Business investment is needed. How and where you can find an investor for a project. Where can I find an investor?

Starting a business in many cases requires attracting significant investments. Appropriate capital can play a decisive role in the timely introduction of a startup to a promising market, improving its recognition in the segment, expanding its geography, and modernizing production. Where can you really find an investor? How to build a trusting relationship with him?

For what purpose are they looking for an investor?

Before asking the question of where to find investors, you need to decide for what purpose the search for partners should be carried out. As a rule, this problem is solved by the owner of a commercial enterprise. He requires the assistance of the investor due to the availability of insufficient funds at his personal disposal in order to fully implement the business project. An investor may also be interested in providing the required amount of financing in order to subsequently benefit from the growth of the company’s turnover.

What are the mechanisms for building relationships with investors?

Also, before thinking about where to find investors, an entrepreneur needs to decide on the desired mechanisms for building relationships with a partner. There may be several of these.

First, the relationship between an entrepreneur and a partner who is willing to provide financing may constitute a direct investment. This mechanism involves providing the company with funds in exchange for the partner’s participation in the direct management of the organization and in determining the business development strategy.

Secondly, financing can be raised on portfolio investment terms. This mechanism assumes that a partner, by investing money in business development, simultaneously acquires a share in the ownership of the company. In the first case, the investor's benefit is to participate in the management of a potentially large enterprise and become an influential member of the business community. In the second, the partner, if the company grows, gets the opportunity to significantly increase his capital.

What types of investors are there?

Another nuance that an entrepreneur needs to study before deciding where to find investors is to consider the specifics of the activities of partners who are ready to invest in other businesses. Subjects that become participants in the relevant legal relations can be represented by: individuals, organizations. Both of them, in turn, are classified into venture investors and those who are ready to invest in fundamental projects. Investors can also be Russian and foreign.

Another criterion for classifying entities involved in legal relations with businesses on financing issues is the degree of state participation. There are government agencies, most often foundations, that assist businesses in raising funds or provide them. There are completely private companies.

Crowdfunding

There is a special category of legal relations in the field of investment - crowdfunding. This term corresponds to the mechanism of business means by a large number of people - individual social groups or representing society as a whole. As a rule, investors who provide funds to entrepreneurs through crowdfunding do not impose any obligations on them in terms of exchange for a share in the business or participation in the management of the company. This feature predetermines the great popularity of the corresponding legal relations. Many entrepreneurs, when thinking about where to find investors, first of all turn to crowdfunding.

What might interest an investor?

Let us now consider a number of practical nuances that characterize the relationship between entrepreneurs and partners in terms of business financing. So, before thinking about where to find an investor for a project, you should pay attention to such an aspect as the attractiveness of the business project - those indicators that a potential partner will pay attention to when deciding to invest money in the company. Which ones exactly?

First of all, this is the presence of a sufficiently large market for the sale of goods and services that the company produces. The second indicator is the dynamics of industry development. The investor is interested in ensuring that the product produced by the company is in demand on the market for a long time. If the dynamics of the development of the industry in which the enterprise operates is quite high, then the partner must make sure that the entrepreneur can ensure the timely release of goods that are not inferior to the products of competing enterprises.

Actually, the level of competition is also an important indicator for an investor. At the same time, high may be more preferable for some partners, while low for others. In the first case, the investor and entrepreneur can take advantage of the presence of a fairly stable demand for the product being produced and counteract competitors due to the higher quality or lower price of the products supplied to the market. Low competition is attractive from the point of view of the company's profitability. Of course, provided that there is demand for the goods produced by the company.

Another important criterion for an investor to make a positive decision regarding project financing is the validity of the business plan. The market may have the most favorable conditions, optimal levels of demand and competition, but if the entrepreneur does not provide a plan in accordance with which the company will take advantage of these advantages, the investor may question the prospects for financing the company.

The next factor in a partner making a positive decision on a project is the competence of the team with which the business owner works. Or his personal one. The market situation may be optimal, the business plan may be worked out in detail, but the implementation will not be at the highest level due to the fact that it will be carried out by untrained people.

These are the main factors that an entrepreneur should consider before thinking about where to find an investor for a project. If he successfully solved this problem, you can move on to considering specific mechanisms for finding a partner. Where to find an investor for a startup of a medium or large enterprise in Russia?

How to find an investor for a startup?

Let's start with the specifics of finding partners for a startup founder. The main value of the corresponding type of business is a promising idea. As a rule, it is characterized by originality and dissimilarity with most other concepts. Another significant criterion for assessing the prospects of a startup is the absence of existing businesses in the corresponding segment throughout the country or a particular region.

It happens that an entrepreneur who is solving the problem of where to find an investor in Moscow nevertheless decides to switch to one of the markets in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, since competitors may already be operating in the Russian capital. While in the regions similar businesses will not be very developed or will be completely absent as economic entities.

Above we examined the main mechanisms for attracting investment. If the question is about where to find an investor for a startup, then the optimal schemes in this case would be: attracting crowdfunding. The advantage of both mechanisms is the absence of large risks for the entrepreneur. True, in the case of venture projects, the business owner in most cases has to give up a share in the ownership of the company - the type of financing in question falls under the category of portfolio investments. However, in this case, the partner, as a rule, bears the bulk of the expenses necessary for the The advantages of crowdfunding are also obvious - this is the opportunity to attract a large amount of funds in the absence of obligations to investors in most cases.

Where can you find an investor who is ready to invest in a startup within the framework of one scheme or another?

