Finding the Pot Of Gold

After months of strategic planning, dreaming, connecting, and collaborating we have come to the point now in our business where we have to ask “how do we make this real”. How do we take these ideas from paper and grow them into the business we have spent so much time planning to build.

The quest for funding is an interesting and intimidating feeling for me as a first time entrepreneur. It’s a topic that is not taught in business school and is a foreign process to many first time entrepreneurs as it’s the first true gut check point for you and your business. You must force yourself from the safety of a business plan and convince others that your idea is good enough to deserve their money, and in today’s economy that’s no easy feat.

When planning our funding strategy we are using a bit of a concept I like to call “see what sticks”. What I mean by this is that we are pursuing many different possible funding avenues and just seeing what will work for us.

Our primary strategy is to access funding and mentorship from the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF). The CYBF is a national charity dedicated to championing tomorrow’s entrepreneurial leaders. They do this by investing time and money in aspiring young entrepreneurs, age 18-34, who have a great business idea, but find it difficult to obtain financing or mentoring through traditional sources.
To date I have met with the people at my local CYBF chapter multiple times and they are extremely helpful in making sure you have thought through all aspects of your business. They challenge your ideas and provide you with valuable feedback on your progress. So far we have had two meetings and a third is scheduled for next week. After this meeting I am hoping that they will be able to present our idea to their board and we will be able to take one step closer to obtaining funding through this route.

Supplementing our pursuit of funding our group was presented an opportunity that we could not turn down. One of my favorite TV shows, CBC’s The Dragons Den, was in Halifax and were having open auditions. This was too cool to past up. So last Sunday my two partners made the trip down from Moncton NB and we headed down to the downtown hotel where they were holding the auditions. Prior to arriving we were expecting long lines, a dark room, and a panel of stern producers that were to act as a filter for the “Dragons”. Although to our surprise it was quite the opposite upon arriving. We walked in a small conference room where we were greeted by a smiling receptionist and the panel of one producer who was extremely relaxed and very friendly. The pitch went well and as a group we felt confident we did all we could. Now time will only tell if we get the call to “the den”.

Along with these two avenues, I have booked two other meetings with provincial funding agencies and we are scheduled to talk next week. It’s great to get out there and talk about our business! I not only feel more confident in our company, but also in my own ability to lead this company and secure a financial investment to bring this dream to life. So stay tuned for our funding updates


Don’t get me wrong I have been loving the process so far, but how sweet would it be to have a rich uncle at this point?!?