Starting a business in many cases requires attracting significant investments. Appropriate capital can play a decisive role in bringing a startup to a promising market in a timely manner, 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?

What is the purpose of looking for an investor?

Before asking the question of where to find investors, it is necessary to decide on the purpose for which the search for partners should be carried out. As a rule, this task is solved by the owner of a commercial enterprise. He needs the investor's assistance due to the presence of an insufficient amount of money at his personal disposal in order to fully implement the business project. An investor may also be interested in providing the necessary 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 them.

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

Secondly, financing can be attracted on the terms of portfolio investment. This mechanism assumes that the partner, 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 case, the partner, in case of company growth, gets the opportunity to significantly increase his capital.

What are the investors

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. The subjects that become participants in the relevant legal relations can be represented by: individuals, organizations. Both, 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 funds that assist businesses in raising funds or providing 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 on the part of a large number of people - individual social groups or representing society as a whole. As a rule, investors who provide funds to entrepreneurs as part of 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 relevant legal relations. Many entrepreneurs, thinking about where to find investors, first of all turn to crowdfunding.

What might be of interest to 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 a business project - those indicators that a potential partner will pay attention to when making a decision on investing money in a company. What exactly?

First of all, it 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 the industry development. The investor is interested in the product produced by the company being in demand on the market for a long time. If the dynamics of development of the industry in which the enterprise operates is sufficiently high, then the partner must make sure that the entrepreneur can ensure the timely release of goods that is 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, for some partners, high may be more preferable, while for others, low. In the first case, the investor and the entrepreneur can take advantage of the presence of a sufficiently stable demand for the manufactured product 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 firm's profitability. Of course, provided that there is a demand for goods manufactured 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 be in the most favorable conditions, there may be an optimal level of demand and competition, but if the entrepreneur does not provide a plan according to which the firm will enjoy these advantages, the investor may question the prospects for financing the company.

The next factor in making a positive decision on the project by the partner is the competence of the team with which the business owner works. Or his personal. The situation on the market may be optimal, the business plan worked out in detail, but the implementation will not be at the highest level for the reason that it will be carried out by unprepared 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 proceed to consider specific mechanisms for finding a partner. Where to find an investor for a start-up 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, dissimilarity with most other concepts. Another significant criterion for evaluating the prospects of a startup is the absence of existing businesses in the relevant segment throughout the country or a particular region.

It happens that an entrepreneur who solves the problem of where to find an investor in Moscow decides to switch to one of the markets in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, since competitors can already operate in the Russian capital. While in the regions, similar businesses will not be too developed or even absent as business entities.

Above, we examined the main mechanisms for attracting investment. If the question is 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 big risks for the entrepreneur. True, in the case of venture projects, the business owner in most cases has to give a share in the ownership of the company - the type of financing in question belongs to the category of portfolio investments. However, in this case, the partner, as a rule, assumes the bulk of the costs necessary for crowdfunding. 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 under one scheme or another?

If we talk about venture projects, then 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 state 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 for 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 completely online. There are a number of the largest - both Russian and foreign - Using them is quite simple, but it is important to write a competent description of a business project, to tell potential investors about its advantages.

How to find an investor for a small business?

Consider now where to find an investor for a small business. This format of the enterprise activity assumes that the company is not a start-up, but an already functioning business with more or less acceptable turnover. In this case, investments 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 turn out to be unprofitable. In turn, the fundamental partnership assumes that the investor will be able to at least ensure zero profitability of his investments, and in the long term - to significantly increase capital due to the growth of the enterprise.

Where to find an investor for a small business? Such tasks, as a rule, are solved during personal meetings between entrepreneurs and potential partners who are ready to invest in the development of the company. They can be held as part of specialized events - business conferences, round tables, presentations. Communication between an entrepreneur and an investor is also possible in an informal setting, for example, at a corporate party to which they were invited. Fundamental investing is a common 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, is in itself a desirable investment object for an experienced financier, since it is an operating profitable business. Therefore, it is possible that it may not be necessary to look for a partner who is ready to invest in a company if it meets the criteria for 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. It is allowed, as a rule, in non-public ways - through communication with major financiers through private channels. But in some cases it is realistic to find an investor at major events, especially when it comes to, for example, international exhibitions. The prospects for building relationships with partners largely depend on the business area.

