Funding a Test Market

There is much more to the funding story. When you are launching a business, funding often comes in stages. This was the case for me. I had received enough seed money to create the prototypes. Now I needed another round of money to manufacture a quantity of dolls and launch a test market to prove the concept before mass production. Or at least produce a quantity of dolls that I could market to noteworthy high profile people or celebrities. This phase of my project lasted eight years. Yes, you read it right, for the last eight I have worked on and off with potential investors to fund a test market for the concept of the SophiaDolls™. A year might go by with no activity, then someone or some group would show up and renewed effort would go into providing updated business plan, financials, marketing, sales and distribution strategies. I continued to funnel modest amounts of my own money to keep the other doll prototypes in development. Chris Love, the doll artist, has worked with me all of these years. She is another person that I owe so much to – for her belief in our project and for her hanging in when the money was slim, and there didn’t appear to be a shred of hope to finish the dolls.

I spent two years contacting doll manufacturers, network marketing companies, and toy agents in hopes that one of them would embrace the project and take on the manufacturing and test-marketing end and to no avail.

Then one day last year, my husband George, and my own Greek god, offered to step up and become the angel for the test market for the SophiaDolls™. He has lived and breathed this project for the six years we have been together. Smart investments and good market timing enabled him to allocate some funding for the test market. I am back on my way to realizing the dream that was ignited so many years ago!