When we were pitching to Spring, I told my partner, Z, that if we ever got it I'll pop my wonderful tasting Cava (which i painstakingly brought back, and can't bear to drink) which I brought back from Barcelona in celebration. That was 3 months ago. For me, its the pressure. Self-induced pressure. Being on your own, your vested interest is in the company. I will want nothing but success for my company. The opportunity cost is high, and its sort of like an "all-in". The funding came in at a time when we were quickly running out of money. The Spring money serves to allow us to expand the business and acquire more users. The journey is a steep uphill from where I'm standing. So I'll save the cava for when I'm up on the hill.
Now, a little bit more about the YES! startup funding.
This scheme is for 1st time entrepreneurs and under 26. 1st time entrepreneurs mean you must NOT have registered a company before. So even if you registered a company and did not act on it (meaning just registered for fun), it's considered that you are not a first time entrepreneur anymore. You can ask Spring about this if the above scenario applies to you, but chances are quite low for you to be considered a first time entrepreneur.
If you're over 26 or not a first-time entrepreneur, grab a business partner who fits the criteria.
Now about the idea. I'm under the impression that Spring values tech companies. One of their four main criteria is that the business idea has to be innovative. Now what is innovative? I was always under the impression that it is mostly tech, but here's a list of the companies under YES! Startup, and you can make the conclusion yourself. Most of the companies in the SMU incubator are tech companies as well. That said, I know of two F&B ideas that Spring have funded, so as long as you have an interesting twist to a traditional model, you should try to apply for it.
What if you don't know nuts about technology? I have no tech background as well, so don't let that stop you from starting a tech company.
The other criteria which is top of their list is feasibility. The business of course, have to make sense monetarily. Every business is in it to make money, even social businesses (they need to make money to continue their social cause). So you definitely have to be able to make money, which is the priority. Read this inspirational Richard Branson interview.
The next important thing is to have something to show for. When we went to Spring, we already have about 9 restaurant partners on board, with some names bigger than the rest. To them, they want to see your idea being validated. That means having partners on board your business. This would greatly help your funding chance.
One mention about the green lane through the institutions (SMU/NTU/NUS/Polys). If you have a business idea and you go back to your institution and they support it, it will be considered "green-lane", meaning Spring will fund your business if your school supports your plan. Of course, you will still have to go through some formalities. We decided to go to Spring direct instead of through the school because of the short lead time that we had. We estimated that if we went through the school, it would take much longer because the institutions' reputation is on the line with the start-ups. We had an experience back in Feb when we pitched to them another idea, and we figured the time spent to make the required changes to the plan was too long after they shredded our idea. While we founded Gastro Couture eventually - which was our 2nd idea -we put the other idea at the back of our minds, and then decided that we would go to Spring direct for Gastro Couture.
These are just some thoughts and experience to getting Spring funding. If you want to know about something which I didn't cover, feel free to drop me an email!
Life's too short to not try something funky, so learn more about Spring YES! Start-up funding.
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