On the surface it sounded simple, but many observers felt that providing the service would actually involve a number of complicated issues, and no one believed it could be done. While potential investors loved the idea, they pointed to risk factors surrounding the implementation and customer acquisition portions of the business plan. And no one could really grasp how the service would work. One of the better methods I used to break through that barrier was to build a prototype of the service. The whole thing took 2 days.
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When I was first raising money, however, I didn't have a product. It's not as good as real customers, but the goal was to gather the appropriate information necessary to raise the comfort level of my potential investors. In many cases, this will be one of the only resources at your disposal, but you must use these tools to make your business concept seem as real and natural as possible. Now, getting investors interested and getting them to sign a check are two very different challenges. In addition, I had several years' experience working in the electronic distribution of financial services at firms such as Fidelity, so I had intimate knowledge of how the service would work.