Angels Fear to Tread

03/11/09

By William Flatau, CEO of First Funding

Raising money for a business is something of a black art, and I have long given up predicting the deals that will attract angel finance, and which will fail.

Watching an episode of Dragons' Den shows just how tough it can be to raise even small amounts of money for a new business. Yet how often have you read about an entrepreneur who has raised eye-watering sums of money for a startup?

Nothing in the world of fund-raising is what it seems. The apparently effortless road to riches is usually paved with anything but gold....

...Entrepreneurs so often present a front to the world long after the tough times have passed.

When raising finance you can guarantee two things. You will need more money than you think, and it will cost a great deal more than you think to get there.

However, there are some basic rules to bear in mind, and I am prepared to stick my neck out by saying this; don't just plan it, do it.

Entrepreneurs have one thing in common. They can't leave business alone; they may fail, but they keep coming back with new ideas, new plans and new methods. The successful ones don't run out of money before their ideas takes off.

Investors love to see an entrepreneur with guts, energy and determination, just as much as they need to see a carefully thought out business plan. The high-flying graduate who spends a year producing the perfect plan and simply waits for funding will not cut much ice.

However, the bull-in-a-china-shop approach to starting a business will not take your fund-raising efforts far.

Make no mistake; the business plan speaks volumes, but it doesn't have to be written in volumes. A tight plan that demonstrates the strength of the business idea... continued on page two >

 

 

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