How to Choose a Venture Capital Partner

The most fruitful way to raise venture capital is to choose a couple of venture capital firms in order to target along with your business proposition. The key areas to assess are the stage of the development of your company, finance requirement and industry sector where business functions.

Go for only those venture capital firms whose preference for investment match with the following attributes.

Stage Of Investment

Various terms are used by these venture capital firms depending on the stage of development of the company.

Seed:

This means development of a business concept that involves creation of business plan, additional research and prototypes before bringing a product into the market and commencing its large scale production. The venture capital firms undertake just a few seed financings every year. However companies can approach some venture capital firms according to their investment preferences.

Start-up:

Startups are those companies who are in the process to be set up and may have been into business for a short time but have not sold their products commercially. All start ups are not small companies some are large involving millions of pounds. 15% of the companies that receive venture capital every year are the start-ups.

Early stage:

These companies are those that have initiated commercial sales and manufacturing and have completed product development stage but have not started generating profits. Companies in this stage have attracted increasing amount of the venture capital in the past few years.

Expansion:

Companies in this stage expand and grow their established business. During this stage, companies finance augmented production capacity, marketing and product development.  Many UK companies during this development stage receive the venture capital.

Management buyout (MBO)

Management buyouts help the investors and the present management to purchase or obtain appreciable shareholding in the business or product line. These MBOs vary from acquiring family-owned small business firms to million dollar buy outs.

Investment Process

The entire process from reviewing of the business plan to investing capital in UK can take one month to a year for a firm involved in venture capital.

For choosing a suitable venture capital partner, Madisons Capital Partners can be considered to be the best. It is a family investment house that thinks out of the box. The company offers various types of investment opportunities for companies at various stages of investment.

Business Opportunities Made Easy: Tips to Start a Business

Youngsters these days are more interested in pursuing their own business than doing a regular 9 to 5 job. They prefer being their own masters, while chasing their dreams. However, starting one’s own business needs a keen eye for market research, data analysis, and the market trends.

There are a number of factors that need to be considered and having the capital is just one of them.  Here are some of the other factors that need to be considered:

Customer Base: It is simple Profit and Loss calculation. Ensure that the business you are starting has a huge consumer base and that the demand is higher than the supply. Do not venture into something that the market is already saturated with. That could lead to a critical position, which means you might have to struggle your way through to the top among the already-established competitors. Or otherwise, you will have to improvise your business to be able to cope with the peer pressure. But that would mean, investing more money and greater risk of loss.

Predictable Market: Ensure that the market that you are entering is predictable so that you can take calculated risks when time demands. You can study the market easily and pull back or introduce things for a predictable profit.

Creativity and Passion: Nothing lasts long, unless one has conviction about one’s ideas. You should be true to your ideas and should be able to go to any legitimate extent to explore the business of your dreams. Time and again, your creativity would prove to be a saviour for the business you are running. Be innovative and be ready to pursue your dreams passionately.

Determine your Involvement: It is important to determine first whether the business requires your continuous presence or can be managed solely with the help of your staff. Do not neglect the business if it demands your attention every now and then.

Hire Qualified And Honest Staff: Skilled staff members can take your business to the top. Honesty too counts, especially for businesses in the retail sector. Keep your staff members in loop of the decisions you take. This will engage them in the business process. However, be restrained when your business needs confidentiality.

Return on Investment: You would obviously not like to start a business which does not give you returns. Determine which business will give you the highest profit margins at low investment and then explore the opportunities in the same sector.

Business Expansion: Ensure that your business venture is capable of expansion and does not exhibit stagnancy. A stagnant business fizzles out from the market, if it fails not show dynamics.

To explore Business opportunities in UK, meet experts who can help you with the best ideas and strategies. While, business startup ideas form the first step of starting a business, conviction and vision form the other pillars to make it successful. However, if you are new to business, it is advisable to take the help of business analysts and experts or of friends who have experience in the field.