Getting down to Business

Hey gang,


Chris French here from Modern Midwest Entertainment. Well, winter is turning to spring and my fancy is turning to thoughts of. . .business! As you know by know, I am almost finished with a Master's Degree in Entertainment Business from Full Sail University Online. As I get closer and closer to this goal, I have been working on creating a business plan or two (or ten) for some businesses that I'm in the process of starting. As I've been working on this, I started thinking. . .what DO investors look for when they look for a business?


I decided to do some investigating. I put the phrase "what do angel investors look for in a business plan" in the ol' Google box, and I came up with about a million or more different links. The first one I followed was called SA Angel Investors Blog (http://angelinvestorsa.blogspot.com/) by Ben Botes. I did some research on Mr. Botes. His background (pulled from his LinkedIn profile) is as follows:

"I am a management consultant, executive coach and one of the UK's new leading thinkers on personal and team transformation and change. My specialisms are leadership development, individual and organisational learning, business innovation, culture change, and team dynamics. I hold Master degrees in Psychology and Business Administration as well as qualifications in coaching and mentoring." (LinkedIn, 2012)

Mr. Botes is from the United Kingdom, and currently has a book for sale on Amazon.com called Release your Inner Entrepreneur.

Another person I found when looking up what investors look for was Susan Ward. Susan is the co-founder of Cypress Technologies in British Columbia. This firm specializes in Information Technology Consulting. Susan has also been a writer on the subject of small business since the 1990s. She holds advanced degrees in business from the University of British Columbia and has taught Business  Education and English for a number of years. I found Susan on About.com in a section called Small Business: Canada (About.com, 2012).

In looking at the key elements that investors want, a BUSINESS PLAN has been identified across the board. Investors want to know that they are getting a return on their money, so they want to invest in a business that has a good, sound business plan. Another key element that an angel investor expects the business to have is a sound management team (Ward, 2012). An angel investor is, most likely, not going to waste their time on a group of people who don't know what they're doing. They want to see that the business they are going to give their money to has the skills to bring the business to the "next level."(Ward, 2012). According to both Ward (2012) and Botes (2009), Angel investors want to have a business where they can be actively involved. As Botes stated, most entrepreneurs do not realize how involved an angel investor will be with their business. They want to know that their money is working for the entrepreneur, but also for themselves, as they will have a stake in the company (Botes, 2009). 

These are only a few of the key things that two investing "experts" have stated are necessary to secure funding for a business from an angel investor. I am going to be doing more research into this over the course of the next little while (not sure how long of a time I may need to do this, but I'm going to devote time to it), and I will let you know just how I'm coming along with securing monies for the projects I have on my plate currently.

Have a great Easter holiday next Sunday gang!

SEE YA!

References

Botes, B. (2009). Angel Finance: An Entrepreneur's Guide.

     Retrieved from: http://angelinvestorsa.blogspot.com/2009/09/angel-finance-entrepreneurs-guide.html

Botes, B. (2012). Ben Botes LinkedIn Profile.

     Retrieved from: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=687858

Ward, S. (2012). Attracting Angel Investors: 7 Tips for Persuading Angel Investors to Invest your Business.

     Retrieved from: http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/financing/a/angelinvestor.htm

About.com. (2012). Biography of Susan Ward.

     Retrieved from: http://sbinfocanada.about.com/bio/Susan-Ward-6453.htm