Surreal Entrepreneur

I’m finding myself in a tough stage where I know that the ideas that I have will bloom if given enough sunlight and water. That being said I am in a realm of business-people. These men and women do not look at intentions, they look at cold hard facts relating to where their money will go once they give it to you. More importantly they look at if their money in your hands will grow. So in this post I’d like to walk through the discoveries that I’m making in how the business world evaluates new business propositions.

A book that I am reading, Winning Angels: The 7 Fundementals of Early Stage Investing outlines the first point of the evaluating, and even possibly the most integral part of the funding process, is pitching the idea. One must know the ins and outs of not only the idea that they are gathering support for, but also one must have the charisma and presence to be able to outline convincingly that the idea is a good idea, and that the investor should investigate further. Once you have them through the door, now you have to let you financials do the talking.

Not only are the four outlined areas of focus for the investors important to have clearly displayed in any business plan, but they are also perfect places to truly start evaluating your own ideas. If one of these areas comes up without a very solid answer and a description then you could be in trouble.

1. People

Angel investors are curious about who is going to be protecting and growing their investment, this not only includes you but also your team and other investors.

2. Business opportunity

They will look closely at your business to see if there is a potential for returns based on the opportunity your business presents

3. Context

Angels will look at all of your market research to try and digest the market you will be appealing to. This is the part where they will also check to see if anyone else is doing what you’re doing , but better.

4. The Deal

This is where they want to know what you’re asking them to do, how much it will cost them, then how much it could make them in a timely manner.

Don’t expect this to be a painless process, they will be going over not only your business plan, but your personal character with a fine tooth comb in order to be confident in their money expense. At the end of the day, though, if you have supported your idea using all these four areas as guides to base your research, and you have a good reputation in your network as a trustworthy and tenacious person, you should be able to get some all important initial investments.