As discussed earlier in my own previous articles, you will find all sorts of different investors around for the entrepreneur to decide on from. We have already covered the types of investors you will find, which can be business lenders, angel investors, institutional investors, or venture capitalists. This is really a broad selection of investors that you could see. After you have your organization plan and your executive summary ready, you are now ready to seek the proper investor to request capital.
There are numerous factors that you need to consider before actually contacting your prospective investor. There are many things you need to check into, such as stage, industry, and geographic preference. Furthermore, it’s also advisable to look at their portfolio companies, who they’re and what they do. You might find all of this below.
Stage Preference
Basically, stage identifies the stage that the company is in. If you are pre-prototype, or your prototype has just been developed, you are either seed stage or early stage. infrastructure indices These stages are usually the greatest risk stages for investors, but their ROI, or return on investment could possibly be very high. On the other hand if your company is at a later stage and already features a regular flow of clients, the danger is generally lower to the investor. If your company is either seed or early stage, you will need an investor who’s more than likely a venture capitalist and specializes in high risk investments. On the other hand, if you’re an organization that is already established and needs bridge funding or expansion funding, you need an investment firm or a private equity firm that specializes in the later stages of a company’s life. This means you will need an investor, who’s stage preference is either later stage, growth or expansion stage, or mezzanine stage. They are usually stages of companies that are ready for a liquidation event, where the investors exit and make their profits. Which means these companies could be either involved with a leveraged buyout or LBO, or a managed buyout or MBO. Mezzanine stage is each time a company is ready for mezzanine capital. This is the capital an organization needs as it prepares for an IPO or initial public offering. This is also a liquidation event.
Geographic Preference
Geographic preference is quite as important being an investor’s stage preference. Your company may fit an investor’s stage preference, but you might not be in the proper geographic location that a particular investor might invest in. You can find different investors throughout the world and small firms may indeed invest in a particular geographic location, whereas a number of the larger global investment firms will invest internationally. Other investors may spend money on a complete continental area, as an example Uncle Vasya Ventures may spend money on Eurasia, which may encompass Russia, Central Asia, the countries that produce up the former republics of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe and Aunt Valya Private Equity might invest only within continental Europe. When seeking an investor, you should learn where their geographic preference is. Sometimes that is shown on the websites, and sometimes not. A good way to determine what geographic location an investor prefers is by taking a look at its portfolio companies and the countries where they’re located.
Industry Preference
Industry preference is equally as important whilst the both above mentioned preferences. Usually investors spend money on the industries that their partners or portfolio companies have expertise in. When searching for an investor, you need to go through the industry that you will be in and you intend to have an investor who has got the expertise in the same industry that you will be in. You can have a fantastic product, but if you’re in the IT industry and you contact a VC firm that produces its investments in the pharmaceuticals industry, your executive summary won’t be looked at.
Determining an investor’s industry preference can be achieved by first taking a look at their portfolio companies, and sometimes, the industry preferences are shown on investors’ website. If you appear at an investor’s portfolio, and see what the industries that the portfolio companies are involved with, you may get a glimpse of what industry preference confirmed investor might have. It’s essential that you find an investor who’s preferences meet your company profile.