{"id":12605,"date":"2018-06-01T10:29:25","date_gmt":"2018-06-01T03:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/?p=12605"},"modified":"2026-10-01T01:33:03","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T18:33:03","slug":"goi-von-thanh-cong-bang-nhung-cach-dien-khung","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/goi-von-thanh-cong-bang-nhung-cach-dien-khung\/","title":{"rendered":"Successful Fundraising Through \u201cCrazy\u201d Methods"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stuck on funding for your business? You are not alone.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Media reports make it seem as though every startup receives millions of dollars from venture capital firms. In reality, however, countless entrepreneurs build businesses without any initial funding support. That very experience often makes them smarter and sharper.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Taking initiative can help you make sales even before you have finished building your business,\u2019 said Patrick FitzGerald, entrepreneur and speaker at the Wharton School, adding that he had seen more and more of his students develop a deep appreciation for self-reliance. \u2018I am the same way. My parents were teachers, so I never had the luxury of... not relying on myself,\u2019 he emphasized.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are 6 business lessons from successful entrepreneurs who creatively found effective approaches\u2014including some considered \u201ccrazy\u201d\u2014to help their businesses grow.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. Invite People to Play to Make Sales<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Jason<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Jason Bockman \u2013 co-founder of Strange Donuts<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Jason Bockman wanted to open a donut shop (selling fried or baked sweets eaten as dessert or snacks) in St. Louis, Missouri, US, but one unlike other donut shops. \u201cWe wanted something fun that would bring people together around an activity, like wrestling, painting, anything,\u201d Bockman said. But lenders were not attracted to the idea of such an unusual donut shop. 13 lenders told them \u201cNo.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But this was precisely when Bockman\u2019s creativity was \u2018switched on.\u2019 \u201cWe organized a game popular in the 90s.\u201d They collected many trendy items from that era, promoted the event and attracted 200 local residents to compete and try donuts for a small fee. \u201cWe were just testing the market, but unexpectedly it was extremely successful,\u201d Bockman said.<\/span><\/p>\n

They then organized 6 more events, including a wrestling night, a beer tasting, and a party. These distinctive features of Strange Donuts gradually attracted attention and raised USD 20,000. A subsequent Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign brought another USD 12,000. Finally, they secured a small business loan from a bank whose executives later attended Strange Donuts\u2019 parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Strange Donuts opened in 10\/2013. It currently has 2 stores in the United States and one franchise in Mexico City (Mexico). Lenders continue offering them loans. \u201cThe way everything has unfolded seems kind of crazy,\u201d Bockman remarked humorously.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Enlist neighbors as employees<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Anthony<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Anthony Byrne \u2013 Co-founder and CEO of Product2Market<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Anthony Byrne launched sales solutions consultancy Product2Market in 2010, not long after the 2008 financial crisis. This period was considered \u201cthe worst time in world history to start a company,\u201d Byrne admitted. But despite a shortage of capital, his entire team pressed ahead. They bought liquidated company furniture and office equipment. \u201cWe held meetings with companies we did not even want to work with, purely so we could get\u2026 stationery,\u201d Byrne recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

These difficult beginnings prepared them for a breakthrough moment. Microsoft wanted to hire Product2Market for a project, but first the giant wanted to visit Product2Market's office to ensure its partner had enough staff to carry it out. In reality, they did not. But that did not stop them. \u2018We brought friends, family and even neighbors into the office to try to show them we were twice our actual size,\u2019 Byrne said. And it worked.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMicrosoft was the first blue-chip technology company\u2014\u2018blue chip\u2019 refers to high-quality shares issued by major corporations\u2014to award us a contract,\u201d Byrne said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Product2Market currently has 125 employees and works with major brands such as Twitter and Zendesk. \u201cOur approach in the past was not very \u2018glamorous,\u2019 but it helped us move to the next stage of growth,\u201d Anthony Byrne remarked.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Play\u2026 pretend<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Jane<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Jane Lu \u2013 founder and CEO of Showpo<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

At 24, Jane Lu quit her job, traveled and pursued personal goals. When it was all over, what remained was\u2026 USD 60,000 in debt. Lu did not want to tell her parents, Chinese immigrants to Australia who wanted a better life for their only daughter. Rather than disappoint them, she claimed to be working at Ernst & Young while actually starting a small retail brand called Showpo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lu built the website, bought inventory and paid the shop rent with credit cards. \u2018I had to wake up early, put on a suit, eat breakfast with my parents, carry my laptop bag and take the bus into the city with my mother,\u2019 Lu recalled. She did this for 18 months before telling her parents the truth about Showpo, which by then was successful and growing rapidly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told them, \u2018I will pay off all my parents' debts, and I will buy them a car.\u2019 They could not believe it,\u201d Showpo recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Showpo currently sells to 80 countries and expects to earn USD 100 million by 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Make money by\u2026 entering competitions<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Arion<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Arion Long \u2013 Founder and CEO of Femly<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

