Getting Investment for your Website
Part 1: Laying the legal and financial foundation

When viewing companies and websites to potentially invest in, investors are looking for a variety of different things. They want to see that your website or concept is thoroughly researched, protected and as close to market as possible. The more of the “legwork” you take care of before you bring on investors, the better. Not only will this demonstrate your ability to effectively plan and account for the many aspects of running a successful business, it can protect your intellectual capital, ideas and even discussions with investors themselves. The fact of the matter is: the more organized and legitimate your business is, the more it’s going to be taken seriously. So let’s break it down:

1. Choose a business structure that is best for your current or planned situation and file within your desired state (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98359,00.html)
2. Register your “Doing Business As” if required based on your business structure and state (http://www.business.gov/register/business-name/dba.html)
3. Apply for an EIN (Employer Identification Number) (http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/article/0,,id=98350,00.html)
4. Apply for a city business license as necessary based on your location
5. Apply for any other licenses needed based on your location (e.g. work from home permit)
6. Register your name and logo for trademark protection (http://www.uspto.gov/trademarks/index.jsp)
7. Register your domain name for at least five years
 (http://www.godaddy.com)
8. Get a D&B D-U-N-S number to begin establishing business credit 
(http://smallbusiness.dnb.com/establish-your-business/12334338-1.html?cm_mmc=google-_-keyword-_-online-_-d-u-n-s&LID=13619855)
9. Open a business checking account and credit card (choose your bank carefully based on their business products and services and with attention to their business financing if needed)
10. Utilize QuickBooks and keep careful records (it’s imperative to carefully notate every expense and all important details on your business for the sake of future taxes, investment, valuation, etc.)
11. Customize a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) for discussions with investors, friends, vendors, etc…

Coming Next: Part 2: Planning & Forecasting

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you may have noticed that posts have been a little less frequent and a bit more sporadic over the last few weeks.  We want to assure you that we haven’t gone anywhere, we’ve simply been hard at work launching some critical and exciting projects and re-designing our own website and blog plus working on the release of our upcoming Digital Directory in beta this weekend.  We think our website is cleaner, clearer, and better practices our design and development methodologies (less is more).  We hope you like the new look and invite your feedback, positive or negative.  Blog posts will be back to regular in the coming weeks and we look forward to having some guest bloggers, some social networking site reviews, and more local LA social media / web coverage.

We’re also working diligently on the alpha launch of an innovative and usable social networking website for one of our clients.  More details and a review/case study coming soon! We also have a kick-ass custom-built e-commerce website with countless customizations and innovative features launching soon. Our team is hard at work to launch both projects.  Again, more details and a review/case study coming soon.

In addition to our operational work, we’ve also been busy networking and attending industry events, interviewing for opening positions, and have been quite busy with some great client relationships.  In the coming days we’re launching a European and Asian division and website of Epsilon Concepts, we’ll be tripling our ad budget, and we’ll be looking to beef up our team more and more in the new year, despite the slowing economy.

We’re also planning a revolutionary website concept in outsourcing/offshoring that combines many facets in a unique and compelling way.  Everything is in stealth-mode now, but it’s been something I’ve been working on the details for, for about 4 years now.  We really think it will change the way businesses do business, across the globe.  More details coming soon.

Additionally, I recently posted a review of You2Gov.com here on the blog and a press release was generated out of it that was distributed though many media sources.  Check out the press release on Forbes here.

I was also mentioned by Fast Company blogger Francisco Dao of The Killer Pitch in his blog post on The Smart Show entitled “The Next Generation Of Entrepeneurs”.  Thanks for the mention, Francisco!

Finney and Sam were in attendance at last week’s Digital Drinks event here in LA at The Roosevelt and enjoyed the pool atmosphere and the great company!  Thanks to everyone who said hi!

Until next update, have a good weekend!

-Robby