Shira Rubin started Learn2Lingo.com last year. The recently launched online language school is now building on its successful trial period and seeking to gain key clients with language needs. Rubin tells us about her funding experience.

What’s the concept?
Technology is revolutionising the language industry. Learn2Lingo is an online platform for learning and teaching a language by webcam. The teacher and student can do it from anywhere in the world and we make it affordable to be taught by a high quality teacher without the need to travel, as often as users want. Lessons are also completely personalised. For example, international law firm Lovells deals a lot with clients in Germany while somebody else may want to focus a lesson on how to order a meal.

Why’s it unique?
There are a couple of others doing a similar thing. I think online language learning will be huge, with webcam becoming the way to learn and teach. We’re the only company in the UK to have partnered with language schools, so have a high volume of teachers as well as independent, experienced tutors. We’re also the only company to offer on-demand lessons, where you can view a tutor’s calendar and book a session.

Where are you now?
Prior to launch, we completed a trial with language schools. We were at the Language Show 2009 at Olympia and were the only company there to offer live tuition.

Where will you be in two years?
We aim to be the number one site for teaching languages – a marketplace for schools, teachers and learners. It’s specifically for one-to-one tuition. We also aim to have other sister projects that are not in this industry by replicating the platform.

Who’s backed you?
We’ve got five angel investors, two of whom are majority shareholders. Saul Rubin and Divian Mistry. Both are very successful and run their own businesses. They’re highly involved and have provided lots of contacts. We raised investment through the business angel network Envestors.

How much did you get?
£110,000.

When did you raise it?
February 2009. We started pitching for money in September 2008 – our first pitch was on the day Lehman Brothers went bust.

How long before the cheque cleared?
It cleared in April 2009.

What did it teach you?
The whole process taught us about investment in general. I had no idea before that. We explored all the other avenues of raising finance. The knowledge, expertise and support is equal to the amount you raise. It taught me about the legal process and structures of a company in terms of shareholders. I feel a lot easier going into it now. It gives you confidence in your idea because they’re backing it. The process of pitching a company is valuable. Angel investors highlight areas of weakness and focus on your strengths. You learn something new every time. Each investor looks for a different perspective and they’re quite probing. Our strategy from the beginning to now has changed quite a lot. The whole process was quite interactive. As a start-up it’s important to be flexible, agile and open to suggestions. I think the on-demand approach will be hugely successful but starting in that way is highly risky. We need critical mass quickly, and that would require a big marketing budget. We decided to strengthen the name and partner with language schools.

How has the money improved the business?
We’ve increased the size of the team and almost all of the team members have come through investor contacts. We’ve also strengthened and re-designed the platform.

Tell us something that would help another entrepreneur keep an investor happy?
Before you get investment make sure you have a good relationship with investors. Make sure it’s someone you want to work with. We had a long period of communication with investors from September and a strong idea of how each other worked. Be honest from the very beginning.

Why should we keep an eye on you?
We’re a cool company, fun and will be the way to learn a language.

We profiled Studentgems.com which was founded by Sue Harrison and Joanna Ward last year. Since then, they've raised a six-figure angel investment round. So, we caught up with Harrison to talk about the fundraising and progress to date.

What's the concept?
We’re a website where students can find one-off jobs and earn more than they would for waiting tables or pulling pints. And businesses can save money too. We had the idea when we were working on a project and needed some photography. Commercial quotes were £600 and we realised it would be cheaper to find a talented student photographer for half the price.

Why's it unique?
There are other places students can get jobs, such as job shops and recruitment agencies, but not typically where they use their skills, developing knowledge and talent. Equally, companies often outsource overseas to cut costs. And freelance websites expect professional freelancers to get in touch. So, there’s not a direct competitor, although classified jobs boards such as Gumtree and Craig’s List offer our biggest competition.

Where are you now?
We see our prime employer market as SMEs, but have sole traders up to Breast Cancer UK and Adidas using the system. We have 14,000 students registered offering 74,000 skills across 1,600 categories, and 3,200 employers.

Where will you be in two years?
We’d like to be a household name across the UK. If they need jobs doing Studentgems is a cost-effective resource. We’d also like to take the business over to the US.

