Daniel klass
| Name | Daniel klass |
|---|---|
| Location | Toronto |
| Website | http://www.klasscapital.com |
| Bio | Venture Capital Fund. Target Investment Size $500,000 to $5,000,000. SaaS with minimum mrr or monthly revenues of $50k. |
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I am starting a business that offers a great solution to big problem within education that sells cheaply with significant market gain to investors. However, I have no experience building a company and very little running a business, but I am making it happen. What can I do to be taken seriously by VCs?
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show traction. no VC will talk to you until you get there. There are great programs at Ryerson, MaRs… that can help. VCs mandate is to invest in experienced entrepreneurs, that show traction, and capital is used to significantly accelerate the mode. VCs have a mandate to exit businesses 3-5 years into their investment. That is why most VCs are investing in later stage companies. Hope that gives you a little perspective.
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Where can an aspiring entrepreneur find a mentor, someone to advise them in the planning stages of a new startup?
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MaRs – its the best place to find mentors.
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What is the magic amount of time to have a potential customer run with a demo of a SaaS product...assuming it is not a huge system like SAP (simple Web App / DB)? I want to keep the sales cycle quick, but allow them enough time to get addicted.
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thats a tough question to answer without the details. every vertical is specific. I think this is a working discussion. work with your customer. if they see value they will start paying.
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You say you look at the person behind the idea. What exactly do you look for? What are qualities that stand out for you?
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someone that comes from the industry and has deep domain expertise. preferable someone that has been successful before, hyper responsive, and open minded. I love entrepreneurs that show the ability to pivot and adjust their business model. Also entrepreneurs that dont sit around and try build the best product, looking for teams that go out there and get stuff done.
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I'm a co-founder of a 3 yr-old SaaS start-up that was bootstrapped to break-even and ramen profitability. We are able to grow revenue at an affordable customer acquisition cost. I would love to scale the business by scaling our marketing budget. VCs approached say the business is either too small in terms of revenue or userbase. Is organic linear growth the only option?
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have you tried BDC – great option to accelerate growth and get to a stage appropriate for VC investing
Call Robert Duffy over at the BDC or Jasmin Ganie-Hobbs – probably looking for $50k mrr. affordable and friendly debt option. RBC also understands the space for a small line in the $250k range.
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Financial services company with $450k revenue in year 1 with tech like EBITDA margins. Scaleable. No fixed costs. Cash is not a problem. How do I speed up growth? Organic growth is slow(er). Corporate strategic distribution partner would provide clients but a VC fund may help me build the core team first and find a better strategic partner and get the right exit. Do I look for VC first or go straight for the strategic partner?
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VCs are focused on technology plays – its the mandate of most funds.
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I work for a group called MaRS Innovation and we're commercializing a software applicat'n invented by a clinician scientist at UofT/SMH able to predict the patterns of pandemic. This "early warning system"is a risk analysis tool providing predictive metrics and associated actionables for emerging infectious diseases (website at: http://www.biodiaspora.com/). We wonder if BioDiaspora may fit the profile for a Klass Capital investment. Thank you for your time, Fanny Sie(fsie@marsinnovation.com)
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unfortunately this sounds like its too early stage. our typical investment has a minimum of $750k to $1mm in sales and 20+ reference clients.
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We have developed an enterprise software product and already sold it to a couple of major clients. However, these first few sales were to companies that we already had business relationships with. We now want to bring this product to market and increase our sales as much as possible. We are contemplating the best way to do this i.e. salespeople cold calling via phone, partnering with well connected consultant etc... What would you recommend? The product costs in the $200K+ range
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outside sales people are way to expensive. if the product works and your customers are happy – build through referrals. channel partnerships take too much time and you dont have enough traction. get 10 solid reference clients and then decide how to address the market. you are still learning and dont let a third party or sales rep that does not understand your product sell for you.
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SaaS product development. We are trying to identify a potential market for a new saas product. The challenge we are faced with is the areas we think of are saturated with saas solutions. I know there must be opportunities for us out there. We are struggling finding a niche market for which we could develop a saas product. We are experts at developing web based applications, but we are not experts in all industries. For this reason we are not aware of inefficiencies or needs out there. Thank you.
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the best companies start with deep domain expertise – ie a restauranteer who is a program developer that sees a specific need fo a product. fin someone to partner with that has deep expertise and needs your web based expertise.
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Hi I am a new graduate from York, with a BA in Humanities. I have a great franchise idea but I have not capital. I would love to speak to someone who's willing to invest and become partners with me. I know that it doesn't exist and I know that it will do very well! Would anyone direct me ot help me?
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friends and family. no VCs can invest in an idea. they need to see proof of concept. go out and execute.
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