Raising Capital for Your Business - How Long Does it Take?
Most companies vastly underestimate the time commitment necessary to successfully complete a financing. In actuality, a company seeking financing needs to budget between 500 to 1000 work-hours to the capital-raising process, spread out over a 6-9 month time period. The key processes in the capital-raising process include 1) perfecting the business plan, offering memorandum, and other company due diligence materials, 2) developing a comprehensive, targeted prospective investor list, 3) contacting this list and responding to investor due diligence requests, and 4) negotiating the transaction. Completing the business plan typically requires at least 200 hours of work. This time is dedicated to conducting the market research to validate the opportunity, developing a comprehensive financial model, determining the most effective way to lay out the business strategy, and actually writing and proofing the business plan. The next step, developing a comprehensive, targeted prospective investor list is also very time consuming. There are thousands of potential investors, each of which has very different tastes regarding the types of ventures that interest them. Some invest by market sector (e.g., healthcare vs. telecommunications), stage (seed stage vs. later stage), geography, or a combination of these. Many hours must be dedicated to determine which investors are the right fit for your venture. This process involves creating a master investor list, visiting each investor's website to view investment criteria and past investments, and determining who is the right contact at the firm. To see how easily the time adds up, consider that only about 25% of prospective investors who show an initial interest in a transaction actually progress to detailed company due diligence. Only about 10% of this 25% actually progress to a bonafide offer of funds, of which only 25% of these actually result in an investment transaction. So completing a financing transaction requires, on average, contacting approximately 160 pre-qualified prospective investors. The due diligence process, where investors scrutinize the investment, can also be very time consuming for the company. Investors often request many documents, some of which can be easily retrieved from files (e.g., prior tax returns), while others may take more time to prepare (e.g., additional market analysis, customer lists with past purchases, contact information, etc.). Finally, negotiating a transaction can take a significant amount of time depending upon the complexity of the transaction and number of parties involved. Too many companies fail to raise capital since they are unaware of the significant time requirements to do so. Those firms who understand these requirements and budget accordingly are the ones most likely to persevere and end up with the capital they need. As President of Growthink Business Plans, Dave Lavinsky has helped the company become one of the premier business plan development firms. Since its inception, Growthink has developed over 200 business plans. Growthink clients have collectively raised over $750 million in financing, launched numerous new product and service lines and gained competitive advantage and market share.
MORE RESOURCES:
work at home mother mom entrepreneur - Google News |
 |
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
The Ideal Length of Your Business Plan How long should a business plan be? A business plan needs to be whatever length is required to excite the investor, prove that management truly understands the market, and detail the execution strategy. From surveys of investor needs, Growthink has found that 15 to 25 pages of text is the optimum length in which to accomplish this. The 7 Traits of an Exceptional & Successful Entrepreneur How often have you either referred to or considered the expression, "Success is a journey and not a Destination?" Probably many times, yet often being in a hurry to get there, we forget that success is not an end unto itself, but is instead an ongoing process.Though some people seem to have the Midas touch and easily turn everything to gold, most of us have to give our endeavors lots of time, effort and the sweat of our brow before seeing things come to fruition. What Makes An Entrepreneur Tick? It is only natural that when you start a business, you are doing something different than most people. They not only will look at you because you stick out like a sore thumb _ but human nature will cause people to naturally ridicule what you are doing. Entrepreneurs - Your Well Being Should Come Before Profits I believe the spiritual aspect of life, especially to entrepreneurs, is very important. While business may be the focal point for an entrepreneur's life, it's your outlook on life that shapes what kind of person you are. Entrepreneurial Hate, its out there Today, I got an email from a lady who hates all business people and entrepreneurs, because they are Greedy, Arrogant and a Host of other atrocities. She was replying to an article I wrote about entrepreneurs