I researched online and found MailChimp.com, which is a newsletter company where you can customize templates, upload a mailing list, write the letter and send an e-blast to your customers and friends. I must to tell you that it was a gratifying and wonderful feeling hearing back from a number of them and watching the analytic numbers of how many had opened their mail and when and who hadn't yet, did anyone complain (No!), who had unsubscribed from the mailing list (just 6, so far...not bad!) and where were people opening them. The large majority was the U.S., of course, but also the UK, the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, India, Spain, Brazil and Canada to name a few.
I have been a bit sequestered here, in Calabasas, working on the concept and the business plan and not really socially connecting with a lot of people (that's not to say I was a great socializer before, but having a store, it goes hand in hand). Therefore, receiving feedback and encouragement from the store community felt immensely satisfying and reinforced my objective...as I stated in my Mission Statement...“As a fashion-forward company, Anteal is to be the premier source of high fashion clothing and accessories for men and women in
Santa Monica and the West Side, and internationally through Anteal online. True to the meaning of its name, Anteal will place its clientele at the forefront of fashion design, fostering expression of individual identity through unique and exceptionally fine clothing."
Since I have digressed for the last three paragraphs, I should get back to the story at hand which is where I left off in the last blog post and that is the Funding...
I had done my research and and started looking at angel networks in Southern California (it's a better chance if they're in your region). I found most of them are targeting the tech/software industry for the big bucks and fast returns. There was one network recommended to me by a client who thought they worked with retail start-ups as well and that is The Pasadena Angels . There are submission requirements and screenings and If you screen successfully then the edited group of entrepreneurs are then screened again before the interested investors that saw the original screening. Then they set a meeting with you and the interested parties and you pitch them again, followed by a question and answer session and THEN you find out if anyone wants to invest. If they do, then a period of time is set aside to do the due diligence that is required before the funding process is completed. Whew...!! Sounds pretty complicated, doesn't it? And that was a very simplified version of what actually takes place. The ratio is usually 300 submissions, edited to 50, then reduced to 25 and then maybe 2-3 final portfolios for consideration.
I also checked online and there are a number of sites that sign up both investors and entrepreneurs, such as The California Investment Network and you submit a profile of your project and then see if any investors are interested and contact you. This particular one you sign up for free and submit your profile and if someone responds then you have to pay a fee to see the investors profile and contact info. After that payment, it doesn't matter how many investors contact you, there is no other charge. There are many other sites, but I'll just use this one as an example.
I had to tell myself...this is the Internet and its like the Wild West, one has to be very careful and cautious when putting yourself out there. We all know that...right?
Well. let me tell you a little story, as an example....I had got a few hits, paid my fee and got some more hits, of which, most were from overseas in The Indian Investment Network and other European Networks. They contacted me, I answered, requesting information about them and most of them did not respond. Then I got a request from a Hong Kong investment management group, Asian Pacific Commercial Funding, who was not part of the "Network" but had somehow got my listing. They said they had read my profile and had a "high-profile" investor who was interested in backing my project. Okay.... interesting...so I responded that I needed more info on them and they sent me their website URL, I looked it up and it seemed legit after seeing the lay-out of the site, reading about their history, company profile and philosophy. No reviews on them in Google or scams, so...good sign, so far, I thought. They requested that I fill out an investment profile for them along with my business plan. I looked it over and nothing was out of the ordinary, so off it went along with my Non-Disclosure Agreement for them to sign and return. After a week or so I had not received the signed NDA from them, requested it twice more and then got another request for personal banking info, etc. I wrote back that we could not go any further without the signed NDA and three days later it came, along with a 15 page Term Sheet for the investment, for the full amount, listing the investor's name with his financial management company in Australia, Belmont Wealth Management , their requirements and what I would owe Asian Pacific Commercial Funding (5% of the investment, deducted before finalizing wire transfer to me) and all of the other stipulations.
Right!!... now my suspicions are beginning to percolate and I go and Google the investor, who happens to be an Indonesian billionaire, Peter Sondakh with a second home in Beverly Hills, and his management company in Australia. The company seems to check out and be legit but the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up at this point. I let it sit for a few days and they write me from Hong Kong awaiting my signed copy of the Term Sheet and wanting an address where the Australian company can send the final "hard copy agreement". At this point I call an attorney who specializes in setting up start-up businesses and when I explain it to her she tells me what I had already been thinking...." If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is...". She also pointed out that an international investor, if they invest in over $100,000 in an American company, becomes eligible for a " Investors Visa", which I was not aware of and that, also, I could not set up an LLC, that it had to be a C Corp for international investors.This would be fine with, lets say, European investors but in the Far East where certain countries are known for their inhumane treatment of their citizens, do I really want to be " in bed " with them, financially? Her bottom line... walk away!! She is a bit blunt but that's a good thing, in this case... so that's what I ended up doing.
Just a little caveat...I decided to check further, because something did not add up in regards to Peter Sondakh, who had a Beverly Hills home. He wouldn't need a visa, now would he?... he already had one, was my assumption. I looked him up again and finally was able to find a contact number at his cement company, put a call into his secretary, explained the situation and then was told to email my question to his private secretary, which I did in detail. The following day I received an email from his attorney, stating that his client had never heard of Belmont Wealth Management nor Asian Pacific Commercial Funding, thanked me for my due diligence in bringing this to their attention and that they would not be interested in investing. All of this happened back in Sept 2010 and I just now Googled Belmont Wealth Management, as I am writing this blog and found this www.scam.com ,under their listing, dated Feb 2011. I had a couple of other "scam" attempts but they were both rather blatant and superficial, nothing like the complexity of the example I gave. Needles to say, It was a definite learning curve for me.
So... there you have it... an example of the extremes that people will be willing to do to scam someone...Amazing!!
