make sure its not going to screw up there systems if installed and that its maintainable. It’s a hurdle but if the business wants it, it usually happens.
This raises the question how the system will be deployed and supported. This needs to be covered off in your sale’s presentation.
I'm going through a similar process for the n-th time. We have firms who have already expressed interest and we are at least six months off launch. We are looking to take it around and demo in September for no other reason than to get the final feedback and fine-tune and start the relationship ball rolling. Our product will also sell well in the US so we have a guy there giving feedback on presentation style, language usage etc. We know the cultural context is different and we have to adapt.
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