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.
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.
- Get 10 opinions that count. (Here is how.)
- 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.