If we talk about venture projects, there are a large number of specialized funds that are actively involved in the relevant legal relations. They exist both in the Russian Federation and abroad, and are represented by both public and private structures. Sometimes it is enough just to find a suitable venture project or venture fund, and then get acquainted with the proposals of the relevant companies regarding the prospects of partnership with private organizations.

How to find investors and where to look for them when it comes to crowdfunding? This format of legal relations is almost entirely online. There are a number of the largest ones - both Russian and foreign. Using them is quite simple, but it is important to create a competent description of the business project and tell potential investors about its advantages.

How to look for an investor for a small business?

Let's now consider where to find an investor for a small business. This format of the enterprise’s activity assumes that the company is not a startup, but an already functioning business with more or less acceptable turnover. Investments in this case are sought in order to expand or modernize production, conduct a large-scale marketing campaign in order to increase brand awareness in the region, country or abroad. As a rule, small businesses are financed with the participation of investors who specialize in building fundamental partnerships with private firms.

Venture investments allow for a scenario in which the partner, in principle, will not be able to return his own investments, since the business will be unprofitable. In turn, a fundamental partnership assumes that the investor will be able to at least ensure a zero return on his investments, and in the future, significantly increase capital through the growth of the enterprise.

Where to find an investor for a small business? Such problems, as a rule, are solved during personal meetings between entrepreneurs and potential partners who are ready to invest money in the development of the company. They can be held as part of specialized events - business conferences, round tables, presentations. It is possible for an entrepreneur and an investor to communicate in an informal setting, for example at a corporate party to which they were invited. Fundamental investing is a common type of activity among financial funds. Information about them can also be found in search engines.

How to find an investor for a medium or large enterprise?

Where can I find an investor for a business that is a medium or large enterprise? It is noteworthy that a large-scale established company, at least classified as a medium-sized business, as a rule, in itself is a desirable investment object for an experienced financier, since it is an operating profitable business. Therefore, it is possible that you may not have to look for a partner willing to invest money in the company if it meets the criteria of a large enterprise.

However, another question may well be relevant - where to find a private investor who would be a reliable partner, ready to build a constructive dialogue on business development issues. It is resolved, as a rule, in non-public ways - through communication with major financiers within private channels. But in some cases, it is possible to find an investor at large events, especially if we are talking, for example, about international exhibitions. The prospects for building relationships with partners largely depend on the area of business.

Thus, solving the question “where to find an investor for construction” may differ significantly from such a task as finding a partner in the field of information technology. The construction business and IT are areas with different profitability and development dynamics. Each of them requires special investor competencies when assessing the prospects for investing in a particular company. But, of course, there are financiers who are equally well versed in both construction and information technology. Thus, the investment search strategy largely depends on the size of the company, as well as on the sector of the economy in which the company is represented. For startups, one approach will be more justified, and for small businesses, medium-sized and large firms, other strategies.

It will also be useful to consider a number of recommendations for entrepreneurs who decide to find an investor and establish a trusting relationship with him. Let's study those strategies that can be characterized as universal, sufficiently suitable for a business of any size - startup, small, medium or large enterprise.

How to find an investor and establish a relationship with him: recommendations

Actually, it is useful to search for an investor in those social environments in which people engaged in activities close to the company’s profile communicate. Where finding a private investor for construction is not a problem, it can be quite difficult to establish interaction with a person who might be interested in the sales field. Effective investing is largely the result of high competence, most often achieved within the narrow specialization of the financier.

Investment experts advise company owners to first tell potential partners what other sources of financing are expected to be used and what their actual availability is. This approach will allow the investor to understand his own role in relations with the business and assess his readiness to comply with it. So, if the company also uses credit funds, then its owner can make it clear to the partner that he can count on a smaller share in the business than if the investor financed the project individually.

Another important nuance is the discussion of the conditions for changing the initially reached agreements. It may turn out that during the course of development the project will begin to show greater or less profitability (or dynamics of return on investment) than expected by the business owner or investor, as a result of which it may be preferable for them to change the order of their own participation in the company’s activities.

An entrepreneur should discuss with his partner the reporting procedure for certain business transactions and its composition. Some investors require the preparation of only accounting documentation of the appropriate type, while others prefer to also receive these nuances. It is useful to clarify these nuances at the very early stages of the partnership.

It is therefore important not only where to find a business investor, but also how to establish a long-term partnership with him. A high level of competence in entrepreneurship is always valued. Therefore, investors will also be interested in building an effective partnership. You need to be able to listen to him and take into account the interests he expresses.

Summary

So, we looked at the question of where to find a real private investor. Its successful resolution depends on the scope of the company’s activities, its scale, the level of competence of the entrepreneur and the specialists he attracts. An important role is played by other conditions of financing of the company, as well as the willingness of its owner, if necessary, to revise the agreements reached with the investor in order to build long-term partnerships.

Anna Sokolova

Step-by-step instructions and pitfalls

We have already made detailed selections about where to go for a startup with a bare idea and where to get money for business in various niches, but this did not stop the flow of questions from newcomers. This time we have combined Rusbase training materials into a single logical chain to guide even beginners.

Where to start looking for investments? People who ask us this question are usually at the idea stage. To attract investment, they will have to go through a long and labor-intensive journey: thoroughly develop an idea, study competitors, assemble a team, create a working prototype of a product, make a competent presentation, register in online services to find an investor, upgrade to an accelerator, participate in competitions, make acquaintances at events, find potential investors and write them a lot of letters, read the specialized press and try to get on its pages.

