Hittin my head over finance

[dotnutshell]

Hi all, I have been looking around the site for the last week or 2 and thought it was about time I posted why I am lurking.

Me and a colleague are Software Architects and Engineers. We are on stable salaries but are looking at setting up our own Software Development company.
The details follow.


DOTNUTSHELL Technologies

DOTNUTSHELL is an enterprise application and software systems developer, allowing us to develop intelligent, scalable and robust software systems for business.
Bolstered by our research capability and our history in the use of predictive search and ecommerce technology to enhance online businesses, we are at the forefront of a new wave of technology companies providing bleeding-edge ecommerce systems.
This business plan will present the nature of the company and the products and services we provide thus far. It will also provide an insight into the aspirations of the company and its employees.
DOTNUTSHELL aims to be a highly profitable company and this plan will hopefully stem any fears that you have about the growth and merchantability of DOTNUTSHELL as a viable business partner. In all, this plan will demonstrate that DOTNUTSHELL is a healthy company with good growth prospects, looking to manage its orderly growth in the near future.


1.1. Mission
DOTNUTSHELL seeks to become a premier application developer for business and Enterprise system. We aim to engineer and develop the most complete intelligent ecommerce solutions on the market, giving companies all the features that are usually expected from bespoke ecommerce applications.
We aim to build a lasting, long-term relationship with our clients, allowing us to promote future products and services that we may provide. Our commitment to creating a solid, sustainable business will allow us to provide the best service to our customers.



We have 2 products that are cutting edge Intelligent Software platforms.

eCan
eCan is an intelligent ecommerce software platform, providing off-the-shelf ecommerce front-end and back-end system. It is a fully developed and tested application system which is built on an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to provide predictive shopping solution to SME's.
It will provide:
• A Catalogue Interface
• Shopping cart solution providing some basic payment gateway interface
• A member's area allowing people to track orders
• An administration area providing system-wide control
• A basic Stock Management System
• An email system allowing confirmatory emails, for buyers as well as sellers
• Rapid Order Processing
• Secure eCommerce payment gateway interface
• Real-time Order Notification System
• Cross Language Interface layer – bridging .NET with PHP and C/C++:
• Intelligent Knowledge-Based Database interactivity
• Extensibility interface allowing the software to run across a distributed system (i.e. on more than one system)
MyFileStore
MyFileStore is a fully featured platform system allowing SME's to deploy simple and effective back-up systems, giving users version control as well as shell access to files. It is built using .NET allowing most current version of Microsoft Windows and LinuxOS to run the software. There is also a lite version of the software which will use a DOTNUTSHELL back-end and website front-end to allow the user to back-up their files and provide access to shared content over the Internet. In short, it will allow business professionals to synchronize files on separate PC's using a simple, fully Windows integrated software system.



Now could some one please tell me what I am doing wrong I have looked at Angel Investores and even 3i (VC) but they are all saying its either not the thing they do or we are just to small.

[dotnutshell]

oh yes. forgot to add... the products are 90% complete and ready to ship

[Peter Bowen]

Please forgive me if I sound a little harsh. I think you'll have a better chance of securing funding if you are able to reassure your backers that in addition to the coding skills you have some business skills backup to provide the support systems that you need to give a return.

Two-man software outfits (or any business relying on the skills of the founders) are very risky. What happens to your product/project if one of you gets injured on the way to the office?

I might be dumb here but if you're 90% ready to go why not finish it and launch it yourselves? Grow organically for the next while until you've proved that it can make money.

Cheers

Pete

[dotnutshell]

The actual team is made up of 5 people.
We have managed to steal a marketing guy from Nike as well as a business type person from Accenture. We have a well thought out business plan and idea. The products are there... and I am sure I could stump up the cash for the marketting if push came to shove, bot not nearly enough for what I want to do with the product.
Ive actually had to pay designers out of my own pocket to work on the design of the products. Its not easy and to be honest I am financially stretched. I go days without real meals as I have neither the time nor the incliniations to feed myself .