Financing Value Planter, Grower and Harvester Ideas Businesses
Summary
Sources of funding for value-farming ideas businesses.Key Concepts
- Commercial investors look for ideas people with priorities aligned to their own: making money. It helps to understand investors’ real agenda.
- Ideas people should only work with investors whose values they respect.
- A commercial investor will expect demonstration of an investee’s commitment to their values through some personal exposure of cash.
- Investors typically release cash to businesses in tranches, with each tranche triggered by the achievement of a hard milestone.
- A first customer is a significant milestone, because it proves that someone independent sees that the business is doing something worth paying for.
- Start-up businesses which are serious about raising money should give themselves one clear focus: creating and selling a minimum viable product.
