Startup Funding: Not Always Straightforward

As with many things in life, there’s the good, the creative, and the downright weird. Startup funding is no exception, as the following examples prove.

Gamble

BloomNation is an online flower marketplace, founded by CEO Farbod Shoraka and his team after trying of seeing only bland design online. David Daneshgar and Gregg Weisstein, friends and co-founders of Sharoka’s, discussed the question of money. It was then that they realised the had access to a unique source of startup funding:  Daneshgar, who had won a number of events at the 2008 World Series of Poker. Returning to the game, he was able to win US$27 000, which he put into BloomNation. The company is doing well, with further investments through venture capital firms Andreessen Horowitz and Spark Capital, and more than 2500 florists selling through the site.

Build Debt

Dismayed after being turned down by bank after bank, David Moore, CEO of City Rewards Network, turned to an unusual source of startup funding. His site aggregates deals from companies such as Coupons.com, Groupon, Living Social and Yelp and began funding via pre-selling the service to 60 customers at US$1 000 a pop.

However, it was the credit card companies that really helped Moore secure capital: “I applied for eight credit cards …  and applied [for all of them] in two hours,” he said. “I had to be quicker than the reporting system so the inquiries didn’t show on my credit report.” A terrible credit score followed, but Moore had US$25 000 to build his startup, which featured in 2013, 4 000-plus recurring customers, though things have gone quieter since then and the site is no longer running.

Make the Most out of a Bad Situation

Practice Fusion, however, is still alive and kicking, but only after CEO and Founder Ryan Howard was broadsided by a car in San Francisco traffic. Howard received somewhat of silver lining though in the form of a settlement large enough to keep his company, a cloud-based health record system with more than 100 000 medical professionals and 80-million patient records, afloat. This form of startup funding is unorthodox and dangerous, so please kid, don’t try this at home.

Have a Good Breakfast

A classic of the startup funding tales: back in 2008 Airbnb was strapped for cash. Lucky timing met stroke of genius when the company created limited edition cereal boxes of Obama O’s and Cap’n McCains at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver. The boxes cost around US$40 a piece and created enough capital to continue growing.

Light ‘Em Up

Before starting NewsMakeup.com (now Newslo.com), Adam Gassman was attending law school and desperate for money. The college student was trying to secure startup funding, but to no avail, until he turned to Ganjapreneurship. Medical marijuana stock trade became his go-to method of gaining capital, until he reached US$10 000, which he promptly put into his startup. Newslo is a news satire site based on real world facts. Despite Gassman’s history, even startups aren’t safe from the mockery.

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This article by Nellie Horn originally appeared on Seedstars World, a Burn Media publishing partner.

Feature image via Seedstars World blog.