Not all businesses can attract venture capital. Venture capital is provided by a firm of professional investors that are generally seeking high growth business opportunities to invest in. They provide funds to help you grow your business but in return they often want shares in the business.
Think Like A Financier
As an entrepreneur you know that laser-like focus is what it takes to create something from nothing. Your relentless persistence often turns a “no” into a “maybe” and a “maybe” into a “yes.” Your ability to repeatedly muster the guts to take outrageous risks and ignore reality has been key to your success.
Three Classic Financing Mistakes
Securing financing for your business means taking risks and making mistakes. Growth strategies are often fraught with mistakes and misfires. So what are some of the most common strategic errors I’ve seen fellow entrepreneurs make during my career as a serial entrepreneur, former venture capitalist, and angel investor? Well, you may simply be the wrong executive to pitch a startup. You may have approached the wrong financing source. Or your timing might be wrong to sell via a …
Succession Done Right The First Time Around
In an ideal world, a CEO selects and preps a successor. He shows up at his retirement party, collects the gold watch, and heads for a life of bliss on teeing grounds and putting greens. His replacement hops onto the throne, transitions smoothly, and everyone lives happily ever after. Unfortunately, theres a big gap between the ideal and the real, because outgoing business leaders unknowingly take the wrong approach to succession planning.
Show Me The Money, Part II
In the second of a two-part series, the author explains how to fund your business from within, via customers, consulting, and cost control.
People Dont Buy Relationships!
Unless youve been living under a rock, youve probably heard that relationships are the most important part of business. In other words, people buy from people they know. If you want to make sales and build loyal buyers, building relationships is the way to go. Well, the relationship theory is WRONG.
Make Sure Investors Remember By Creating A Buzz About Your Deal
There can never be any guarantees in the process of connecting your company with capital because there are so many factors that impact an investors decision to invest. Unfortunately, even when a company has none of these obstacles, they can still fail in their quest for private equity funding because the interest of the investor wanes. An institutional investor or venture capital firm may decide they need to diversify and will not invest in a specific sector, even though th…
Make Your Financing Pitch Sizzle
How you pitch your company determines whether you get the right partners, favorable financing terms, super executives, and best shot at success
How To Boost The Value Of Your Business
All too often banks, potential investors, and creditors will determine a company’s value based on financial statements. This is a mistake. Financials don’t come close to telling the true story. Sure, they present the tangible value. But what about the intangible value? Company valuation is emotionala company is worth what an acquirer will pay, what the market will pay, what the interested parties perceive. We see evidence of this frequently when companies with a trickle of r…
Funding Sources – Options To Raise Capital For Your Business
Access to funding when you need it is essential to both emerging and established businesses. So where can you find it? There are far more sources, which are far more accessible, than you may have imagined. Your capital acquisition strategy may include a combination of funding sources. It’s smart to diversify, and a blend of debt, equity, and possibly grants is a great idea. Here are some options:
Gearing Up Support From A Venture Capital Company
One of the most important things in order to start a business is a plan. Why? This is because more than 85% of those who invested fail with the inclination that money is all that is needed.
Business Plan Template And Tips
In this note, I want to share my learning on business plans with you. Because I am involved in Venture Capital and Private Equity, I get a lot of business plans. And going by the number of proposals we reviewed or prepared in the last one year, the global economy is doing great! A lot of individual professionals have opened their own companies, and many companies are looking to grow with global demand for their products/services.