Do you need funding? Start-up businesses often think that they need to find an investor. We only have to read in the papers about the latest internet billionaire to know that big funding means big success. Yet most businesses can get going, or even grow without external investment. It depends on the amount required to [...]

One of the key bits of information that Business Angels or Investors into a venture will want to see is how the funds are going to be used. I’ve seen every possible use given, from the perfectly sensible – “product development”, to the unlikely to succeed – “no one will lend to me any more [...]

Every enterprise that isn’t a sole trader will have people who are working together as partners to drive that business towards its goals. This can be in a business that is registered as a legal partnership (see below), fellow directors of a company, or at its most simple just 2 people working together with no [...]

Company Partners provide access to both Business Partners and Investors so what is the difference and when would you have one but not the other? Certainly an Investor is a business partner of sorts and can bring many of the benefits of a business partner. A Business Partner could in some circumstances end up investing [...]

Due-diligence needs thinking about for Investors when they are about to embark on an investment. However it’s just as applicable for those who are seeking investment to check out a potential Investor. In both cases you should verify that the person, business and facts as stated are correct. That’s not being mistrustful it’s just being [...]

You don’t know when you might bump into or be talking to a useful contact, business partner or even potential Investor. This first conversation is your best chance to impress and could determine whether you get a second more detailed conversation or meeting. So grab the chance to explain your business, or idea, in a [...]

Being investment ready is key to getting funding. Yet when talking to entrepreneurs they often have not taken the time to think it through. You are up against a lot of competition for business investment. Some may be better prepared than you to give the potential Investor confidence that his investment will be well spent [...]

At Company Partners we talk to a lot of Investors and we often get the same observations about what Investors like and don’t like. Although I normally try and accentuate the positives to be learned, there are valuable lessons from the goofs to be avoided, here’s my top 8 mistakes when seeking an Investor:   [...]

Firstly do you need a business plan? Many small businesses have never had a formal business plan. Think of your corner store, or the self-employed tradesman that came to fix your heating, they almost certainly don’t have a written business plan. But then again they probably aren’t thinking of growing very much either. If you [...]

Just back from giving a business plan workshop to a group of MBA students, many of whom were keen to start their own business. So naturally the subject of how to fund a business came up. One of the areas that regularly seems to cause confusion with the students is the difference between Private Equity, [...]