Hello and welcome to MaxStartup!
My name is Ben Behrouzi, I’m 27 years of age and a serial entrepreneur from the San Francisco Bay Area. I have been thinking, dreaming and executing business concepts since I was 15 years of age and in my time thus far I have been fortunate to be a part of building over 25 multi-million dollar startups and online services from the ground up, including Reply.com, iMotors, AgentConnect, ePERKS, RealtyNow, iCastle and others. I’ve helped produce hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, several million dollars in profits and served hundreds of thousands of clients & customers nationwide.
I’ve built some of the most sophisticated applications online in record time, supported by some of the most advanced systems infrastructures known in Silicon Valley. I’ve helped raise millions of dollars in capital and have hired, trained and managed hundreds of employees nationwide. I’ve had several failures in my life with some lessons that have left their spots, and have even been victim to online lies and an actual blog war instigated by the many that are motivated by the basest of human qualities.
This is a blog about startups. This is a blog for young entrepreneurs. This is a blog about entrepreneurship, the American dream and building big internet businesses that change a bit of our future.
I am going to tell you my stories and the stories of many others blessed and plagued by the successes and challenges of building startups, with an objective to build a fluid and dynamic exchange of knowledge for building startups.
MaxStartup is here to share with you the many lessons learned, challenges faced and experiences had in the path of entrepreneurship and I invite you to follow and contribute as MaxStartup analyzes different challenges in the past and in the future for popular startups throughout the internet.
Thank you and stay tuned.
Best regards,
Ben Behrouzi
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November 14th, 2008 at 7:37 am
Hello Ben,
In a way you remind me of me (with your dreaming since you were 15 years old). I have created multiple companies in Europe found myself in the US these past 2 years working on an idea of mine.
My partner and I have a working prototype (the next generation search engine for the automotive world). I would like your opinion do you consider this a good time to approach VC’s for funding, due to the global economic turbulence that is? Any tips? Are there are VC firms that you would suggest as opposed to others? Any and all ideas and or comments would be appreciated
Thank you for your time and consideration
George M
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November 15th, 2008 at 5:30 am
Hi George,
Thanks for the line! Would love to learn more about you and your companies.
As far as the prototype and raising money, overall VC funding will be less available than it was a year or so ago. However, money is still flowing and in my opinion your decision on whether you should raise money or not at this time should be more based on the viability of the potential business and the probabilities associated with a competitor of yours taking first mover advantage.
Although automotive is tough right now, there are plenty of VCs looking at good startups. If you have a solid idea, prototype and plan then your worst case scenario is great interest now with potential cash infusion when the weather is clearer.
Feel free to shoot me an email at Ben (at) DotNextInc.com and we can discuss some more. But I’d pitch the idea.
Ben
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