Capital

Raising Investment Capital

Raising investment capital is a full-time job. As a CEO, you know it is almost impossible to divide your time between managing your organization, visiting your customers, and anything else — let alone preparing for and executing the capital-raising process.

That’s where I come in. I can help you resolve these critical branding and bandwidth constraints. Did I say branding? Yes, I said branding. Your bandwidth constraint is obvious: You don’t have the time to telephone tens, maybe hundreds, of investors — a tedious and arduous task.

But, why are we discussing branding here? Simple. Before you go to the investment community, you must have a well-articulated brand (value proposition): a succinct, unique, gut-grabbing, memorable, repeatable story to tell. Furthermore, your documents — executive summary, business plan, and PPM (private-placement memorandum) — must convey powerfully and clearly why your company deserves the investment capital and how it will use that capital.

If you are not ready for prime time, you will fail at raising capital. Moreover, I will not call one potential investor until your company is marketable. You get one shot at investors. If your story is half-baked, it is unlikely they will give you another shot.

Others may take your company, as is, to the investment community, working only for a success fee. I won’t. Remember: You get what you pay for.

There are six fundamental steps to raising capital:

1. Sharpening the brand
2. Targeting investors
3. Calling investors to arrange meetings
4. Visiting and presenting to investors
5. Negotiating termsheets
6. Putting investors’ checks into your company’s bank account.