When starting Femly, a company supplying organic feminine hygiene products, Arion Long approached many investors but received no response. She thought she knew why: less than 1% of venture capital goes to women founders of color.<\/span><\/p>\n

At that point, Arion Long found another way to raise funds: entering a local business-pitch competition, which she won.<\/span><\/p>\n

There were many similar competitions everywhere, so she thought, \u2018If I am really good, I will get funding!\u2019 But she failed in the next 5 competitions. To improve, Femly's founder studied the speaking styles of Steve Jobs and Gary Vaynerchuk. The real turning point came only when she suddenly thought about her audience: \u2018It is not easy to help them understand deeply when talking about menstruation. They have to understand why it matters.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Arian Long changed her approach by opening her presentation with a personal story about a cervical tumor. She then asked, \u201cDoes anyone know what a condom is made of?\u201d Everyone knew. Next came, \u201cDoes anyone know what a tampon is made of?\u201d Nobody knew. She then discussed the chemicals found in most tampons before presenting her organic solution.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since 2016, Arion Long has entered 30 competitions and won half of them, earning USD 200,000 in prizes, gaining media coverage and being introduced to more investors.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. Say what others want to hear<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Erik<\/span><\/p>\n

CEO Erik Huberman runs marketing company Hawke Media in Los Angeles, California, USA. The company provides outsourced CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) services, helping shape brand messages, and has worked with giants such as Verizon Wireless and eHarmony.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back in 2011, while starting a very different company, Huberman learned a valuable lesson about pitching. At the time, he launched a men's T-shirt subscription service called \u201cSwag of the Month,\u201d but struggled with publicity. After a friend told him how companies raised funding through technology blogs, the Hawke Media CEO had an idea: write a TechCrunch article claiming he had raised 100,000 USD (in fact, the money came from\u2026 Huberman's father).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI received a call within 30 minutes of publishing the post. It remained effective for many hours and helped \u2018Swag of the Month\u2019 gain another 600 new sign-ups. Huberman would never use such a misleading trick again, but he learned an invaluable lesson. \u201cGive readers the headline they want. I learned how to tell stories. It helped me understand how the entire\u00a0the communications apparatus<\/em>\u201d, Erik Huberman said.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. Market the \u201cmanual\u201d way<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
\"Christina<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n

Christina Stembel \u2013 Founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

When launching Farmgirl Flowers in San Francisco, California, US, Christina Stembel's daily routine was to go to the flower market at 3 in the morning, buy flowers, drive home, unload the pickup and put them in buckets of water in the bathtub. \u201cI finished the bouquets before the delivery people began arriving at 9 in the morning,\u201d Stembel recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those were only the basics; the next steps truly brought Farmgirl Flowers success. Besides customer orders, Stembel made additional bouquets and delivered them free to city coffee shops with 50 Farmgirl Flowers business cards. \u2018Each week I returned and counted the remaining cards. If most were gone, I had found a suitable shop for attracting my customers, and it deserved more free flowers. Otherwise, I would find another shop to replace it,\u2019 Stembel shared.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stembel used this approach for a year, and it was well worth the effort. \u2018All the initial inquiries about Farmgirl Flowers came from these coffee shops. It was the cheapest thing I could do,\u2019 Stembel said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Collected.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

>> Great Articles on Entrepreneurship<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

>> Business Startup Course<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

>> Success Energy Activation Course<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

>> Business Consulting Program<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Ch\u01b0\u01a1ng tr\u00ecnh li\u00ean quan t\u1ea1i YUP Education:<\/strong> X-FundUp \u2013 kh\u00f3a h\u1ecdc g\u1ecdi v\u1ed1n \u00abGi\u1ea3i M\u00e3 C\u01a1 Ch\u1ebf V\u1ed1n\u00bb<\/a> \u00b7 The Journey \u2013 l\u1ed9 tr\u00ecnh ph\u00e1t tri\u1ec3n doanh nh\u00e2n<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

B\u1ecb m\u1eafc k\u1eb9t v\u1edbi v\u1ea5n \u0111\u1ec1 v\u1ed1n khi kinh doanh? B\u1ea1n kh\u00f4ng h\u1ec1 c\u00f4 \u0111\u01a1n. Tin t\u1ee9c tr\u00ean c\u00e1c ph\u01b0\u01a1ng ti\u1ec7n truy\u1ec1n th\u00f4ng cho th\u1ea5y c\u00f3 v\u1ebb nh\u01b0 m\u1ecdi startup \u0111\u1ec1u nh\u1eadn \u0111\u01b0\u1ee3c h\u00e0ng tri\u1ec7u \u0111\u00f4 la t\u1eeb c\u00e1c c\u00f4ng ty \u0111\u1ea7u t\u01b0 m\u1ea1o hi\u1ec3m, nh\u01b0ng tr\u00ean th\u1ef1c t\u1ebf, c\u00f3 r\u1ea5t, r\u1ea5t nhi\u1ec1u doanh nh\u00e2n […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12624,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[134],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12605"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18339,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12605\/revisions\/18339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12624"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yup.edu.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}