In under a year from their big TEC VenturePrize win, Jason Suriano, Norman Mendoza, and Ken Bautista, the co-creators of Seek Your Own Proof, have attracted $1 million investment from Foundations Equity II LP and a partnership with the world's number one non-fiction media company, Discovery Communications.
Does it get any better than this? Mission Possible.
Seek Your Own Proof is set against the backdrop of history and science, and a secret spy agency. Targeting kids ages 9 and up, this online game challenges them to investigate as secret agents.
Working with TEC Edmonton’s Libin Executive-in-Residence Shaheel Hooda and the TEC market analyst team, the co-creators business strategy started to take shape. Hooda evaluated what the challenges were and whether or not Seek Your Own Proof would get the business traction in the area they were hoping to. After researching other companies that have done similar things they decided that the current business model would not be strong enough to attract funding.
“Shaheel provided frank feedback, mentorship and has constantly challenged us as entrepreneurs to refine our business strategy and product development plan,” Bautista said.
After analyzing the market research, Hooda decided that Seek Your Own Proof needed to focus their efforts on looking for a distribution model. The best way to be successful would be to find a distributor to market the product for them such as a publishing house or television network. Hooda knew that what they needed was millions of hits for exposure in order to really make this business profitable. He also knew that the co-creators needed a solid business plan and encouraged them to take part in TEC VenturePrize.
Last April, one of Bautista's contacts took an interest in their online game and negotiations began for setting up a branding partnership with Discovery Kids. Mendoza says that the many hours spent in sharpening their business plan for the TEC VenturePrize competition factored into their success.
“The opportunity to go through the marketing principles over and over, to refine our business plan and know our market – that gave us the edge we needed to gain the confidence of Discovery Kids,” Mendoza said. “They could see that we knew what we were talking about.”
The co-creators spent the summer of 2009 getting a letter of agreement with Discovery Kids. With that in hand, the only way to activate the partnership was to find a significant investment – a key term outlined in the deal. Off they went through the Alberta Deal Generator Boot Camp to learn how to pitch to investors. The training paid off.
Foundations Equity II LP, a venture capital firm located in St. Albert, heard their pitch and within 3 weeks, had presented them with a term sheet. Seek Your Own Proof had attracted a $1 million investment.
Mendoza believes that there is no reason an Edmonton company can’t succeed on a world scale if people are willing to put themselves out there. Participating in TEC VenturePrize was an important part of the process.
“Our mantra was that ‘we’re just happy to be considered’ as we prepared for the business plan competition. The process was an important part of the preparation which ultimately built to the situation we are in today,” Mendoza said. “TEC VenturePrize would still have been good for our company, even if we hadn’t won.”
Check out the New York Times blog.