Angels, VC’s, and strangers who wish to take part in crowdfunding your company are much more likely to believe in your ability to deliver if you already have a successful company or an exit behind you. But how do you break into the funding market for the first time? Especially if you don’t have a referral from a high profile investor? The answer is to prove your intellect, trustworthiness, and work ethic through Social Proof.

Social proof can be crudely defined as saying, “Well, I know that guy’s not an idiot,” or, “hey, they all cant be idiots.” We use this to make decisions every day based on the size of the crowd or the authority of the person giving the review. For example, we take note if 6000 people give a book on Amazon a five-star rating, just as we take note similarly when we hear the book reviewer of the New York Times gives a book a top rating. But what does that mean for your startup on Venture Bonsai?

Demonstrating your personal Social Proof

Chances are, you’ve got a lot of social proof already out there by adding up the little stuff. LinkedIn have positioned themselves as the… Continue reading →