I got the seed funding!

Hey everyone,

I'm super happy because I've had it confirmed that I'll be getting the seed funding to build my marketplace app!!

For years, I've seen local businesses around me struggle with their tech. It impacts all areas of their business, from the ordering process to triaging issues to keeping their customers informed of what's going on with their order.

The big guns, by which I mean national and international biz, roll in with their fancy apps sucking in all the customers with their snappy UIs and UXs, all the while small businesses, which are the backbone of my local community, local jobs, jobs with real ownership and connection, the variety on the high street, skilled jobs etc, suffer because they don't have the economies of scale.

My dream has been to bring together these small fish to be able to compete better with the big ones with a localised online marketplace. Strength in numbers. Collectively offering the varied and range that individuals can't. Giving them a killer UX, a really simple UX, because a lot of biz and customers aren't that tech-savvy. People like my mum, and thousands like her.

Back in March, because of the pandemic, I decided it was finally time to either give this project a shot or forget about it. I gave it a shot. I put my dream out there in a LinkedIn post. It got an amazing response. I got business owners contacting me to say what a great idea it was. I had investors ask me what stage it was as and trying to figure out an investment timeline. The local business owners connected me with others to pitch the idea to and help shape it, and they connected me with the town council. They loved it too and connected me with the district council. They, in turn, asked me to pitch it to them, which I did, and then ... nothing.

It went silent for weeks. Months. I follow up, and it's going through the machinations of decision making. These guys have a lot going on, but I thought that the moment had passed. But then, nearly three months on, I get an email. "Forrestedw, I've lost your phone number, can we meet tomorrow?". "Of course!" goes my reply.

That was about three weeks ago. Yesterday, I did my first pass of building up my stack. We're planning to soft-launch in mid-November. I'll be building this thing with a friend of mine, and we have plans agreed with the council to work closely with them and the business community for at least the next 12 months as we build it in beta, then soft launch, then develop it with our business and customer community, before firming it up and hard launching it sometime next year.

So, I just wanted to share my joy with you that the project, which I first thought of about 8 years ago, is on. I'll share the journey as I go along, now that I have something concrete to share. For me so far, the greatest learning has been that the right idea at the right time has its own energy. So many times in the past I have had my idea that I then had to push to get anywhere. Sometimes, that's fine. But it's a lot of work. This project feels special to me because it connects with other people's feelings and emotions, and it gives them a channel to translate frustration into a better business opportunity.

My role in this isn't to push it, it's to shape other people's ideas into a product that works. It has its own life. It's going to be a real journey, and I'm excited.

Peace and prosperity people.