To raise millions for your business, first you must test your concept
If Jennifer Fleiss could give entrepreneurs one piece of advice, it would be to test their concepts. The co-founder and president of NYC-based Rent the Runway, a service that rents designer dresses and accessories at a fraction of the price, says she needed to prove her concept worked before she could go to investors or designers with the idea.
"Making sure that we tested out the concept and could show test results to venture capitalists was important," she says. "Figuring out ways to test and show real data to them is key, especially when you have a concept that many of them don't relate to." Fleiss and her co-founder Jennifer Hyman were able to provide data as well as videos and other customer testimonials, which led to raising $15 million in funding in February 2010.
Along with the necessity of testing your concept, Fleiss says she's learned that you need to share your idea when you're in the early stages of your business. She says you always need to be talking about your idea and seeking out advice, and you need to be open to hearing thoughts, both positive and negative.
(Source: Sprouter Weekly)
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