Fifth guest speaker----John Dimmer

    In this speaking, John has brought us very useful knowledge about how funding and investment works. He defines the financing life cycle into five stages. 

    The first stage is "Discovery", this stage, we only have ideas about what kinds of business we want to build. In this stage, the starter money often offered by the founder or borrow money from the starter's friends or their family. But he also mentioned it's not a good idea to borrow from the people who have an intimate relationship with you, it may cause some trouble when your business is processing.

    The second stage is "Proof-of-concept", in this stage, the founder should have some basic sample products, this can help them describe their idea when finding an investor. Between the first and second stages, there is pre-seed funding.

    The third stage is "Product design", at this stage, the starter should design their product with a nice outlook, their company name, and logo. Between the second and third stages, there is seed funding. Usually, the founder should find the angel group to get investment.

    The fourth stage is "Product development", at this stage, the founder already knows what to sell and already finished design, they should start building it for sale. Between the third and fourth stages, there is start-up funding. In this stage, there are seed funds and venture funds can offer investment for the founder.

    The fifth stage is "Manufacturing delivery", which is devouring product to customers. Between the fourth and fifth stages, there is expansion/Mezzanine. 

    John also mentioned that when if you have a nice idea and wanna get some investment, you should create a clear PowerPoint with 15 pages or less for the first meeting. You also need a 60s description when trying to find investment.