Some points here are optional, some people do without them, but the general algorithm is as follows. Passing it in itself does not guarantee attracting investments - it all depends on you and your product. But without a presentation and understanding of the investment market, you definitely won’t see it.

What to do with the idea?

Work it out! Your brilliant idea is worthless until it starts attracting an audience and making money. Without a working prototype and a team, investors won’t even listen to you - unless, of course, you are already known in the market as a successful serial entrepreneur. By investing in an idea, an investor risks not only money, but also his reputation. To prove your ability to run a business, you need to independently find at least the minimum resources to create a product.

Often, startupers are afraid to tell experts about their brilliant idea, thinking that it will be stolen. In fact, an idea is worthless until it is implemented. This simple truth is reflected in the fifth paragraph of Article 1259 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation: copyright does not apply to ideas, concepts, principles, methods, processes, systems, methods, solutions to technical, organizational or other problems, discoveries, facts, programming languages. You can secure intellectual rights only for technology, unique design and software. Learn more about your copyright protection options.

Moreover, the idea almost always turns out to be not new if you thoroughly study the market. Even if the product is unique, you can usually find substitute products, albeit with different properties. An investor will never believe that you have no competitors at all. He will think that you haven’t probed the waters well and that you shouldn’t be given money.

Before you approach venture capitalists, you need to understand the difference between a startup and a small business. In the public consciousness, the word “startup” often means the initial stage of business development. In fact, this is a special type of enterprise that implies product innovation, global ambitions and rapid growth. If you want to open a traditional business (for example, an atelier or a flower stall), then you will have different investors and a different strategy. Venture investors still prefer projects related to IT and innovation.

Where to look for a team?

To get even a fraction of an investor's attention, you need a working prototype and a team. It’s difficult to create a product alone, so you need to try to infect someone else with your idea.

Experienced entrepreneurs advise attracting like-minded people at startup events. Especially at hackathons, where you can see a person in action. You can search for competent co-founders using special services - for example, on the website CoFoundIt.ru, which recently launched IIDF (the base is formed from accelerator graduates). You can also always make inquiries from friends or call out on social networks, but in this case there is less chance of snagging an experienced specialist.

More information about team formation can be found here:

If you already have an MVP

A working prototype is not like a landing page with empty forms. At the investment search stage, it should already be tested by potential clients. You also need to come up with and be able to clearly explain a business model - how you will earn money per unit of product.

If theoretical knowledge did not help you understand the idea, MVP and monetization strategy, you can turn to product development specialists. For example, this is done by the company Create, whose services will cost you from 150 thousand to 1 million rubles, depending on the amount of work.

Well, if you have a working prototype, you can start looking for an investor. To do this, you will need a thoughtful, compelling presentation that will become the basis for your pitch.

But before you dive into the intricacies of creating perfect slides, you should think hard: do you really need an investor? It is important to understand that investment is not a panacea. Business is not built on them, but on customers and sales. If this is not the case, then no investor will help you. It is best to attract investments to increase sales, because the essence of a startup is rapid growth. If you develop well, investors will come to you themselves, you’ll see.

So sometimes you just don't need an investor. Some startupers generally manage to develop a company only with their own money - this is called bootstrapping, which translates from English as belt-tightening. And this approach has a lot of advantages - for example, complete freedom of decision-making and serious development of entrepreneurial skills.

In addition, there are hundreds of free or cheap services on the Internet that will save you money, effort and time when solving various business problems.

How to make a presentation for a startup?

Investors are doomed to watch hundreds of presentations a year - respect their time. The presentation should be concise and well-structured, that is, contain visual information about the team, product, market, audience, business model and capitalization.

Read about the rules for creating a successful presentation here:

If you still can't combine these tips and our free templates into a high-quality presentation, you can.

But beautiful and clear slides alone are not enough for investors - they want to hear about money and their profits. To prepare for tricky questions in advance, first read these materials:

Search for investments through startup databases

When you already have a product and clear outlines of the project (which are outlined in the presentation), you can register with online investment search services. Investors are looking for projects there in the niches they need. Posting in startup databases is usually free, but projects undergo moderation, the severity of which depends on the resource’s policy.

Rusbase Pipeline adds startups only if there is a working prototype and signs of demand (we currently have about 350 projects in our database), investors - only if they are ready to invest at least $50 thousand in one project (their list exceeds 200 names).
StartTrack is a crowdinvesting platform from IIDF that helps investors enter into joint deals. A startup needs to pay a commission to attract investments. There are currently 725 investors and 37 projects in the StartTrack database. This ratio hints that the site’s requirements for startups are quite high.
Spark is a service for finding an investor who has retrained as a technology project crowd (similar to Habr), where you can share experiences and post vacancies. There are 4249 projects in the database, 1329 of which are seeking investment.
Napartner is one of the first startup exchanges on the Russian market. As indicated on the website, there are 1,139 registered investors, 9,892 “innovators” and 456 projects seeking investment. There is also a section for selling ready-made businesses and a vacancies section.
Askcap is perhaps the largest Russian startup database. According to the project’s own information, the site contains profiles of 5,410 projects, most of which are available only to authorized users. 163 partners work with Askcap - venture funds, incubators, accelerators and technology parks.
AngelList is the world's leading service for finding startups and investments, which has spawned many clones (ours are listed above). Its database includes 1,589 startups and 378 investors from Russia. AngelList provides opportunities for co-investment in projects, posting vacancies and resumes.

