4 Ways to Guarantee Your Startup Doesn’t Get Funded

Venture capital firms, angel investors, and iPhone app development companies all have one big factor in common: they hear dozens of new startup ideas every single day.

The mobile industry is only growing in 2016, and with that growth comes a rush of smart young technologists and entrepreneurs with big dreams.

More often than not, those big dreams fall on deaf ears when it’s time to get funding for mobile app projects. Here are some of the biggest blunders mobile app developers here in Los Angeles see in the startup scene, so you can be sure to avoid them:

1. Ask them to sign an NDA

We get an enormous amount of consultation requests here at Dogtown Media, and the truth is that — regardless of how original an idea is — it’s impossible for investors and mobile app developers to sign an NDA for every idea they listen to. Seasoned startup founders know that it’s the team executing a project that matters, not the idea itself.

Always present the reason your team is advantaged to execute the business model up front, rather than emphasize how unique the idea is.

2. Present an unspecific budget goal

Any startup or business asking for money needs to know exactly how much they need, when they need it, and how they’re going to spend it — down to the last dollar. Startups that present a range are essentially saying “we don’t know how much money this will take.”

Investors in particular will look elsewhere (presenting a range to contracted mobile app developers, on the other hand, is reasonable. It’s their job to guide you on pricing.)

3. Point to a lack of competition

A lot of great ideas don’t exist yet because there simply isn’t a market for them yet. If there’s no competition, be sure you have a good reason for why. Chances are, someone has already developed your mobile app idea and has a compelling reason it failed the first time. (In there rare cases this isn’t true, however, you’ve struck gold.)

4. Go in without a co-founder

This rule isn’t set in stone, but investors and mobile app developers generally like to see a team of at least two co-founders in an early-stage startup. Running a high-risk rapid-growth business solo is extremely difficult.

Single founders without strong track records will face an uphill battle compared to those with support from a like-minded entrepreneur.