Who's backed you?
Eight angel investors. It was quite a long trail. When we started we didn’t know anything about raising finance. Business Link introduced us to Wycombe Enterprise Hub, which is part of SEEDA (South East England Development Agency). They were fantastic, made us portfolio client and helped with the business plan, a Finance South East investor readiness course, and introductions to various networks. We then presented to three groups via a West Midlands-based network plus an Oxford-based network.

How much did you get?
A six-figure sum. Two investors also joined the board. We were happy to take investors who wanted an active role in the business. One is an ex-lawyer the other an ex-accountant.

When did you raise it?
About three weeks ago in September.

How long before the cheque cleared?
It took us about a year to finalise from the first presentation. We didn’t go from nothing to everything. We were picking them up along the way and wanted to get sufficient money to get on with running the business as fundraising is hugely time-consuming. We got pretty much what we need but left the round open as we still have some leads.

What did it teach you?
We were very aware we probably didn’t fit the normal mould for somebody starting a dotcom as we’re neither male nor 25. It taught us never to give up. You really do have to believe in what you’re doing. Everything takes twice as long as you expect. You can present to a group that’s interested and then the next week another group won’t be – there’s no rhyme or reason. We presented to gatekeepers, a hall full of people and a room of people. We had to gauge what would work best for us and go with that, making sure we spent the money where we were likely to get the best results.

How has investment improved the business?
We were able to get stands as seven or eight local Freshers’ Fairs in September which is quite expensive. Thousands signed up. So the money is going on marketing, building the team and enhancing the website – we have loads of developments in the pipeline.

Tell us something that will help another entrepreneur keep their investor happy.
Communication is key. Throughout the fundraising we kept people who said they’d invest fully informed of our progress and have a review each month. We also respond as quickly as we can.

Why should we keep an eye on you?
We hope you’ll see the emergence of Studentgems.com as a household name.

Ex-Goldman Sachs MD David Kaplan (CEO) and veteran musician John Thirkell (COO) started online music recording platform PureSolo.com in February 2007, got funded in May 2008, then launched in September last year. It announced a deal with major media company FreemantleMedia Enterprises to provide TV show The X Factor with an online karaoke platform this week (October 6 2009). See it here: xfactorkaraoke.puresolo.com

What's the concept?
The individual singer and instrumentalist have not been given the same online capabilities as bands. We’ve licensed well-known tracks to enable people to develop and record for themselves or the wider community. They can access high quality backing tracks at home for a very inexpensive rate. For £10 to £20 you can create your own CD.

Why's it unique?
My co-founder John picked up a trumpet at 13 but didn’t play with accompaniment until he did his Grade 8, yet we have the Berlin Chamber Orchestra as a backing track for individual musicians. In terms of online there’s no place but PureSolo to go for that. If someone wants to record and email to a teacher, friend or granny they can do it from a browser plug-in for the price of some sheet music.

Where are you now?
To be in the public market for a year, execute a deal we’re the right combination of satisfied and paranoid – 1% satisfied, 99% paranoid. It’s the beginning of our milestones. Ultimately people will see us as an enabler for jazz, singing or classical – a place for users to improve and share. Part of developing musicians is in the formal educational space. We expect to be incorporated into the Sing Up government-backed programme (www.singup.org).

Where will you be in two years?
We’ll be seen as an enabling platform for people to develop their music skills and use socially. We’ll have increased the number of X Factor-like deals, such as in jazz, guitar and classical.

Who's backed you?
The initial investment was from the directors, including myself. Investment went into the technology, research and securing licenses, then we went to the outside world. We spent time with private wealth individuals and angels, rather than formal venture capital. In the early stages they challenged the model and we evolved to take some risk out.

How much did you get?
We raised £1.1m from a small double-digit number of investors, but are keeping their details confidential.

When did you raise it?
May 2008. We were talking for over a year – the first conversation was general and conceptual. Then we had rough versions, hashing around ideas, then a formal offering document.

How long before the cheque cleared?
Raising money takes time from ideas to building trust in the management and belief that the project can be executed. These are important factors people consider as well as financials.

What did it teach you?
Plan ahead. You have to have a commitment and willingness to overcome obstacles. It’s hard work, but savour and love it, be passionate. When we look at great businesses out there like Spotify, it looks really glamorous, but we know how hard they’re working. I take my hat off to those guys.

