A good friend of mine started his business in a shop that he built in his garage. He started by making cast molding of bloody hands and selling them at Halloween in catalogs. After several years he developed a business selling animatronic figures ( like the kind that you would find at Disneyland) Over time, he developed a personal business plan of bootstrapping and issuing closely held stock to finance his small corporation. Today his company is thriving and he is one of the formost animatronic companies in the world!
If your dream has lead you to develop a company and you need to find capital to see it grow, you might have asked yourself, which is the best way to go? Where do I find financing for what I'm doing? What do these finance people look for?
Once you have started developing your business, a well thought out business plan is essential in attracting capital from Venture Capital and Investor groups. What does an investor want hear and see in your plan and presentation? The business plan should have a clear vision of what you are selling, a business overview of who you are and who will be working with you along with your background and expertise in that field. They want to see a review of how the economy is expected to fair in the future and the industry overall that you will be competing in. Also a marketing snap shot of who your competition is and how you stack up against them as well as your goals on how to enter the market and gain market share. The Venture Capital group and Angel Investors will want to also know how much capital you will require as well as an exit strategy for the investor. Will you issue stock and then buy back their shares at a later date? Or will they retain a percentage of ownership in the company?
Angel Investors and Venture Capital groups are very busy, have a complete business plan written with projected financial statements but, send the investors a detailed executive summary of your plan for the initial contact. If you go in to pitch your plan, have an executive summary ready to hand out along with your complete plan. Try to keep your pitch interesting and to the point. You only have a few minutes to tell them who you are, how you plan to revolutionize an industry or how you can make them a large amount of money with a quick turn around.
Best wishes and good luck with your venture!
