Mittwoch, 27. März 2013

Cdling pronounced seedling

Opinions shared on Cdling have already help qualify startups for meetings with First Round Capital, 500 Startups, Wasabi Ventures and SoftBank Capital. The story of how they span distance and build trust is getting out:

Cdling about Rated Referrals

 



Even when investors, mentors and experts dedicate their full time and life to spotting the next big thing, it can come walking straight through their door and they miss it.


Over the second half of 2012 the Cdling team did a series of OFFICE HOURs experiments in Toronto, New York and Baltimore.

They are grateful to the investors who have worked with them so far. They have learned a lot from each pilot. Why did they give them a try? The investors value an alternative point of view on their trusted networks for deal flow. And the low cost of launching a startup has dramatically increased the amount of noise that they face. As one investor we talked to recently said, 


When the amount of crap walking through the door increases by 10x, you are a lot more likely to get some on you!


Cdling were delighted by the success that Montreal based startup Bunch had leveraging Cdling to make things happen for them. But to be honest, investors have been faster to pick up their value proposition than startups.Cdling thinks that will change as they are able to report how Cdling has already helped startups get themselves funded.

Why go through the hassle of collecting 10 credible opinions about your startup on Cdling?


Think of it as picking your own panel of judges for a demo day or pitch competition; or assembling your dream team advisory group. If you are working on the next big thing, you want the 10 best people in the world sharing an opinion about your startup and for every startup, those 10 people will be a little different.

Some will know you and your team better than anyone. Some will be the world’s top subject matter experts in your area. And as many as possible should have established reputations in your local or better still, the Silicon Valley startup ecosystem (for follow on rounds of financing all roads lead to Rome :).

One of the most sensible things the Cling team has seen written on an investors website goes something like this:


We do not accept unsolicited business opportunities. Our team is ever-present in the local community, and your networking skills should be put to work for a quality introduction to us.


Cdling enables you to put your networking skills to work and get the attention of the investors that you want to work with the most.
Investors want the same thing that you do. 

Investors don’t want to rely on the best intelligence sitting around the boardroom table at a Monday afternoon Partner’s meeting. They want the best intelligence in the world available at their table to support better decision making. Make it easy for them.



  • Request a meeting with an investor.


When Cdling provides a Rated Referral report to an investor they use their Cdling Scores and other profile checks to enable the investor to quickly and easily understand the quality or weight of the opinions that have been shared. 

On Cdling (powered by Y-Combinator alum Inkling Markets), each person that shares an opinion is putting a measurable portion of their real world reputation on the line for you. Cdling Scores matter. Unlike simple voting, their approach to collecting insight around your company is not a popularity contest. They are using methods that have proven to be very accurate in a variety of different applications.

Developing quality opinions about your startup is part of an iterative, lean approach that dramatically reduces the amount of time that you need to spend trying to connect with investors.  Cdling wants to free you to focus on selling great products to paying customers. It’s like the difference between gradually developing a LinkedIn profile and submitting a resume to a job posting. One is an investment and long term asset, the second is a cycle of activity lost in time.

Cdling