Barracuda Business Event

I attended the Barracuda Business event and found it to be extremely interesting and very informative so I better understand the procedures one would have to go through if they need up-front capital from investors.  I saw most of the given presentations in a previous business lecture series so it was interesting hearing comments coming from experts on topics I had never even thought of.  The startup companies were: Genome, an online clothing site where the tools/technology is designed to only show you items that fit you perfectly, Meal-drop, a site designed for University students so they may order their meals and have them delivered anywhere on campus at a moderate additional fee, and lastly we had Karma Key which was a digital rewards card business.  As each individual presented, I found myself remembering the topics covered in “The Art of the Start” book.  Those topics mainly covered the red flags investors do not like to hear.  Such shows signs of incompetence.  One example was when an investor asked a direct question and the student began to somewhat beat-around-the-bush/question by explaining something else and not directly answering the question.  The investor promptly interrupted him and said “You’re not answering the question!” to which the student replied, “I do not know.” 

I realized the significance/benefit of having a company representative with very strong presentation skills.  They also need to be very well educated in what your business does and how it operates so when investors ask challenging questions, they won’t make your company look bad.  The event was very informative and I learned a lot on how a panel of investors can drill difficult questions at new entrepreneurs looking for a little start-up capital.