Tips From Experts To Entrepreneurs Trying To Secure Venture Capital Funding

By Donna Hayes


Expanding a newly established business takes a lot of money. For those entrepreneurs whose business assets are primarily intangible, getting a conventional loan from a traditional financial institution or from an angel investor may not be appropriate. They need venture capital funding instead, and should consider the advice of experts.

First of all, they say entrepreneurs have to understand the difference between venture capital investors and angel investors. Angel investors are individuals or firms that fund new businesses in the form of loans or equity in the company. Friends and family often become angels for entrepreneurs. Rapidly growing businesses in need of additional funds to expand often approach investors willing to on take high risk projects, usually in exchange for a certain percentage of equity in the company.

These individuals and firms operate at the highest levels. It won't be easy to convince them that the value you place on your company is realistic or that the company will continue to grow at impressive rates. You will have to do plenty of research to find the firms that invest money in the type of business you run and are willing to offer you the kind of sums you need for expansion.

Not matter where you go on the internet, you will find questionable companies offering quick solutions to difficult problems. You might come across one that offers proven leads with private emails and phone numbers. They may be selling databases guaranteed to get you in the door of a leading investment firm. As always, if it seems too good to be true, it certainly is.

Trying to create your own shortcuts won't be successful either. Mass emailing investors is a waste of time. They see these kinds of tactics all the time and aren't fooled by them. You never know when someone you contacted this way might have been interested in your business plan if your approach had been smarter. Instead you need to narrow the field of potential investors and go after them individually.

There is no substitute for effective networking. You need to scour your resources in an effort to find people who have had some kind of contact with a potential investor. This could be someone mutually involved in an alumni association or a co-worker. If a decision maker, in a firm that interests you, is speaking at an event, you should make sure you are sitting front and center, then introduce yourself once the talk is over.

You will have to be smart to get the attention of one of these investors. They are inundated with requests, and only respond to a few. You need a great tag line that describes your company in a few words and a summary video good enough to get you through the door to make a pitch.

Great businesses, that start fast and grow quickly, fall by the wayside every day because the entrepreneur didn't get expansion plans in front of the right investors at the right time. It is not enough to have big ideas, you have to know how to turn them into reality.




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