Participation in competitions and other events

Competitions help to gain valuable competitive experience, and if you win, a grant and the attention of investors (including through reporting publications in the media). In Russia and abroad, competitions, hackathons and free educational programs for startupers are regularly organized - it is convenient to follow this flow of opportunities with our tag.

It can also be helpful to go to industry events, especially if you're new to the venture scene. There you can listen to successful technology entrepreneurs, meet potential investors, catch the main trends, talk about your project and get feedback. Of course, moderation is needed in everything - connections and parties alone cannot promote a project. We collect the main events of the startup industry in the “Entrepreneur Calendar” section.

Active search for an investor

If you haven’t found an investor at events, you can try writing to venture funds. Try it - because cold and warm contacts do not work well in such matters, the most effective means has always been and will be personal acquaintance.

Before writing a letter to an investor, it is critical to make sure that your project matches their preferences. Funds usually indicate on their websites what niches and stages of startups they are interested in. If not, then you can still guess about it from the list of portfolio companies (which should be studied in any case). To compile a list of funds to which you can send your project for consideration, you can use our database of investors - there are convenient filters by niche and stage.

What to write to an investor? Before you sit down to write, you need to carefully study the foundation’s website. Fan mailings to investors never worked. Also, under no circumstances should you write from someone else’s mailbox. In order not to be left without an answer, you need to accurately formulate the subject of the letter, adequately introduce yourself and the project (and yes, ask a literate friend to proofread the text for errors) and explain why your startup is relevant to the fund (for example, it is similar to or complements one of the portfolio projects). If the letter consists only of a link to the attached presentation, it simply will not be opened.

And let's talk about where and how to find an investor. This question, I think, interests many people who have certain business ideas, but do not have the capital to implement them. So, let's look at several options on how to find an investor for a business, for a startup.

Today, banks continue to be the main source of financing. They can lend to businesses, but not with their own funds, but with the money of their investors, making money on it. However, getting even at high interest rates turns out to be not so easy. It’s one thing if an entrepreneur who already has an existing business, income that allows him to repay the loan, and property that can be mortgaged applies for a loan - the bank will most likely lend to him. But if this is some inventor who has nothing in his heart other than developing a business idea, in almost 100% of cases he will receive, no matter how promising and super-profitable his idea is.

Banks do not look at business from the investors' point of view. They don’t care how promising, useful and profitable the idea is. They want to be sure that the borrower already has the ability to repay the loan received along with interest. For this reason, many aspiring entrepreneurs cannot turn to banks, but are thinking about how to find an investor and looking for private investments.

So, where to find an investor for a business? We can say that the bank option of lending to a startup is unlikely. Let's consider other options.

1. Contact relatives, friends, acquaintances. As practice shows, this option most often really helps to find an investor for your project. In this case, we are not talking about simply taking it for free, and not about borrowing money at interest, but about making it out of your relative, friend, colleague, boss, etc. a business partner who constantly receives income from a project that, thanks to him, you can implement.

This option is most likely if you don’t need too much money - someone among your friends probably has it. The main thing is to be able to competently convince them of the feasibility of such an investment, which will make it possible to regularly receive additional money.

2. Find a business angel. When thinking about where to find an investor for a business, it is worth considering the option of turning to the so-called. These are private investors, usually united in various communities, clubs, associations, who are ready to invest their capital (individually or jointly) in promising startups and business projects. Several large and a number of small communities of business angels already operate in Russia, Ukraine and other countries; you can easily find their coordinates on the Internet.

This option, first of all, will be interesting if you are planning something grandiose and are looking for private investment on a large scale. Business angels, as a rule, do not consider financing in small amounts.

3. Find an investor on the Internet. A very common option for finding a private investor for a business or startup, which is usually the first to be tried by those in need of money. They simply type phrases like “private investor”, “private investment”, “private investor for business”, “private investment for business”, etc. into search engines. and study the search results.

Of course, in this case, there are many more people wanting to find an investor than there are investors looking for promising ideas for investing capital. In addition, there are a lot of scammers in this area who, posing as private investors, defraud people of all kinds of contributions and advance payments, and then disappear. Therefore, it is difficult to find an investor this way, but it is possible.

4. Crowdfunding. In our countries, this phenomenon, meaning “crowd help” or “popular financing,” appeared relatively recently, but is already rapidly gaining momentum. At the same time, crowdfunding has already become more widespread in developed Western countries. If you are thinking about how to find an investor for a startup or business, be sure to consider this option.

The essence of crowdfunding is that a person publishes his idea on specialized websites and in social network communities dedicated to crowdfunding, as well as the conditions for investors to participate in it: the conditions under which he wants to attract private investment. Everyone takes part in the project, and so, through contributions of varying sizes from a large number of people, the required amount is collected.

Now crowdfunding, in addition to attracting investments in business projects, is actively used in such areas as financing non-profit projects (amateur music recording, film making, book publishing, organizing festivals, etc.).

It should be mentioned here that some authors of business ideas are very sensitive to their developments and will not post them anywhere, especially in detail, for fear that the idea will be stolen. Unfortunately, such people are unlikely to be able to find an investor, since no investor will finance a “pig in a poke.” And the business idea itself, as a rule, is worth nothing. Search the Internet and you will find thousands of business ideas, including new, creative ones, which are posted absolutely free of charge, and even with a detailed business plan for their implementation.

Thus, if you are thinking about how to find an investor, be prepared to disclose your business idea in detail to the whole world.