Thus, the solution of 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 in 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 firm, as well as on the sector of the economy in which the company is present. For startups, one approach will be more justified, and for small businesses, medium and large firms, different strategies.

It will also be useful to consider a number of recommendations for entrepreneurs who decide to find an investor, as well as establish a trusting relationship with him. We will study those strategies that can be described as universal, sufficiently suitable for a business of any size - a start-up, 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 an interaction with a person who might be interested in sales. Effective investment is largely the result of high competence, most often achieved within the narrow specialization of a financier.

Investment experts advise business owners to first tell potential partners about what other sources of funding are expected to be used, and what their actual availability is. This approach will allow the investor to understand his own role in the relationship 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 alone.

Another important nuance is the discussion of the conditions for changing the initially reached agreements. As the project progresses, it may turn out that the project will show more or less profitability (or 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 way they participate in the company's activities.

An entrepreneur should discuss with a partner the procedure for reporting on certain business transactions, its composition. Some investors require only the appropriate type of accounting documentation, others prefer to receive these as well. It is useful to clarify these nuances at the earliest stages of the partnership.

It is important, therefore, 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 appreciated. Therefore, the investor 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 have considered the question of where to find a real private investor. Its successful resolution depends on the scope of the company, its scale, the level of competence of the entrepreneur and the specialists he attracts. An important role is played by other conditions for financing 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.

Often successful companies are created through the cooperation of several parties: one has an idea, the other has the resources to implement it. Thanks to the Internet, it has become easier for these parties to find each other. However, it is important not just to find a person with money, it is necessary to attract a good partner, cooperation with which will become the basis for a successful startup and further promotion of the business. Considering the proposals of investors, try to think over which of them will be interested in your business. To do this, formulate the stage of development of your business: whether it will be its origin, formation, growth, maturity, or decline. Each company, which is at various stages, needs its own investor.

Features of the stages of company activity
At the stage of inception, as a rule, an entrepreneur has nothing, only an idea, and sometimes a registered patent. There are also problems with the formation of a managerial link, while business processes are not well established. Relatives and friends often act as outside investors, as well as private individuals with some experience in this area and willing to take risks. On our website you can find such offers of investors.

During its formation, the organization already has an established production of finished products, or already provides services, but its activities do not bring the desired income, and sometimes even unprofitable. This stage is distinguished by business processes that have not been worked out to the end, only the formation of a team of managers takes place. At this stage, it is necessary to pay attention to the financial and legal documentation of the company. The investor, whom she is interested in, should easily understand the corporate structure of the organization, its financial position. It is good that the company does not participate in litigation, disputes with government agencies, etc. At the stage of expansion of activities, the volume of operations performed increases, and profits become stable. As a result, the company begins to take a stable position. The stage is distinguished by well-established business processes, new markets and projects are opening up. At these stages, banks, funds and other serious investors are involved in financing.

Advantages of our business portal
The business portal site is designed to assist its visitors in developing their business and increasing their capital. In particular, various investor offers are presented on this page. We recommend that you read them carefully and do not make hasty decisions. Try to learn as much as possible about your partner, evaluate his reliability. When drawing up contracts, carefully read them, let there be as few understatements as possible, and all agreements are recorded in writing. On this page, you can both find an investor and become one yourself by posting an investor offer. Many of our visitors were able to find reliable business partners with whom they have been working for many years. Perhaps you will become one of them.

You have decided - you will develop your own business. Alone or in a team of like-minded people, you are constantly improving your business idea, studying the market, looking at possible competitors. And inevitably there comes a moment when you realize what initial investment your project requires. Investments at the start may differ significantly, but in ninety-five percent of cases, a novice businessman does not have the necessary amount of free funds. The way out of this situation will be to find an investor for the business.

In this article we will talk about:

• what preparation should be done before bringing your project to the investment market;
• where to find an investor;
• how to interest an investor in your project;

• consider the forms of investment - cooperation;
• let's talk about the mandatory clauses of the investment agreement;
• let's be inspired by the experience of successful startups and look at their working ideas

So let's get started.

First, you must clearly understand your business idea and its accompanying business mission. If you yourself cannot formulate how exactly your future product or service differs from those existing on the market, do not expect an investor to be interested in your idea.

An example of a bad presentation of a business idea: opening a private kindergarten in one of the cities of the Moscow region.

