Raising funds or capital for a new business is difficult, but manageable if you follow the proper steps. Investors will be interested if your idea is well thought out, profitable and your business plan is well organized.
The first thing to do is craft your business plan. Like a great resume, a business plan must first and foremost be readable. When creating the plan make note of the font choice (Arial) and size (12pt), the use of white space (lots), and the inclusion of images and graphs. Take the time to prepare a comprehensive two page executive summary and spend considerable amounts of time preparing and researching all the necessary components of a great business plan, including sections on competitors, markets, opportunity analysis, revenues, profitability, etc. To obtain funding for your new business you will need to include market research, projected costs and a detailed summary of how you intend to generate income. This information needs to be projected for a period of three to five years.
A business plan is TOUGH! It is never complete and always changing. It is your most important document and should absolutely NOT be done with business planning software. Study, research, network, and read business plans from other real world endeavors. It is only through this process that the entrepreneur can truly ferret out many of the possible hazards and pitfalls that might cause your new business to fail.
Once your business plan is comleted, it’s time to polish up your presentation and start searching for venture capital companies. A good resource for entrepreneurs is http://www.startup-resources.com. This website provides documents such as private placement memorandums, business plans, term sheets, employment agreements and even a sample powerpoint presentation for pitching investors. There are many resources online that offer contact databases of venture capital companies which will save you some time and legwork.
Believe in your idea, don’t be afraid to do whatever it takes to launch. There are plenty of ways to come up with the capital you need.