5. Contact banks for a loan. Well, in conclusion, I will once again outline the option with which I started, with the caveat that it is suitable only for those who have income and collateral, if a large amount of investment is required. If you need a small amount, you can take it without collateral, which often does not even require a certificate of income, however, you should understand that such a loan will be significantly more expensive, and that a loan is not an investment - it will have to be repaid along with interest in any case , even if the implementation of the business idea fails.

I have offered you some tips on how and where to find a private investor for a business or startup. Analyze, choose, try. As they say, the one who walks can master the road.

For its part, the site will always give you free advice on investing and effective management of personal finances. Stay with us, follow the updates, participate in discussions on the website and forum, where, by the way, you can propose and discuss your business ideas, and perhaps you can find an investor. See you again!

Having started a business, an entrepreneur often feels an urgent need for an influx of additional funds. He can fill the financial gap by taking out a loan from a bank, or he can try to attract investors.

Doing the latter is usually much more difficult. How to find an investor? What nuances of communication with them should be taken into account? How to determine the chances of an enterprise to receive the desired amount of investment?

Investments: what are they?

Before we talk about ways to attract investment in business, let's take a short theoretical excursion. Let's define our conceptual apparatus. What is investment? What varieties are they represented today?

In modern economic theory, investment classification is carried out on the basis of a variety of criteria. There are three generally accepted among experts: the object of financing, the method of investment, and the strategy for their implementation.

According to the first criterion, investments are divided into the following types:

so-called “real” investments;
financial investments.

According to the criterion reflecting the financing method, investments are divided into:

direct (directive);
"portfolio"

According to the criterion of the applied strategy, investments are:

risk-free;
moderate;
aggressive (“venture”).

The most important thing that an entrepreneur should understand is that in the modern capitalist world there are practically no “ideological” investors who are ready to simply invest in a business based on personal sympathy for the project. Many businessmen, as experts note, show some naivety. They think: “I’ll find an investor and immediately get rich.” But such thoughts are fundamentally wrong. First of all, the one who will invest in business will get rich - these are the laws of capitalism.

Who is he - an investor?

Subjects of investment in business can be a variety of groups of individuals and organizations. There are quite a lot of classification criteria here. The generally accepted types of investment subjects among economic theorists are as follows:

Russian government organizations (foundations, government and municipal structures, state-owned enterprises);
private companies registered in the Russian Federation (LLC, JSC);
individuals - citizens of the Russian Federation;
foreign government organizations;
private foreign firms;
individuals who are citizens of other states.

Where can I find an investor from these categories? There are many options. The easiest way is to go through the relevant portals and numerous forums. You can periodically review magazines on economic and business topics. In the texts of materials and interviews that are published there, contacts of a variety of funds that provide investment support to entrepreneurs are regularly found. A completely working way is to attend business exhibitions and conferences. Representatives of various organizations often make presentations at them. A regular guest at such meetings is a private investor. You can find an opportunity to chat with him during coffee breaks or after the event. As a rule, such people are very open in communication and easily engage in dialogue.

How to find an investor who would prioritize investing in companies operating in a specific field (in IT technologies, for example)? In this case, experts advise purchasing industry magazines and attending conferences and seminars where representatives of companies operating in a certain segment speak.

People who are ready to invest in a business can act either as a single person or in various formats of consolidation with others. How to find an investor who is guaranteed to be ready to finance a project? The strategy for finding a source of investment will depend on what type of cash flow we need. In turn, this is determined by the nature of the business, the area where business activity is carried out and a number of other factors. Let's consider these nuances.

Real investment

Real investments mean investments in various types of assets. This may be the allocation of funds for the purchase of certain resources or the supply of them to the entrepreneur in ready-made forms. That is, for example, if a business needs processing machines, then an investor can make a “real” investment by allocating funds for the purchase of equipment or providing a partner with ready-made samples of units.

The “ideal” investors for projects of this type are government funds. Why? As experts say, such organizations tend to keep the progress of investment projects under control. This is much easier to do if the subject of monitoring is a real asset.

The ideal business that has the greatest chance of receiving such financing is a small or medium-sized manufacturing enterprise (producing goods) that has been on the market for 3-5 years or more.

How to find a “real” investor? What might make a person or organization interested in investing in a company's assets? Experts recommend trying the following tactics:

Show how profits have grown over the years and the company’s management strategy has been improved;

Make it clear that the owner of the company is an experienced and competent person;

Show that the business is stable: there are suppliers, sales are established.

Usually, if the company is profitable and the sales market is large enough, there are no problems with finding an investor willing to invest in the “real” assets of the entrepreneur.

Financial investments

Financial investments mean the injection of funds into shares, shares and other types of securities issued by a company (or structures owned by it in the form of joint-stock companies, foreign legal entities, offshore companies, etc.).

Ideal investors for investments of this type are private (Russian and foreign) funds. Why? In contrast to state-owned companies, which are very conservative in their attitude to the speculative component of business, private business quite allows for serious injections into the securities of enterprises.

The ideal type of company for this type of investment is a large, federal or international organization operating for 5 years or more. Finding an investor for a small business within the framework of such a strategy will be problematic. Most likely, the overall level of capitalization of the company will not be enough to service the turnover of shares.

How to interest a financial investor? Experts offer the following options:

Show that the company's shares are resistant to industry crisis trends (against the background of securities of competing companies);

Tell about other investors who have successfully invested in the company;

Convince a person considering the possibility of pouring financial flow into a business that the business model is workable.

