Small Business- Finding Investors

Achieving success as a new business owner can be very difficult. Positioning your company correctly in a market space with a market-driven idea is the first step to improving your likelihood of achieving a successful outcome.

Bringing together a great business team and finding people to invest in your company is the next step you'll need to take.

Ponder the following questions while you're searching for startup funding and capital. You should know the answers to these questions when you ask someone for money.

1. Which need in the market have you identified?

2. What is your business and in what way does it fill the need?

3. About how much money is spent in the market you're approaching?

4. What does your company do to bring in income?

5. How much money is your company going to make in relation to the market?

6. What will you do to draw in buyers?

7. What will your marketing budget look like?

8. Who is the management team?

9. Is the management team good enough to properly manage your business?

10. Which businesses are you in competition with?

11. What is the average income of your competitors?

12. What makes you different from the competition?

13. How will you pound the competition?

14. How much capital are you raising?

15. What are you going to use the money for?

16. What is the exit?

17. What are the benefits to your investors?

As you struggle to create a response for all of these questions, you'll notice that it is a surprisingly arduous task. You will quickly find where your weaknesses lie. Money mainly wants to know how it gets paid back and your responsibility as an entrepreneur is to clarify how that will happen.

I now think back to the first time I attempted to apply my new understanding about how to present a deal to a group of investors. I had previously been taught these tips by an expert capital-raiser. Using his method of clearly painting the picture of how the money makes money, I secured a 1 million dollar subscription agreement in five minutes- although, it took a year to prepare and build relationships!

Rod Alan Richardson is dedicated to teaching people to succeed in free enterprise through Management Training. He also offers a free Business Training Newsletter.