Listen to this articleTrepScore helps entrepreneurs focus more time on their startup during a capital raise while making the selection process easier for investors. TrepScore offers a way for startups to showcase their results as investors track progress and monitor current holdings in their portfolio. Our recent interview is with Eric Rice Founder and CEO of Santa Monica based TrepScore:
Q: Eric tell us please what is TrepScore and what are biggest benefits of using it?
A: TrepScore is intuitive data management software designed specifically for startups and small businesses. Our mission is to reduce distractions for entrepreneurs, allowing them to instead focus on what really matters, growing their businesses.
Whether it’s employment agreements, website traffic, or new sales leads, businesses produce a trail of data every day. That data is fragmented and sits idle until it is needed, and at that point requires time-consuming gathering, analyzing, and reporting. TrepScore does that tedious work automatically in the background by integrating data from any cloud-based software, organizing critical business documents, tracking and validating major milestones, and providing actionable content about best practices. Entrepreneurs can even use TrepScore to keep advisors and investors informed of their progress and how they need assistance.
Entrepreneurs that use TrepScore have more time, make more informed decisions, have an easier time organizeing due diligence files, and are generally more aware of what is going on within their businesses.
Q: How did the TrepScore team meet and what were you doing before this venture?
A: Most of us were friends by association. As entrepreneurs we had worked on projects in the past and helped one another with various issues. In the case of Leif Drake, we were introduced by a mutual friend, also an entrepreneur, and hit it off instantly.
Previous to forming TrepScore…
I was running a pre-venture group helping high potential startup founders build their businesses, raise capital and develop partnerships. This was a tremendous opportunity to learn about the problems that TrepScore solves today.
Our CTO, Josh Ettwein, was working with me on various projects as we formed the TrepScore idea. In his past he was the lead developer at Intuit for TurboTax.com and the Director of Engineering at Sorensen Media.
Our COO, Leif Drake, was a VP with the Business Intelligence Group at Goldman Sachs for the past 8 years.
Q: How is the response to TrepScore so far?
A: So far so good. We are still early in our product cycle and have asked our users to help us build to their needs. Of course that’san ongoing process, but we have seen a tremendous amount of excitement around what the platform can do to help entrepreneurs. We have also seen a ton of interest from investors, who view the platform as a simple way for them to stay in touch and communicate with their portfolios. It has been really encouraging to see such interest from both sides.
Q: TrepScore has secured funding from Techstars and Business Rockstars , do you have any advice for dealing with potential investors?
A: If I could summarize advice for entrepreneurs on getting funding today it would come down to one word, build. There is so much competition for capital, you have to separate yourself through relationships and evidence that you can execute.
Build relationships and build a basic version of your product before asking for investment. While you are working on your product, develop real relationships that are on friendship and helping each other. These relationships, whether or not they lead to funding for your current project, will prove to be invaluable over the course of your life. But in the end, nothing is more important that the ability to verify your ability to execute.
Q: What are your plans for next six months?
A: We have a vision of what the world would look like if all the innovators (entrepreneurs) had an extra hour a day to grow their business, or become better fathers, mothers, friends, people and we want to see that come to life.
So, over the next 6 months we plan on working closely with our partners and userbase to make the needed changes to our platform so it is easier to use, provides more value, and saves entrepreneurs as much time as possible.
On the product side, we will be adding many more API integrations, proprietary video content, a full mobile solution and many other “ease of use” offerings.
On the business side we are already in the process of aligning with influencers in the space that can reach as many entrepreneurs as possible. Our goal is to become an essential part of the entrepreneurs’ tool kit.
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