People and organizations with a good understanding of financial markets tend to operate in large cities. Therefore, the greatest likelihood of meeting such entities and finding an investor in one of them is in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan and other major financial centers.

Direct investments

Direct investments are understood as cash injections, the object of which is the authorized capital of business companies. As a rule, we are talking about the purchase by a person investing financial resources of a controlling stake, a leading share, etc. If, say, citizen Ivanov says: “I bought Petrov’s business,” then this means that he made a direct investment in the business.

These types of acquisitions, in the theory of some economists, are often of a political nature (that is, they are often aimed not at making a profit, but also at increasing influence in certain areas at the municipal, district or even national level). Often, experts note, direct investments are unprofitable in financial terms.

Ideal investor: an influential person or organization, an oligarch, a major political figure (can be either a citizen of the Russian Federation or a foreigner). Why? These subjects of the business arena are ready for the fact that a potential investment object will not bring profit; they see it as a source of increasing their importance in certain areas.

Ideal business: city-forming enterprise, IT project of federal or international scale (for example, a social network, an anti-virus company with a powerful product, etc.).

How to find investors for a business who are ready, like citizen Ivanov, to buy it? The great thing is that you most likely won’t have to do this in this case. If the project is worth the investment, the investor will come himself. Many experts think so, and we can probably agree with this.

Portfolio investment

When citizen Ivanov says: “I invested in Petrov’s business” (which looks quite contrasting with his previous “statement”), this means that he made a portfolio investment. This type of operation means the transfer of funds in favor of business assets with the subsequent goal of receiving income upon growth of capitalization (company revenue).

Example. Petrov's company has a capitalization of 1 million rubles. Citizen Ivanov came and offered the entrepreneur a deal. Petrov's company receives 200 thousand rubles of investment in exchange for a 20 percent stake in the company. The entrepreneur agrees. The business turns out to be successful, and a year later Petrov’s company grows to 2 million rubles. Ivanov, as we remember, having invested 200 thousand, received a share in it of 20%. Which is now equal to 400 thousand rubles.

The most interesting question regarding portfolio investments is the following: how to determine the very share that the entrepreneur will cede to the investor? There is no clear answer to this, but experienced experts recommend following these principles:

In any case, retain the controlling stake;

Give a percentage of ownership of the business, assessing the likely volume of subsequent rounds of investment (if there are any other investors in the future, a “reserve” of equity participation should also be set aside for them).

Risk-free investments

This kind of investment is aimed at extracting a practically guaranteed profit (usually small). This type of investment is comparable (and for the most part very similar) to a bank deposit, when the investor, having invested money for a certain period, returns it with interest. Legally, relations between an investor and entrepreneurs within the framework of transactions of this type are formalized, as a rule, in the form of loan agreements or the purchase of bonds.

What is the ideal risk-free investment subject? This is a state fund, a large corporation. Why? For both, stability is very important. Profitability comes second.

Ideal business: a large public or private corporation with a very large capitalization (allowing it to service bonds and loans).

How to interest an investor? Experts believe this is possible:

By publishing financial statements in an extremely transparent manner;

Showing actual performance results (market coverage, ratings, etc.);

Convince the sustainability of the business model.

Moderate investment

The main criterion here is the guaranteed absence of losses for the investor, regardless of how the business goes, but subject to a sufficiently high probability of extracting greater profits than with the first type of strategy.

Example. Ivanov tells Petrov that he is ready to invest in his business. The conditions are as follows: the contract period is three years, and if during this time the company grows, the investor will receive a profit in proportion to the increase in capitalization. If the business goes negative, the entrepreneur returns the amount of investment without profit. Let’s say Ivanov invested 1 million rubles, while Petrov’s company had a capitalization of 10 million. Option one: after three years the company grew to 15 million. Ivanov will thus receive 1.5 million rubles. Option two: in three years the company

Petrova loses 30% in capitalization. Ivanov, in accordance with the agreement, receives the invested 1 million back without any additional payments. Legally, the relationship between an entrepreneur and an investor can be formalized in the form of an option agreement for the purchase and sale of shares. That is, Ivanov, at the moment of signing an agreement with Petrov, buys securities from him and receives an option - the right to sell them - at the price that will be in three years.

This strategy helps very well in solving the question of “how to find an investor for production.” As a rule, expanding the capacity of a factory or plant means that the entrepreneur has found some new markets. Therefore, there is a high probability that the investor will want to finance an increase in the volume of production of goods for which demand is expected to increase. Due to similar patterns, using this strategy, you can find an investor for construction. Who, having seen the prospects for developing new markets, may decide to finance the construction of new, commercially in demand facilities.

Ideal investors: private funds, individuals (Russians and foreigners).

Ideal business: small and medium-sized enterprise, service company, catering facility, operating on the market for 1-2 years or more.

How to attract an investor? According to experts, this is what you should do:

Show the dynamics of profit growth and, no less important, in combination with the amount of costs;

Make it clear what principles the business model operates on and how sustainable it is;

Show that nothing prevents the company from developing (the sales market is large enough, there are no crisis trends, etc.).

Venture investments

This type of investment involves the greatest risks for the investor, but contains the possibility of receiving very large profits. The relationship between the entrepreneur and the entity investing funds allows for 100% unprofitability based on the results of doing business. However, the investor’s profit can amount to hundreds or even thousands of percent.

Example. Petrov developed a technology for producing wear-free socks using nanotechnology and invited Ivanov to invest 10 million rubles. into their industrial production. He agreed. According to the agreement between the businessman and the investor, the second received 80% of the company's shares and retained this share regardless of the company's success.

