I help people who are in various stages of preparing, capitalizing and launching their businesses. I know that potential investors are all around you and the more prepared you are, the more compelling your investment becomes. Raising capital from investors is a right of any entrepreneur and one of the best ways a growing business can insure its success. Know how to get people compelled to invest rather than you “chasing” the money. Here is my shortened list, my top 5 things you can do right from the beginning to build value in your business and help you become more attractive to the money:
1. Make sure you have a healthy relationship to money and know that you deserve to have it. Money is just energy and capital is just one of the many resources necessary to grow your quick business funding. If you become too attached to this process or have a sense that your self-worth is tied into the money, you may actually repel investors.
2. It’s the PEOPLE that attract the money so make sure you’ve taken the time to attract the right mentors and advisors to support you during this process. There are many people who have made this journey successfully before you so find out who they are and attach them to your project somehow. Investors are more inclined to put their money into a project that have a management and advisory team that has a proven successful track record. If they’ve done it once, they are more likely to re-create their success.
3. Do whatever you can do to prove out your concept by developing your markets, monetizing some aspect of your business, building your database of prospective customers, forming strategic Alliances and Joint Ventures, and obtaining purchase orders and letters of interest whenever possible. You don’t have to have all the answers in the beginning but investors are more inclined to take notice if you can really show that there are people who will want to purchase your products or services.
4. Obtain as much protection for your Intellectual Property (IP) as possible. Having a patent, or the opportunity to patent your IP, is generally the most attractive opportunity to an investor. If not a patent, make sure you have the opportunity to create continuous IP such as trademarks and copyrights to show that your products and services will not become obsolete. Do what you can upfront to assure interest from investors but if that’s not possible, make sure you have a plan to do so quickly.
5. Make sure you are invested in this process and be able to clearly articulate that to investors. Investors want to know how much time and money YOU’VE invested, how passionate you are about your business, how far you’re willing to go with it and how stable you are emotionally and financially so that they know you will have staying power.
Application of these items requires very little effort yet will help take your business to another level as you become super-attractive to the money!