An example of a good presentation of a business idea: opening a private kindergarten for 100 children in the village of Nakhabino, Moscow Region, in order to meet the increased demand for kindergartens in the absence of supply.

Answer your questions honestly, preferably in writing:

1. Why do I think that my future product / service is better than what is already on the market?
2. What target audience might be interested in it?
3. To what extent will my product/service be in demand?
4. How do I plan to organize the production of goods / indication of services? Here it would be appropriate to briefly describe the technological process.

At a meeting with you, the investor will ask these questions, so you must be 100% sure of the answers. Also, detailed answers to the questions described above will contain a business plan with which you will go to the investor for the presentation of the project.

Second, you need a well-written, working business plan. There is a lot of information on writing business plans both on the Internet and in specialized literature, you only need to study this issue and follow the recommended sections when writing. If you do not have the time or skills to write such documents, you can always turn to professionals for help. There is a huge selection of business plan writing services on the Internet. But!

A good business plan is not a beautifully written document, nor is it professionally presented market and product information. This is, first of all, a detailed description of your idea and proof that the idea will be profitable. By the way, we talked about how to write a business plan in one of.

Whether you write it yourself or delegate the writing of a business plan, you must know by heart and be confident in every proposal, and especially in the technological and financial part. Be prepared for the fact that each of your statements will be questioned by the investor.

Investors are primarily interested in:

1. The amount of investment for which you are applying, as well as what share the investment will take in the total amount of capital investments in the project.
2. Profitable interest rate on investments. The rate on risk-free and low-risk investments (deposits, bonds, reliable shares) tends to 14-15% per annum, so you should offer a higher rate.
3. The payback period is the period in months after which the profit from the business will cover the initial costs incurred.
4. Project risks. A startup is a leader among risky capital investments. Write honestly about all the risks, experienced investors are aware of them anyway.

Indicators that must be present on the title page of the business plan:

1. Amount of investment.
2. Income interest rate.
3. Payback period.

If the investor is not satisfied with the above indicators, he will not look at the rest of the information. Put yourself in his place. He gives away his hard-earned money. What is he waiting for? Innovation? Social importance? ARRIVED. Everything else interests him insofar as. So give him a profit.

The third point of preparation for a meeting with an investor will be the creation of a presentation of your business project. Whether it will be a full-fledged presentation in Power Point, an album printed using the printing method, or a set of sheets with key numbers, tables, images, you decide. It all depends on the scale of the spartan and the requirements of the investor you contact. The main thing is your ability to convincingly present the project with the help of prepared materials. Remember, the main thing is your prepared speech and charisma, and then a beautifully designed presentation. Interest the investor, give him a reason to think, "infect" him with your idea.

When the preparation is completed, you can start searching.

Where to find an investor?

Credit organizations

The most obvious solution for a budding businessman is to go to a bank. Many, many start-up entrepreneurs took out so-called business development loans or even consumer loans and successfully developed their business. But banks want to invest only in reliable projects and at the same time receive a good interest income.

If you choose this way of looking for investments, we recommend that you contact the bank where you have an account and/or a positive credit history. If there are none, contact large banks with a well-known name, avoid microfinance organizations.

The list of the most interesting proposals for business loans today is given in the table.

Table 1. Business loans in Russian banks

A list of interesting consumer loans is shown in Table 2.

Table 2. Consumer loans that can be used as business investments.

Pros: high probability of receiving funds when all documents and collateral are provided, a transparent and proven scheme for raising funds.

Minuses: high interest rate, it is almost always necessary to secure and confirm income, guarantees from third parties or organizations.

Private investors, business angels, crowdinvesting

If the option of contacting the bank seems too “expensive” to you (and it is), or you do not want to provide the bank with your apartment as collateral, you should look at private investors and the so-called “business angels”. Private investors are most often people who have already earned enough money from their business. And now they invest in other businesses and receive passive income. In addition to investments, business angels provide expert support to young businesses, they can lead you to certain business circles, advise working business models, and suggest ways to optimize your business.

Type in the words “private investor”, “business angel” in the search engine and you will find more than a million offers from potential investors. Among the proposals will be investment exchanges, the most famous of which are:

• start2up
• EASTWESTGROUP
• investorsov.net
• business platform
• SBAR (community of business angels of Russia)

However, do not build vain illusions that by placing an ad with a description of your project, you will receive hundreds of offers from potential investors. You will have to write letters and call yourself, and more than once. By sending a hundred applications, you can get only three to five responses .

