As I am in the process of funding a new venture I thought I would add my thoughts and observations of some of the things I have discovered. I shall not be adding any detail about my venture or that being worked on by others. Yet the funding situation is interesting.

In investigating possible sources of funding I have spoken with three CEO’s of venture capital (VC) funded solution providers that each have unique propositions in the marketplace and I remain grateful for their assistance. They know who they are, yet I have agreed not to identify them. The unified response was that about 11 months ago venture capitalists were meeting with software companies loaded with bagloads of money for those having a good idea, even if a poor business plan was presented. This is simply no longer the case as venture capital companies have become extremely cautious.

So now many great ideas are going unfunded? Sadly true.

In researching my own funding requirements I have also had a briefing from a VC ‘friend’ of a ‘friend’. He stated that getting funding is 2 or 3 times as difficult as it was 12 months ago. Now this may come as bad news for software startups, but it has allowed me to go in with my eyes open to any future funding discussion.

In preparing for this article I have also done the normal amount of web research and find many statement similar to the following: “Aprilis invests in seed- and early-stage technology companies and finances its own idea development”. Yet right now the advice I would give to any proposed start up is to identify a way to get your idea into reality. Look to move it through to beta stage, prove it, have a working model, and even better have some customers before approaching  your funder.

Please note that I simply picked Aprilis at random on the basis of a Google search and I am not making any statement good or bad about them. However I appreciate their view that “there is no bear market for good ideas” and with the state of capital markets at the moment that thought is appreciated in this thick skull.

There way still be venture capitalists and angel funding companies that are prepared to work with an idea or simple concept. However the more advanced the concept the more likely the ability to fund future development will be. The demonstrable model does not need to include all of the functionality ultimately intended, but it does need to provide key concepts. In addition having a roadmap of future development is a key part of the presentation.

Funding does exist you simply need to be more focused in getting it.

Build ROI is based on the premise that “No matter the size of your company or budget, you can increase your ROI” It is focused on solution providers maximising their marketing potential. It is a pay program with the first tier starting out at $5,000 right up to tier 3 that is focused on creating a dominant presence in the marketplace.

So what  does your money get you?

According to Ziff Davis “Tier 1 program offers a variety of multi-media marketing vehicles – from print and on-line advertising, to contextual sponsorship offerings, to proven lead generation”. For the service provider or software vendor it is providing access to services used by their readers use on a daily basis, this is a subscriber base of over 4 million readers. Tier 2 is “designed to get you closer to your prospects… solutions provide intimate and contextual reach that accelerates your pipeline growth” and tier 3 “Create a dominant presence in the marketplace… long-term lead generation programs, lead nurturing and scoring options, strategic consulting services, international programs and a variety of other impactful vehicles.”

I have adopted the mindset of a CEO of a small software company in assessing these offerings. My first thought is that I would have loved to have access to the readers of publications like eWeek, BaseLine, and CIO Insight. There is a difference between having access to readers through RSS feeds, pod-casts etc and developing a direct connection with a prospect. I am then questioning how much value solution providers can drive via other means, e.g. access through Social Media channels. It is always possible that they could be complimentary. Tier 1 can certainly be a useful marketing tool, however to me one of the most important components of the program the “Business Value Calculators” are costed seperately from the main program offering, which is such a pity because this has the potential for being the most powerfull of all offerings.

One of the interesting things about the sight is the availability of free material in the BuildROI Resource Centre. Much of this material is very useful and can certainly be leveraged by anyone researching As with many American based sites it does forget that places do exist outside the USA, when filling in the registration form it requires that I enter a State, but does not include my Canadian province (but does accept Canada as the Country). All of this is a little odd when the report is delivered by email.

At the end of the day there will be IT suppliers that will find the program has a lot of use. I see this as an attempt by Ziff Davis to guarantee a revenue stream in these hard times, not necessarily a bad thing. However where budgets are tight I would think that many will think twice before joining the program.