and how they bring to the civilization; everything you see, everywhere you go and without us, you would have nothing. Needs Versus Wants For Entrepreneurs How often do the words "I need" come out of your mouth, as it relates to your business? When you run your own company, it's easy to think that the only way to succeed is to be moving forward with your expenses -- the newest technology, a broader circle of professionals providing you services, involvement in more and more costly marketing efforts, etc. And it's particularly difficult to resist the urge when you know you can generally take a tax DEDUCTION for any business expenses. Could a Non-Profit Structure Be Right for Your Business? If you have a business idea, or an idea for a servicefor your community, there's one decision you must makeearly on: are you going to structure your project as afor-profit business, or as a non-profit corporation?Now, it may be that you already have a clear idea aboutthis. Some business ideas are clearly "for profit". Starting Your Business By The Book I've gotten several questions recently about the legalities of starting a business. So, this week I thought I would address a few of the more common legal issues most new businesses face. Adding a Service After You Buy a Business When you buy a business, you should have a plan. Why have you chosen that particular business? Why that particular time to buy a business? What can you bring to the business? Some of the most successful business stories are of people who buy a business with the intention of bringing their specialized set of skills to it, and using them to grow the business. Franchises-Exit Strategy At an International Franchising Symposium in London, Peter Holt made the bold statement to his audience of Franchisors that they needed to understand that their business would fail, and in fact all businesses are bound for failure. Needless to say, there were a few shocked faces in the crowd. The 9 Key Distinctions of Successful Solo-Entrepreneurs! SUCCESSFUL Solo-Entrepreneurs approach life and business from a perspective that is new, fresh, and rather unorthodox. The differences are subtle, yet significant. The Entrepreneurial Difference Who would ever have imagined that going door-to-door in my neighborhood selling figs from a bright orange shopping cart would have been my entrepreneurial beginnings? I surely did not. But, now that I look back and also look around me at other business owners, I see clearly that so many of the traits common to entrepreneurs are present at a very early age. My Nemisis Living in the twilight zone has its advantages. In the early days of starting my business, I found the limitations of living in a rural area to be restrictive. Methods of Generating New Ideas for Entrepreneurs Summary: Even with a wide variety of sources available, coming up with an idea as the basis for a new venture can still be a difficult problem. The entrepreneur can use several methods to help generate and test new ideas including focus groups, brainstorming and problem inventory analysis. Top 10 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make Before They Even Start So you want to start a business. You have an idea. Solo Mojo for Solo Entrepreneurs --- Where's Your Juice? I recently read a magazine article about Andrew, a 42-year old businessman. He gave up a demanding law practice in the Northeast, moved South to launch a new furniture and interior-design store, and wrote his first fiction novel in the midst of that transition. Entrepreneurial Excerpt from a Speech to Small Business Having built a business from a bucket of water and sponge, which started over 25 years ago in a National Franchise chain in 23 states, I feel comfortable discussing entrepreneurship.While building my company in the beginning we learned the value of grass roots marketing, being involved in the community and giving a little back as we grow. The Secrets to Becoming a Successful Creative Entrepreneur: JJK Secrets #19-21 Hello Creative Entrepreneurs!Welcome to the e-class on Creativity & Entrepreneurship: The Creative Evolution of an Intellectual PropertyLet's start with the thought for the day:When you find the destiny for which you were born, all you need to bring is your courage, your honor and your commitment! From the movie North and South.I love this quote! It says it all. Should You Write Your Own Business Plan? If you are just starting a company and looking for funding, or looking for additional funding for growth, you will need to develop a traditional business plan. Creating a business plan is a business hurdle that entrepreneurs seem to dread. The Risks of Entrepreneurship The "spark" for many entrepreneurs is seeing an opportunity that doesn't yet exist. Ted Turner, for example, launched CNN because he perceived that people wanted more television news than they were being offered.
|
| Section Home | Section Site Map |
Copyright © 2005-2007 by A Christian Mother's Guide. All Rights Reserved.
Web Development by Cotton Graphic Design
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
