It’s every young entrepreneur’s dream. Call a billionaire. Yeah, he’ll fund my idea.
Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is exactly what Sameer Mehta of Jungle Cents was able to do. Check out the story below how Sameer and his Carnegie Mellon frat brothers made this happen (via email). Not only were they able to hit up Mark Cuban for $1.5M but they’ve also added members of Guy Kawasaki’s Garage Ventures to their board. Not bad for a couple guys in an entrepreneur class.
Jungle Cents is a group buying startup that works with brands like Yahoo! and AskMen to send out deals to their lists. Check out as we dive into the business model and see if the market can really support another group buying site…
Questions:
1. As two students from Carnegie Mellon, when did you feel like this site could be big?
2. Explain to us how Jungle Cents business model works?
3. Tell us about your sales team that reach out to brands.
4. Aren’t you scared that a larger company could come along and do this better in such a crowded market?
5. What is the differentiating factor of your business in this group buying market?
6. How can your client afford to be giving away merchandise for 50% off?
7. How did Mark Cuban take out his checkbook and invest $1.5M into JungleCents?
8. What can a young entrepreneur do to find an investor that has not only deep pockets, but has such an impact on your business? How did you get in touch with Mark?
9. What other advisors did you go after?
10. How well does a group buying site convert when it is in editorial content. Explain the intent of the reader and do they want to buy?
11. How large is your team and what are you going to do with the seed capital?
12. Explain why you moved to Silicon Valley instead of wherever Mark Cuban is based or back at school.