Beware of scammers, of which there are a sufficient number on the Internet. Never deposit money for anything, under any pretext. And read the contract carefully.

Register on forums for professional communication of TOP managers, such as E-xecutive and Up-pro. They communicate with respectable employees of large firms. They have free financial resources, but they don’t have time to develop their own business. A good opportunity for you to express yourself.

Another interesting subtype of private investment is crowdfunding and crowdinvesting projects.

The term " crowdfunding" comes from the English words "crowd" - crowd and "funding" - financing, provision. It is clear that we are talking about the collective collection of funds for a project. It can be both a commercial undertaking and a charity event. Crowdinvesting- this is also a collective fundraising, but spartans, commercial undertakings are already becoming an object of investment. Investors expect profit from such investments.

Crowdfunding is an interesting option for an interesting idea

Both types are relatively new in the world of investment and dynamically developing. True, in order to successfully search for a group of unrelated investors on the Internet, your project must be either very bright or very modern, trendy. The proposal should "catch" the eye. High technologies, IT, projects with a social load, with a creative component, and so on will do. And you are unlikely to receive large investments (more than 1 million rubles), since mainly young novice investors with a share of adventurism, but without large funds, register on such sites.

Take a look at Russian crowdfunding platforms:

• planeta.ru;
• Boom Starter;
• Simex;
• Crowdsourcing.ru.

It is worth noting that your relatives and friends may also be investors for your project. But you should not treat such investments carelessly. Conduct preliminary preparations for a meeting with a loved one in the same way as if you were presenting a project to an unfamiliar investor.

Pros: private investors require fewer documents and often give money without collateral, they can help businesses with experience and connections; for small, ambitious projects, investments are found quickly.

Minuses: the target income interest rate is often higher than in banks, there is a high risk of falling for scammers.

Video - Attracting investments

In this video, Oleg Karnaukh, the founder of the Smart Business project, says:

• at what stage do small businesses need investments,
• what arguments to enlist for a conversation with an investor
• how to be the owner of your business
• how to scale a business.

Investment venture funds

Let's move on to the most difficult, but also the most interesting ways to attract investment.

First, let's define what a "venture fund" is.

Venture fund comes from the English word "venture" - a gamble, a bold undertaking, a risky venture. Such funds invest money with a high degree of risk, but also with a large profit. 80% of investments of venture funds depreciate, but 20% bring such a profit that it is many times higher than the costs.

If your future business does not apply to:

• the high-tech sector
• IT and telecommunications,
• healthcare,
• internet and internet commerce,

You can safely skip this paragraph of the article and move on to the next one.

For the rest, we reveal the scheme of work of venture funds. The fund's team consists of experienced financiers who deal mainly with high-risk investments. All applications go through several stages of consideration.

Stage 1. Consideration of submitted applications. The business plan and other documents are checked for correctness of writing, compliance with the fund's policy, and profitability. 90% of applications do not pass this stage.

Stage 2. Conducting research in the field of competitiveness of a new product, financial efficiency of the future business, management competence. 9% of applications do not pass this stage.

Stage 3. Negotiating and concluding a contract. 1% of applicants become owners of the required amount for business development.

We recommend applying to venture funds and being actively interested in new venture projects. Even if your application is rejected at the first stage, this is not a reason to stop, but an opportunity to analyze your mistakes and submit documents again. In fact, this is a free master class on attracting investments from experienced investors.

Table 3 lists the largest venture capital funds operating in Russia.

Table 3. Large Russian venture funds

You need to understand that if you want to make a profit from your project, then it should at least bring 40-45% profitability, because you will give 30-35% to the vendor. Are you ready for such a challenge?

Pros: the ability to find funds at the initial stage, without collateral; The very concept of venture capital implies that the investor may lose money if the project fails.

Minuses: not suitable for all projects, long and difficult competition for funds, high share of the investor in the company.

Video - Conference of the Fund for the Development of Innovation and Initiatives

After watching this video, you will learn how to bring an IT startup to the international venture capital market. And also how, where and at what rate to ask for money for innovation

Grants and subsidies

The most coveted type of investment for any novice businessman is, of course, a grant or subsidy. After all, you don't have to give them away! Or you need, but after a certain period and without interest. Therefore, those wishing to receive such financial assistance from outside are a dime a dozen. However, in order to qualify for a grant or subsidy, your business project must bring not only profit to you, but also benefit society. Only projects with a social impact receive the attention of non-profit foundations.

