Image by Randy Stewart via FlickrCharlie O'Donnell At His Inspiring Best Hi Fred. Looks like you are back from your Middle East Peace Tour, aka vacation. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26) And so this might be a great time to bother you. Chances are you are not cranky.
I am writing this at three in the afternoon but shall schedule post it for four in the morning when people are asleep, and no one quite sees it. That is how JFK first wanted to announce that it was Bobby for Attorney General: around midnight. He feared accusations of nepotism. If you do give me money, people might think it is because I am a member of the AVC community. Accusations of nepotism might fly.
I am asking for 200K. In return I am giving 2% of my company. That is not to say you can get 5% for 500K. More than 200K is too much money. I would not know what to do with it. I am a Third World guy with simple tastes. And I would want this 2% to stay undiluted all the way to IPO. Yes, my company is going IPO in seven years or less. I intend to compete with the very best of your portfolio companies. I am Top Gun.
You get a Board seat with no voting power in round 1. That seat automatically acquires voting power in round 2. Vinod Khosla gets to buy 5% of my company for five million in round 2, but only if he himself sits on the Board.
I intend to make lots of mistakes in round 1. And I don't want you to have the power to fire me. Not that I fear you would if you did have the option. But I figured why take a chance? I intend to be CEO and Chairperson for life. That would make me the boss to the likes of you and Khosla. Pinch me.
Yunus is the father of non profit microfinance. Khosla is the father of for profit microfinance. I intend to be its Gladiator.
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Round 2 will likely be the last round of money I raise.
There are more than 10,000 microfinance institutions in the world today. Most of them are non profit. To go for profit is a differentiator. What would really differentiate me though is mine is going to be a very high tech proposition. It is through use of tech that I intend to make mine the number one microfinance outfit
Image via Wikipediain the world. Mine is a tech startup. And that is why I approach you. This is Etsy to the power of 10, maybe 100, in terms of being able to do good.
More than 70% of my customers will be women. And so my goal is to keep the corporate team 60-40 female at the least at all levels. And I ask you to put your money where your mouth is.
Microfinance is cutting edge. Vinod Khosla has had a clean tech fund for half a decade now. But he is only now working on a fund specific to microfinance. That shows microfinance is in the same league as clean tech, bio tech, nano tech. But the tech my outfit will most dip into will be web tech, your domain.
Curing poverty is a way more complex problem than curing cancer. I am in the curing poverty business. In microfinance you have to take into account the best and worst of human behavior. That is quite a challenge. But then I am the top talent on the planet when it comes to large scale group dynamics.
I have a great team, four strong now, that I can not talk about publicly. Who wants to be poached? But I will email you the details.
I should be able to burn the round 1 money in 6-8 months. I want to be one of the first people to pitch Vinod Khosla when his microfinance fund is ready.
I am going to be a billionaire, because that's the best, fastest way to reach and serve the people I want to serve. Come along for the ride.
2% ownership for 200K to stay undiluted to IPO, a Board seat with no voting power in round 1, with voting power in round 2, and no other clauses. I ask for a half page legal document, one page max.
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1 comment:
what exactly are you building?
how does it compare to Kiva?
what is your go to market plan?
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