Tony Lettich
Tony Lettich is a Co-founder of Funding$age. Tony has previous corporate venture capital experience and also serves as Managing Director of The Angel Roundtable of the Tri-cities, TN/VA.
In the FundingSage blogs in our “Business Startup Spotlight,” we ask entrepreneurs “What is the most helpful tip or ‘hack’ you’ve ever learned, stumbled across, or been given?” The following are five tips they shared:
- Participate in an Accelerator Program!
According to Corey Davis, Co-founder of Capital Construction Solutions, “Being part of an accelerator provides companies with resources, partnership opportunities, and workshops that are very pertinent to companies that are starting out.”
Aman Singh, Co-founder of R2 Robotronics described how their accelerator helped. “Our mentors kept us on our toes in terms of refining our business idea, seeing where we can maintain the edge and identifying opportunities for us to make connections and get feedback on the idea.”
- Develop a Diverse Team!
Dr. Glenn Lawyer, Co-founder of Healthcast stated succinctly, “Find good mentors.”
“The best lesson we have experienced is to have a strong and diverse team (founders and advisors). As we have engaged new advisors and connections, we have seen the quality of our offering improve markedly,” indicated Hirsch Serman, CEO & Founder of DivorceSecure.
- Start with the MVP!
KaraoQ Co-founder Michael Amburgey indicated, “Simply put, it’s to create the ugliest, simplest, often-times crudest true ‘minimal viable product’ or prototype that only proves out the one (MAYBE TWO) features that prove the idea can work, and obtain users. Biting off more of the elephant than you can chew at once only causes you to chew that much longer, decreasing efficiency and creating a lot of ‘noise’ that hampers quick, agile progress.”
- Get the Word Out!
James Bridges, Founder & CEO,of Road-Aid said, “Get out there and meet people such as customers, advisers! Talk about your idea and what you are trying to accomplish. The hard part is not the idea, but the execution. Talking with everyone gives you the feedback to continually refine and shape your idea into something viable for the masses.”
- Remember Branding!
Nick Jones, Co-founder of JRNL shared, “Don’t undervalue the importance of your brand perception. It can make all the difference early on and will tell most investors if you’re serious or not. Get a good domain name. Get a good logo. Get a unique email address. When you’re young or new, you have to fake it till you make it.”
Just starting? Check out the entrepreneurial ecosystem available in Knoxville!
Funding$age provides information, resources and tools to help entrepreneurs start, grow and fund their ideas. “Is Your Startup Investable?” The company’s TurboFunder Platform provides the support you need to build an investable company.