Funds that support new and small businesses are divided into state and non-state.

Target areas subsidized by state grants:

• Agriculture;
• Innovative technologies;
• Education;
• Advertising and marketing;
• Tourism;
• healthcare;
• Production of goods for export.

Non-state funds subsidize the following industries:

• Agriculture;
• Innovative production;
• IT and telecommunications;
• Internet trading;
• healthcare;
• Social business;
• Creation.

Let's look at the most interesting measures of state and non-state support for small and new businesses.

Pros: grants received do not need to be returned, subsidies are given either on an irrevocable basis or without interest.

Minuses: This type of financing is not available for all projects, and you will need to regularly report on the money received.

The investor invited you to a meeting. What's next?

Armed with a business plan and project presentation, you are in a hurry to negotiate. At this stage, the main task for you is to talk about your business idea as convincingly as possible. And sell it for the highest price.

Meeting with an investor is the most important step

Yes, it's not a typo. In negotiations, you sell your business idea and your efforts to implement it, and in exchange you receive money at a rate of return that suits both you and the investor.

Negotiations are by no means a friendly meeting, but a kind of battle with an investor for future profits, so remember a few important rules.

1. If possible, carefully study the bank, fund or person to whom you are applying for money. What businesses does he invest in? How does he feel about risk in investing? What goals does he pursue? Use the information received in negotiations
2. Always focus on the benefit for the investor, not your financial goals
3. Prepare a rough meeting structure, consider answers to possible questions
4. During negotiations, write down all the key points, otherwise important information may then simply fall out of your attention.
5. Be flexible, consider investor proposals
6. At the end of the meeting, write down all the agreements reached. Prepare supporting documents together.

One of the important topics of negotiations with the investor will be the choice of the form of investment. There are two such forms for small businesses: lending and buying out a share in a business. Consider in table 4 the comparative characteristics of the two forms and determine the pros and cons of each of them.

Table 4. Characteristics of different forms of investment

The final stage of negotiations with a potential investor will be the conclusion of an investment agreement. Most often, you will be offered an agreement developed by the investor, and, accordingly, focused on his interests.

Read all clauses of the contract carefully, ask clarifying questions. Feel free to make corrections. Better yet, show the contract to a lawyer to avoid "pitfalls".

Video - Master class on finding investments

See the secrets of finding a development investor from Sergey Gribov. At the master class, he tells the whole practice of obtaining investments, based on his fifteen years of experience in creating startups in countries such as Israel, America and Russia.

Who made it?

Yes, attracting investment in a young growing business is not easy. Yes, in return for the funds received, you will have to give away part of the future profits. But who will it stop?

See how inexperienced novice businessmen like you have achieved success. Do you see familiar companies among them?

Max Levchin, company founder PayPal, studied at Champaign College with a degree in data security. He did not even think about creating a world-famous online payment system, but while still in college, he became the founder of three companies in the field of information technology. However, none of them were successful. Then he had such a bright business idea that he dropped out of school and moved to Silicon Valley to implement it in the most suitable place for this.

PayPal is a well-known payment system that has evolved thanks to a well-formulated idea.

In the summer of 1998, he lived in a friend's apartment in Silicon Valley, without funds, without certain prospects. Once Levchin went to a lecture at Stanford University. Peter Thiel read it, and Levchin wanted to see the man he had heard so much about. After the speech, Max approached him to talk about his idea and ask for expert advice. Til listened with interest to the young man and invited him to a business breakfast.

Levchin described his idea to Til, who offered to implement it by investing some money. It turned out that Peter Thiel ran a hedge fund.

Yahoo! started as a site where two Stanford University graduate students, David Filo and Jerry Yang, collected web links to papers on various topics. Captivated by their idea, the students added new links to the catalog every day, and soon the catalog site became popular. In late 1994, Young and Philo decided to create a commercial organization for their site and asked Tim Brady to write a business plan. Brady was in his senior year of study at the time, and so made Yahoo! graduation project.

