Edited by Tamela Rich 

Since I've been head down with stock.ly I haven't taken the time to write about it. Lots of great news:

Money

This week I had the opportunity to present stock.ly to a fund. Said fund offers grants to start ups that will create jobs in northeast Ohio. The fund tends to focus on vanguard technology companies, and we see many polymer based companies coming into the area looking looking for grant money. But Akron, OH needs to diversify its economic base and we're hoping to help add some financial services/technology growth to the mix with stock.ly. If we can land this grant it would essentially get us 25k of “free” money. "Free" meaning we don't have to give the fund a stake, but we will be required to take on a couple of interns (fine with me!).

While this is all fine and dandy, the real prize lies on the other side. If we win the first grant, called a series A grant, we can go on and apply for the -- you guessed it -- series B grant, which is FOUR times bigger. Now 100k is great, but there's an even sweeter kicker. Part of the stipulations for getting the series B grant is having a $100k match from an angel -- making the investment sweeter for the angel as well.

I've already scripted the phone call: "Oh hey angel investor, we've got a grant for $100k waiting to match your $100k. " Win win.

Since Keith, Marco, and I took all or most of our compensation in common stock,we've raised enough cash to get us through the build and roll out. Our choice to plow money into operations instead of compensation will raise our valuation and gives us the option to unload some of our shares in the series B-raise when the time comes. Our expectation is that stock.ly's value will raise in the B-round and we can sell fewer of our shares for the same amount of money. Stock.ly is a huge idea and while Keith, Marco and I need to make a living, we want to preserve our stake in the company.

Publicity

This week I talked with possible PR candidates. Starting with the beta release, these people will spread the word about stock.ly through multiple channels. While the initial thrust of our PR/advertising will be viral and focused getting the attention of key influencers, I'm sure our beta testers will give it viral buzz as well. Everyone loves to talk about viral campaigns and we are going to kick butt on the execution and user experience (UX) side of the website. To quote Bonnie Rait, "We'll give 'em somethin' to talk about!"

The Build

While details are a bit sketchy right now, we are on track for a March beta release. If you are one of the lucky ones to be chosen for a beta invite, hang loose, we will be in touch shortly. I have been choosing a beta invite every Monday on our Twitter account, @stock_ly. I usually use random and weird metrics on who I pick, but rest assured, if you contribute or subscribe to davianletter.com you will have a beta invite waiting for you. If not, make sure you are on the stock.ly email list. That is where we pick you from.

Have a great weekend!