Thread: Advice on funding

I am in the process of developing a mobile application and I am in need of some advice on funding. I have locked in a programming company (which I outsourced to India) and they are ready to go. Only thing is after going over my business plan and funding needs I do not have the money to properly develop and advertise the app. I planned on pursuing potential investors to get funding to develop and market the app, but I was informed that an investor would want to see a prototype first. Now my question is should I take out a loan to get the app developed to test stage to present to investors later, or try to finish my business plan and presentation to get potential investor now.

Originally Posted by marc_rush

I am in the process of developing a mobile application and I am in need of some advice on funding. I have locked in a programming company (which I outsourced to India) and they are ready to go. Only thing is after going over my business plan and funding needs I do not have the money to properly develop and advertise the app. I planned on pursuing potential investors to get funding to develop and market the app, but I was informed that an investor would want to see a prototype first. Now my question is should I take out a loan to get the app developed to test stage to present to investors later, or try to finish my business plan and presentation to get potential investor now.

It will be much harder to get an investment without a prototype. You really should not contemplate on getting an investment. Your main focus should be getting the product ready for launch, and thinking about the future of the company. With that being said, I would recommend you take out a loan, and get a good prototype developed. If possible get the full project developed and gain some traction first. If you can get some traction it will show investors that your idea is valuable and interesting to the market.

Send your executive summary/presentation to investors when you have a prototype (or the full app) to show off. This includes pictures, video, demos, or access to the full project. Also try to get a recommendation from someone the investor knows if possible, such as one of their portfolio companies or another investor/adviser.