How has investment improved the business?
It’s key to invest and spend to put money to the vision while striking a balance with the tough economic climate. It offers a little more flexibility in people and technology, paid our legal bills on licensing music, and got us in front of some very grown-up businesses. And they liked what they saw.

Tell us something that will help another entrepreneur keep their investor happy.
Honest, open, continual communication. We don’t have to write and post on a monthly basis, but if there’s a special development we keep them in touch with phone calls and invites to our offices. They trusted us with their capital so should feel a part of it.

Why should we keep an eye on you?
There are certain things we can do to make the platform even richer. And watch us in the education space.

It's not breaking new territory to point out that the internet makes geographical boundaries irrelevant, meaning things like shopping can be done from the other side of the country, or even planet. But it is worth pointing out that it also means other, more unlikely services, can be carried out online. Like physiotherapy.

"A large proportion of injuries don't need hands no treatment - you can self-manage your injuries", says qualified accountant Martyn Hodgson, who co-founded Physiobench with his wife Jane, a physio, and Chris Hodgson (website design and development) last year. "Some people with injuries struggle to access physio, due to geography or cost", qualifies Jane. "This is offering a service to those confident enough to manage it."

For £28, those requiring a physio's expert advice get an initial assessment and exercise recommendations, as well as a follow up three months down the line - a considerable saving. But the couple at the helm insist that not
only is their service cheaper, it's as good or better as more traditional practices - and with Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Leeds United FC, Dance UK, and the Great Britain National Cycling Team amongst the
freelance physios' regular employers, one is inclined to give this view some credence. Jane also stresses the improvement they offer on the NHS's phone-based PhysioDirect. "I'd been involved there myself", she says.

"People calling up might have to put the phone down sometimes. You've more time to answer the questions online." Furthermore, says Jane, the NHS themselves might soon be interested in working with this new
E-mail based system, which the Hodgsons feel fits with the 'ministerial push' for more outsourcing of government services.

And while they came up with the idea a few years ago, time was taken to perfect the site and the physio questionnaire of such importance. The company has been entirely self-funded, although they may look at funding options as and when the company expands. Yet 'much can be subcontracted', thus keeping costs down, says Martyn. And the couple insist there's room for themselves as well as traditional practices. "We're not competing with traditional physios, we're an adjunct." says Jane. Plus, says Mark, "A lot of men can't be bothered to go to the doctor's or to a physio - we're taking the hassle factor out of it, and hopefully increasing the amount of people seeing physios altogether"

Formed a year ago when ‘citizen journalism’ sites and services were popping up all over the place, newspepper soon failed. But one day, someone at an event asked founder Hermione Way how much the company charged for video services, and something clicked. ‘We’re a new media company giving apprenticeships to students in media. This way, corporations are able to get cheap media and fulfil a corporate social responsibility at the same time...those are the reasons that people choose us.’ Newspepper was reborn in January this year.

Way recently completed a degree in journalism, but found there was a lack of paid work experience for graduates. Unlike in other sectors, media and journalism graduates are often expected to work for large corporations for free, just to get a foot in the door. On top of that, Way feels that graduates are not fully developed. ‘The education system in Britain is so out of date: to be a modern journalist you have to be able to do everything, from writing to podcasts and video. I just finished a journalism course this year and had only been doing text. To be expected to go out into the modern world is just ridiculous.’

The answer to this is Newspepper – students with broadcast skills but not so much in the way of a C.V. are hired by the company, who in turn provide production services to companies who want to get a good deal, and a good night’s sleep. ‘We don’t pay loads; they get the same as they would in a bar or a shop’, says Way. ‘But even though it’s cheap we can still afford to pay our students. Because it’s for the web it doesn’t have to be shot in high definition or anything like that.’ And already companies are finding that the huge savings they can make mean it’s more than worth putting up with ‘mere’ students.

Way is quick to stress that older brother Ben, well-known as one of Britain’s top young entrepreneurs, provides great mentoring advice in his capacity as advisor, but not the financial support that one might assume. Way used her student loan after her second year of university, then pitched to Michael Smith, one of newspepper’s non-executive directors, who put in a further £2000. ‘And the first thing I got was a second hand camera’, she laughs.

But with citizen journalism sites a dime a dozen, Newspepper appears to have hit on a key factor that will drive it forward- a clear source of revenue.