When youre building a new business, or looking to expand your old one, the first thing youll always need is money. Money doesnt just grease the wheels of business, as the old adage goes money is the wheels of business. Everything in business depends on it, and if you cant get funding, your business plans will never even get out of the starting gate. So, what do you look for in an investor? Some investors, called venture capitalists, represent large bases of other investors and, as such, are spending their money on your project, much the way a stockbroker or investing firm works.
On the other hand, there also exists a kind of investor who invests his or her own money in starting companies. Theyre taking a risk, and are often careful where they invest, but they do invest somewhere and with the right sales pitch, that somewhere could be your company. These investors are called business angels, and work either singly or in pools of capital. They may invest now, while shares are cheap; wait a few years for your company to mature, and then sell to other stockbrokers or back to you, if youve made enough profit.
The problem, of course, is that business angels are...