Option one: the whole world began to buy Petrov’s innovative socks. In three years, the company's capitalization has grown to $10 billion. 8 of which now belong to Ivanov. Option two: Petrov’s innovative socks turned out to be unclaimed. The company's loss amounted to 7 million rubles. Ivanov ultimately remains the owner of a share estimated at 80% of the remaining capital of the company, that is, assets worth 2.4 million, and has no claims against Petrov.

Of course, the above story is more fiction than reality. The venture market is a place where finding investors for a business is incredibly difficult. As a rule, funds and individuals who prefer an aggressive investment strategy choose 1-2 entrepreneurial projects out of 100. Having selected 10-15, they expect (and, as many experts believe, not unreasonably) the bankruptcy of 7-8 of them, that is, more half. And only due to the success of other companies do they recoup expenses and turn a profit.

An ideal business for this type of investment: a startup, a small organization that has just entered the market or is just about to do so. Venture strategy is one of the best ways to find an investor to start a business, despite the difficulties described above. The main thing here is not to stop searching, to offer, to act. And then the company will have a chance to get into those same 1-2 “elite” percent.

Ideal venture investors: private organizations (including those that specialize in this type of investment), individuals. Interestingly, this may also include some government funds. In particular, those aimed at supporting innovation. Thus, government agencies are gradually becoming the place where it is quite possible for even a novice entrepreneur to find an investor.

How to attract financing? Experts recommend the following tactics:

Tell the investor in detail about the target market, about who will definitely buy the innovative product;

Make it clear why the promoted product or service is better than solutions from competitors;

Tell us about the success of promoting a similar product (if there are such precedents) in other markets.

Attracting investments: tools

How is interaction between entrepreneurs and investors carried out in practice? Experts identify the following main mechanisms.

1. Personal communication with the investor

Most funds have offices, and with them - structures responsible for the “personal reception” of entrepreneurs, where experts sit and assess the prospects of businesses whose owners come looking for investments. Many economists consider this method of searching for investors to be one of the most effective. At least due to the fact that the proposal will be guaranteed to be considered. If an entrepreneur chooses a strategy of personal visits to foundations, then it is better for him to temporarily move to a large city where there are many such organizations (if he does not live in such a locality himself). Finding an investor in Moscow is much easier than in remote regions.

2. Remote communication (correspondence, phone calls, Skype)

As a rule, this method of interaction is relevant for cases where an entrepreneur lives in one country and an investor lives in another (or they are separated by significant distances). One of the advantages of this method is the ability to interact with several funds from different states and cities at once. You can solve the problem of how to find an investor in Moscow, and at the same time communicate with companies from the USA and Singapore. In this case, the chances of attracting financing increase significantly.

3. Public addresses of the entrepreneur

There is an option in which a businessman does not visit any specific structure, but addresses the entire business community. The main “platform” where it will be easiest to find a private investor will be the company’s website, the personal blog of its founder or his page on a social network. The most popular method of interaction with the public is crowdfunding, in which absolutely anyone can invest in a business.

You can attract investors through several channels at once. This is a common practice for businessmen today (especially startups). The main thing is not to retreat, to convince yourself: “I will find an investor.” Unlike banks, which either give a loan or not (and then some time must pass before the next application), people who decide to invest in someone's business can change their minds.

Having refused an entrepreneur today, the investor may well change his mind and give consent tomorrow. This nuance, experts believe, is one of the key ones in building a successful strategy for attracting funds to business. Don’t just think about how to find a private investor. As we said above, in the modern capitalist space there are also interested state structures.

It is difficult for a novice entrepreneur to organize his own business, since starting even a small business requires significant financial investments. Where can I get this money? The fastest and most reasonable way is to attract an investor - a person who will contribute his capital in exchange for part of the profit or shares. An investor can become a partner of a company, and often an assistant in development, because he is no less interested in the business generating income than the owner.

Where can a businessman get money to develop his business?

Until the business begins to generate income, not a single day will pass - all this time the entrepreneur spends funds on rent, paperwork, payment of wages, purchase of equipment, consumables, products and for other purposes. You can get start-up capital from several sources:

Personal savings is a long, but most reliable way, in which you need to set aside a portion of your income every month;
Bank loan – they are reluctant to provide money to start a business, requiring collateral, so more often entrepreneurs take out consumer loans, but the amount is limited;
Borrowing money from relatives is a good method if you have a wealthy loved one who is ready to borrow a large amount;
Search for an investor - an individual, a company, an association of people, it can also be business angels - specialists in investing in start-up entrepreneurs;
Finding a partner - in this case, the business will have to be divided in proportion to the amount of investment; it is better to look for a financially literate person, not a beginner;
Starting a related business - for example, if you want to open a car service service, you can start with tire fitting, and when you have profit and experience, expand your business;
Receiving a subsidy from the state - provided by the employment center, district administration, business support department, but the amount of injection is small, reporting is required;
Crowdfunding is the collection of funds through a special platform from ordinary people, but for this you need to propose an unusual business idea, interest the audience, and conduct an advertising campaign.

Experts and experienced businessmen are sure: borrowing money or resorting to credit is not the best idea for an entrepreneur. It is better to use your savings or attract investors by concluding a cooperation agreement with them.

Step-by-step instructions on how to attract an investor?

