John
Dimmer, an entrepreneur with an extensive background in finance, gave a talk to
TINST 475. John graduated from University of Oregon in 1984 with a degree in
finance. He then worked in banking for a time before moving on to founding Free
Range Media with Andrew Fry. John continued to leverage his finance background throughout
his career to create multiple, thriving companies and drew on this experience
to give our class a comprehensive overview of the fundraising process
throughout a company’s life. Additionally,
despite having a busy entrepreneurial life, John stays active with other
commitments such as being on the board of directors for Idaho Trust Bank.
John
covered the important questions to ask about a company’s fundraising, what the
fundraising process looks like, and some ballpark estimates of how much money should
be raised at each stage. When starting a company and considering its financial
future, three questions need to be answered: “When to raise money?”, “How much money
to raise?”, and “where to go to raise money?”. These will help develop a baseline
plan for understanding a company’s trajectory.
I
really liked how John didn’t just talk about the stages of fundraising as a
sequential progression without context. Instead, he tied in each stage with
where the company is at in ideating, developing, deploying, and selling a product.
For example, with just a product concept, investors will likely be limited to
founder’s money or friends and family money. However, during the much later
stage of expanding the sales of an established product, pitching to, and raising
money from, large venture capital establishments is ideal.
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