Virtually every entrepreneur is looking for capital.  Not every entrepreneur needs VC money or is even ready for it.  However, whether it’s Angel networks, VC’s, or an investor network, eventually you will be shaking some trees to find additional funds to move your start-up forward.

The best advice we can give is to work through an entity that is plugged into the investment community.  NEOinc is one, and there are others throughout our region.  For entrepreneurs not in Northeast Ohio, do some research to find economic development entities or business incubators and work through them. 

If you cannot find local or regional partners that can provide an introduction for you to potential funders, then this article on how to approach a VC you don’t know gives some very practical do’s and dont’s on the topic. 

We urge you to read the entire article, but here are the basics.

Do

• Research the VC, his/her firm and their investments
• Reach out to the VC in a way that makes it easy for a VC to respond to your approach
• Be specific in your approach about why you’re approaching that VC and what you’d like to accomplish
• Provide the VC with enough information during the initial approach to allow him to qualify that you and your opportunity are interesting
• Recognize that successful fundraising is usually a series of small steps rather than one large step
• Follow through when you make your outreach and be gently persistent

Don’t

• Try to make idle chitchat as a prelude to your “ask”
• Name drop, try to create a false sense of urgency, or raise a lot of hype unless you can back it up