Beginner entrepreneurs don’t understand how to find an investor for a small business from scratch? To attract capital to develop your business, you need to draw up a well-thought-out business plan, choose a convenient form of cooperation, find professionals, negotiate and conclude a cooperation agreement.

How to prepare a business project?

A business plan is the business card of an entrepreneur; it is this project that potential investors will study when assessing the attractiveness of financial investments. Please note that the investor is not interested in how original the idea is, what prospects it promises for you personally, he wants to know what profit he can get. The business project must contain:

a brief and detailed description of the idea and the plan for its implementation;
calculation of starting capital;
analysis of real benefits for the investor - also with calculations and reasonable conclusions;
the payback period during which the income will be received;
investment prospects.

If a business plan is drawn up by a beginner, he may make typical mistakes due to inexperience, which will scare off investors; sometimes it is better to invite specialists to prepare documents or ask for help from businessmen you know.

How to choose the appropriate form of cooperation?

The form of cooperation is chosen by the businessman together with the investor, but first it is worth calculating the benefits of each model and determining the most effective way of interaction. An investor can earn income in several ways:

percentage of the deposited amount, as with lending;
part of the profit from the implementation of the idea;
share in the business – re-registration of ownership rights will be required;
finished products or services - relevant for investors involved in a related industry, for example, if a businessman opens a company for the delivery of motor oils, and the investor has his own auto parts store.

During the negotiations, the investor may insist on a different scheme of cooperation; it is often more profitable for the entrepreneur to make concessions than to lose the opportunity to receive funds.

How to turn to experienced businessmen for help?

It is difficult to independently develop your business and look for investors without experience. It is better to ask for help from other businessmen who will provide assistance if cooperation is possible between you on favorable terms in the future. Who to contact? For example:

if you produce food products, contact store owners;
if you plan to carry out transportation - to businessmen who rent out cars or need regular cargo delivery;
if you want to open a flower kiosk, go to flower suppliers;
you are going to sell farm products to the owners of private household plots.

Experienced businessmen will advise you on the pitfalls and features of the chosen industry, help you study this issue more closely and prepare a detailed business project.

How to negotiate?

The first meeting with an investor is always a presentation of the project, presentation of the business plan and coverage of the main issues that may arise. You need to carefully prepare for the meeting so that the investor understands several points:

you have financial literacy;
have excellent command of the topic;
offer a fresh and interesting idea;
the investor will be able to make a profitable investment;
there is no doubt about the honesty of the businessman and the reality of the project;
what risks exist in this industry.

During negotiations, the emphasis should be placed not on how new the business will be, but on outlining the benefits of investing.

How to conclude a cooperation agreement with an investor?

When an investor is found, the project is presented, consent is obtained, all that remains is to prepare an agreement on the investment of capital. In this matter, it is better to involve a lawyer and check that the document contains the following:

terms of investment;
payment method;
the amount the investor contributes;
rights and obligations of the parties;
procedure for action in case of violations.

The money received from the investor must be used only for business development - this is directly stated in the contract.

How to interest investors in a business plan?

collect information about the investor, eliminating possible misunderstandings;
carefully calculate the amount of investment that is needed;
do not delay the implementation of the project;
outline specific goals;
analyze the market, competitors, and the situation in the industry so that the investor understands that you have worked on this topic well;
do not hide important information and facts from the investor.

Of course, a businessman wants to present his project in the most favorable light, so data is often embellished and calculations turn out to be overly optimistic. An experienced investor will definitely ask about the fate of the project in the event of negative developments; you need to be prepared for this question.

Finding an investor is not so easy, because the number of business projects created every day is only growing, and the level of competition for raised funds is increasing. To find an investor, you need to approach your search wisely, following these tips:

Start your search as early as possible, as this process can take several months. You need to look for an investor after you have calculated the prospects of the business and assessed the benefits of implementing the idea. The main mistake of newcomers: they use their funds for development, and when the capital runs out, business goes into decline, they begin to look for injections from outside, but such a project most often turns out to be uninteresting for investors;
Contact someone who can really help. If the investor is large, it is not worth going to him, offering to invest in a small business, but if it is a small company, then it simply will not have enough capital to invest;
Name the specific amount that is needed - there is no need to indicate a range, for example, from 500 to 900 thousand rubles, the number should be accurate, and the spread should be minimal.

An experienced investor knows that it is better to invest in projects with balanced income and risk. The goals of an entrepreneur must be specific, and the idea itself must be relevant, allowing for profit in the future.

How to find an investor - review of specialized sites

In the era of Internet development, it is impossible to imagine searching for investors without the use of remote technologies. For this purpose, there are special platforms where businessmen can “meet” and come to an agreement with potential investors. The following platforms are popular in Russia:

Boomstarter is a crowdfunding platform focused on raising finance for the implementation of creative projects;
Planeta.ru – allows you to find an investor and implement socially significant, creative ideas; about 800 thousand people are registered on the portal;
Nachinanie.ru is a platform for collective financing of projects - religious, educational, socially significant;
Eastwestgroup – here the investor search services are paid, but the assessment of a business project is carried out free of charge, the company has been professionally attracting investments for over 10 years;
Start2Up is a message board for investors and aspiring entrepreneurs; projects in the fields of the Internet, education, art, and culture are popular.

Finding an investor to develop your business is not an easy task, but it is a feasible task with the right approach. The main thing is to propose a relevant idea, draw up a well-thought-out business plan, and accurately calculate the benefits of investments. A potential investor will be interested in an honest project with low risks, a sufficient amount of income during the implementation process, and also with a financially literate owner.

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