The value of an advisor

Lets face it, if finding capital for your venture was easy, then there would be no such thing as corporate advisers out there selling you the value of advice.

As I sat with another prospect today, who incidentally became a client at the end of the meeting, seeing what I see time and time again, I thought I would make a record of it formally and talk to you about it.

Lets assume that there is limited capital out there.

Lets also assume that not every capital provider is excited by your sector, you or your style – so matter how exciting this opportunity is to you or another person, there are just some investors who are not interested.

Lets also assume that some investors who might be interested, are busy on something else at the time you are looking, or are fully invested, or are overseas – just not contactable.

The long and short of it, as your pool of investors shrinks the more we think about it, it is no wonder that it is considered a difficult to find venture capital.

SO – if you pitch up to a potential investors office, or send them an email with a poorly laid out information memorandum, business plan, or your numbers don’t add up, or even if you under sold, god forbid, your idea or business as an investment, you will have reduced your chances of getting this investor on board, and your overall pool by 1. Who knows, they could have been the one. When you are dealing with such a scarce resource WHY would you take the chance.

Here’s the crux of it. If you have a great business, a great idea and you want to position yourself for a win every time, then you need to test out your idea, test our how you are presenting it, how it is likely to be perceived, what an investor will think about it, how they will react …. All BEFORE you actually communicate to one!

Someone said to me don’t pitch your services on your blog – people will run a mile – so I won’t then. I will do this for free. With this client above, I spoke with him for an hour on the phone, read through his IM and business plan, and gave feedback over several emails over the course of 2 days, and then had 2 hours in a meeting discussing what needed to be done to position his offer more effectively, …… all for free.

You cant lose!

The value of an advisor in your capital raising process is a post from: Venture Capital Centre. Click Here To Download Our Free E-Book Explaining Exactly How To Create A Business Plan That Investors Will Read

2009 AVCAL Venture Capital Report

2009 – A year in summary 2009

AUSTRALIAN PRIVATE EQUITY AND VENTURE CAPITAL ASSOCIATION LIMITED (AVCAL) AVCAL was established in 1992 as a forum for participants in the private equity and venture capital industry. AVCAL is the central voice of the Australian industry and its membership includes almost all the domestic, regional and global private equity and venture capital firms active in Australia.

This is the report of 2009 as prepared by Ernst & Young – The survey results are based on the FY2009 activities of 63 Venture Capital and Private Equity firms, representing $24.5b in funds under management.

Venture Capital – 2009 Industry Overview is a post from: Venture Capital Centre. Click Here To Download Our Free E-Book Explaining Exactly How To Create A Business Plan That Investors Will Read

AVCAL (Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Assoc) today called on the Federal government to urgently develop legislation to restore international investor confidence in Australia.

AVCAL’s comments follow the release of draft rulings/determinations from the Australian Tax Office. [TD2009/D17 Income tax: treaty shopping... and TD2009/D18 Income tax: can a private equity entity make an income gain...] The release of these draft rulings /determinations provides an opportunity for the Government to clarify tax policy in relation to these issues.

The full 2009 Year Book can be downloaded here:

http://avcal.com.au/sites/default/files/general-files/AVCAL_Yearbook2009_0.pdf

AVCAL Calls For Legislation To Restore Confidence in Venture Capital is a post from: Venture Capital Centre. Click Here To Download Our Free E-Book Explaining Exactly How To Create A Business Plan That Investors Will Read