Hi, Loic sent me a link to Y-combinator, which has a very interesting approach to seed funding.
"What We Do Y Combinator does seed funding for startups. Seed funding is the earliest stage of venture funding. It pays your expenses while you're getting started. Some companies may need no more than seed funding. Others will go through several rounds. There is no right answer; how much funding you need depends on the kind of company you start. At Y Combinator, our goal is to get you through the first phase. This usually means: get you to the point where you've built something impressive enough to raise money on a larger scale. Then we introduce you to later stage investors—or occasionally even acquirers. More Than Money We make small investments (rarely more than $20,000) in return for small stakes in the companies we fund (usually 2-10%). All venture investors supply some combination of money and help. In our case the money is by far the smaller component. In fact, many of the startups we fund don't need the money. We think of the money we invest as more like financial aid in college: it's so people who do need the money can pay their living expenses while Y Combinator is happening. (...) Format Y Combinator has a novel approach to seed funding: we fund startups in batches. There are two each year, one from January through March and one from June through August. During each cycle we fund multiple startups. We've funded a total of 208 so far. Applying for funding is also different at Y Combinator. Instead of submitting a business plan or making a slide presentation, you just fill out an application form. We invite the most promising groups to meet us in person, and we make funding decisions immediately afterward. " http://ycombinator.com/about.html Would probably be worth filling the form! : ) Xavier.
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