Investment Consulting

Investment readiness is critical to engage and respond to prospective investor opportunities. Investment readiness isn’t just about trying to find partners to invest in your business. The process you go through to attract capital is the same process you undertake when requesting a loan from your bank. It involves having a solid business plan, financials, legal documents, Valuation and Price and your Investment Proposition.

No two paths to investment readiness are the same. But there are a few pointers all investors should consider in the funding journey. However, the following elements need to be incorporated into the pitch. They include details about; your team, financials, Traction of your business, scalability, the size of the market, what tech/IP you have, your offer price and of course your harvest or exit strategy.

There is a myriad of capital raising options depending on your business structure whether you are a sole trader, Trust, Public or Proprietary Company. The suite of funding sources can come from Government Grants, Customer funded – forward sale/ contracts, Angel investors and high net worth individuals, Initial Public Offering (IPO), Crowdfunding, Private equity and venture capital.

Offering an unrealistically high valuation to an investor is the quickest way to lose credibility and diminish investor confidence in you and your business acumen. Some of the common mistakes include having unrealistic business valuation, one presentation will not fit all investors, unrealistic financial projections, lack of due diligence and lack of legal contracts and policies in place.

A sales and marketing plan with a budget and historical performance provides investors with confidence that the business can identify, engage and convert sales into revenue. The plan should clearly set out your target markets, key buyers, the sales channels you will engage and the communications strategy. Investors will also want to see evidence of relationships with existing buyers, a sales track record and agreements with new prospective buyers, (often called an ‘offtake’ agreement).