How to Find an Investor for My Company
Finding an investor for your company, especially if it is a startup, can be like looking for a needle in a haystack. While much of the work for finding a private investor is done through networking and building personal relationships with people, there are a few different ways to go about finding venture capital for your business.
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Things You'll Need
- Cell phone
- Computer with Internet access
- Pen
- Paper
- Networking and promotional materials
- Projected expense writeup
- Business plan
Instructions
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Review your business plan and make sure that you are able to succinctly talk about the benefits that potential customers would experience from your product or service. Get feedback from friends and family on your presentations and marketing materials to make sure that they make sense and are easy to understand. Have family and friends look over your initial expense projections for your startup period. Having a realistic figure for how much you expect to need will not only help you when talking to potential investors, but it will also help them to put good faith in you for building a system out of which their investment will be repaid.
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Ask friends and family members if they would be interested in helping your venture with an investment. While you may feel somewhat awkward about asking close friends or relatives for money, they are the closest network of people who will have the least amount of hesitation to help you out.
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Research local banks with small business startup loans. Generally, local banks are going to be more interested in startup loans than bigger corporate banks with branches across the country. Talking to a banker will help you not only to hone your presentation skills, but also may identify any red flags to check on before talking to anyone else. The banker may be willing to hear you a second time after addressing any red flags that come up. Small-business loan officers at banks may know of investors or networks that you can connect with in looking for startup capital.
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Look for small business groups specific to your community. Mountain BizWorks, located in Asheville, North Carolina, is a nonprofit group that helps to train and fund small business startups. Do not limit your search to your city, but also cover your region. There are most likely organizations associated with encouraging entrepreneurship that can offer loans that are smaller and with lower interest than traditional bank loans.
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Apply for a loan through the Small Business Administration. The United States government offers low interest loans for small business startups as well as several different types of resources for business planning, training and updates on laws and regulations about small businesses.
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Join Internet networks for venture capital groups or angel capital investors. Research different venture capitalists who have financed similar business startups or have an interest in the product or service that you are going to provide. If the venture capital or angel group acts as a group to fund larger companies, then find someone on the board of that group and develop a relationship with him through networking. Applying for a loan through these groups may be all that you need to secure the credit to start up your business.
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References
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