Raising Capital
Create a document that you will present to raise capital for your idea. Be as convincing as possible because those who invest in start-up businesses have numerous entrepreneurs approaching them. In other words, they have other choices, so your pitch needs to be appealing.
Here are some suggested steps or sub-headings, many of which have been covered in earlier assignments.
- First, describe your idea from a product/service standpoint
- Next, describe the idea from the business standpoint
- How much funding is needed to get this business off the ground
- If you get the funding, for what specific activities do you plan to spend it on
- Suggest why you believe the start-up business you have suggested will work
- Describe the specific market for your product/service – who will buy it and where
- Who are the closest competitors? Describe their offerings.
- Why is your product/service better than some of these competitors
- Create a timeline chart of activities that need to take place for the launch to happen
- Discuss how these activities will help the company advance
- Discuss the management team and the skill-set that they will have to have
- Discuss their wages
- Forecast sales in each quarter (you use annual figures from year 2 onwards if you like)
- Use a chart to discuss how much money is needed to reach breakeven. Keep in mind that all the negative cash flows will have to be covered by an investment or loan. Remember that the amount of funding being requested must be related to how much investment is being requested.
