A better way to access funding

Avoid the headache and heartache and leverage these quick tips to get you ahead on your funding mission ...

You have an idea. You've worked hard to bring it this far. Now what you need is funding, but accessing funding might seem like a mammoth task that requires a small army of assistance, from lawyers to financial advisors just so that you can start the long, long road to rejection. But what if there was a better way? Here are 3 tips to help you succeed:

1. Use Connectors who are known

Unless you've invented the next breakthrough business / technology or you are well connected, you will be an 'unknown entity' to investors, and what's more, untested. Getting to the 'right' investors will be a challenge and you'll be at the end of a long line of people trying to do the same thing as you: convince them to take a chance on you and invest money. So, this is where connecting with 'known entities' will save you time and money. There are lots of brokers, agents and all sorts of other players in the field that will be happy to take a retainer or a fee to find you investors, but the best way around this challenge will be to connect with teams that already are known & trusted by a large rolodex of investors and VC's, such as Aleberry Creative (www.aleberrycreative.com). They are trusted by countless investors who take their calls and listen to them when they bring forward a funding opportunity. And unlike most VC's and Investors, they are eager to receive your call. Rather then spending months and months of anguishing effort trying and failing to connect with the right investors in the right way, teams like Aleberry Creative will quickly get you there, telling you what your presentation and proposal is missing and prepare you for quick, effective conversation with funding partners.

“Rather than spending months and months of anguishing effort trying and failing to connect with the 'right' investors in the 'right' way, teams like Aleberry Creative will quickly get you there ..”

2. Leverage a Business Growth Team

Despite what you might think, your technology or idea, however great it is, rests entirely on the ability of your team to manage the challenging list of business variables, launch and be financially viable and on-tract. Most startups or teams looking for funding are NOT successful, seasoned business entrepreneurs with several 'wins' under their belt. If that sounds like you, then the expertise of your team weights more than the value of your idea.

This is where you must leverage the power of a great growth consulting team: an external, unbiased consultancy that has a wide range of mastery and expertise to ensure that you avoid all the potholes, use all the short cuts and navigate unforeseen challenges with success. The key words are 'external and unbiased' and 'wide range of expertise'. This way, when you engage such a team, even on a nominal basis, Investors will look at your overall approach with much more credibility, authority and confidence. Remember, investors are highly weary of any startup founder who wants to 'run the show alone'. Too many people see themselves as Tony Starks while investors see them as far less experienced and far, far less of a sure bet.

3. Lead with Revenue Generation

Too many startups are keen to focus on spending lots of time on ideation and 'getting things perfect' before they launch. This just shows a fear of taking action, making mistakes or how to handle 'getting things wrong'. A tell-tale sign of a true entrepreneur is someone open to failing fast and failing forward. Our advice: always go out for investment dollars with a few LOI's or strategic partnerships focused on early revenue generation. It shows that your idea has been field tested successfully with a revenue-generation test and, what's more, that you are a entrepreneur who has their eye on creating early, scalable, transactions that can serve as proof of assumptions. That is key to success.

“.. Our advice, always go out for investment dollars with a few key LOI's or strategic partnership focused on early revenue generation...”

Final words of advice, never 'go it alone'. There's an expression that is quite relevant for anyone reading this: " the richest place in the world is a graveyard. It's full of game changing ideas that never came to light ". We've seen some remarkable, should-be-game-changing ideas fail, all because founders were unwilling to get out of their own way. The shortest path to success is to leverage a team smarter and more experienced than you. If you can do this, investors will pick up on that right away, and you'll be more than 80% of the way to seeming like a sound investment. Because at the end of the day, YOU are the investment, and your idea or technology is just a prop on the stage that you use to make the scene happen.