Raising Money for a New Venture

There are many things that quite frankly get the door closed or lead to the inevitable "string along".

Raising money really is an art form because you have to know more than the buzz words, typical paths, etc... but you have to know the little nuances such as "how do you value a company that has no tangible assets, very little revenues, but has growing traffic, a niche market and a business model that scales?"

How much should you ask for and how much should you be willing to give up? What introductions get meetings and what introductions lead to investments...

One of the most important things is gaining trust and confidence. Would anyone invest in a perfect stranger over a longtime friend or colleague who they've made money with or have seen make money for others?

At the end of the day venture investors are money managers. They have investors in their funds that require returns through responsible investing.

The truth of it is, most startups never get funding outside of friends, family and maybe a loan/line of credit.

The key is to build a business that is sustainable, not one that you want to get funded. If your business requires $1 million plus in funding you better be talking clean tech, bio tech or infrastructure. I think the days are gone or numbered where web-based product startups without a ton of traffic and meaningful revenues get funding over $250,000.