In 1995, at the San Jose Electronics Show, Yahoo! set up a booth. There was not a single Internet project among the participants of the event, so the Yahoo! investors noticed. A few weeks after the exhibition, the students found funding for their company and moved into a real office (before that they had worked in a trailer on the campus of the institute). Venture fund Sequoia Capital acted as an investor, managed to receive $1 million as an initial investment

But this is America, you say. Such ideas are born there, such capitals are circulating there, you will say. And you will be wrong. Here are examples from Russian reality.

The founders of a large Internet job exchange, Denis Kutergin and Aleksey Gidirim, have been working without funding for a long time, seeking their own funds. The breakthrough came in December 2010 when YouDo got into the top ten Internet projects of the Web Ready competition. Within a few months after that, in the StartupIndex rating, the company was assigned an investment attractiveness index of "A". In 2013, she won a competition announced by the Pavel Durov and Yuri Milner Foundation and received $1 million for development.

In 2016, Alexey Moiseenkov, an employee of My.com (a subsidiary of the well-known company Mail.Ru Group) developed an application for smartphones Prisma, which allows ordinary users to create photographs in the style of Van Gogh, Munch, Marc Chagall and other famous artists. Alexey skillfully found funding for his project. He showed the idea to the Deputy General Director of Mail.Ru Group, who, becoming interested in the project, introduced Alexei to the founders of the Gagarin Capital fund and private investors. At the moment, Moiseenkov is a dollar millionaire. Prisma is far from the first startup of Alexey, before becoming a successful startup, he managed to fill himself with a lot of cones.

Prisma is an application for creating a picture from a photo using neural networks.

As you can see, it is quite possible to get investments, but it requires perseverance. And some luck.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we note that you do not have to concentrate on any one way to attract money to your business. You are a generator of business ideas, so be creative to the end! You can, for example, receive a business development subsidy from the state, become a resident of one of the business incubators, invest your funds and attract friends by making them business partners, and make up for the lack of funds with a bank loan. And this is just one of the options.

Keep going, don't give up and may the force be with you.

Step by step instructions and pitfalls

Finding an investor: where to start?

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

Where to start looking for investments? The people who ask us this question are usually at the idea stage. In order to attract investments, they will have to go a long and laborious way: work out an idea well, 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 in an accelerator, participate in competitions, make acquaintances at events, find potential investors and write a lot of letters to them, read specialized press and try to get on its pages.

Some items here are optional, some do without them, but the general algorithm is this. In itself, its passage does not guarantee the attraction of 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 an idea?

Work out! Your brilliant idea is worthless until it starts to attract an audience and bring in money. Without a working prototype and team, investors will not 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 reputation. To prove your ability to do business, you need to independently find at least minimal resources to create a product.

Often, startups 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 paragraph 5 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 assign intellectual rights only to technology, unique design and software. Learn more about 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, it is usually possible to find substitute products, albeit with different properties. An investor will never believe that you have no competitors at all. He will consider that you have poorly probed the ground and you should not be given money.

Before approaching venture capital investors, you need to understand the difference between a startup and a small business. In the mass 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 other investors and a different strategy. Venture investors are still more fond of projects related to IT and innovation.

Where to look for a team?

To get even a fraction of investor attention, you need a working prototype and a team. It is 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 to start-up 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 with friends or throw a call on social networks, but in this case there is less chance of grabbing an experienced specialist.

More information about team building can be found here:

If you already have an MVP

A working prototype is not 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 the business model - how you will make money on a unit of product.

If theoretical knowledge did not help you figure out the idea, MVP and monetization strategy, you can turn to product development specialists. For example, this is done by the Create company, 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 need a thoughtful, compelling presentation that will form the basis for your pitch.

But before diving into the intricacies of creating the perfect slides, it’s worth thinking hard: do you really need an investor? It is important to understand that investment is not a panacea. The 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 most correct to attract investments to increase sales, because the essence of a startup is rapid growth. If you develop well, investors will come to you, you'll see.

So sometimes you just don't need an investor. Some start-ups generally manage to develop the company only on their hard-earned 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 a serious pumping 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 cannot combine these tips and our free templates into a quality presentation, you can.

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

Search for investments through the database of startups

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

• Rusbase Pipeline adds startups only if there is a working prototype and signs of demand (now we have about 350 projects in the database), investors - only if they are ready to invest at least $50 thousand in one project (their list exceeds 200 names).
• StartTrack is a crowdfunding platform from IIDF that helps investors make joint deals. A startup needs to pay a commission for attracting investments. Now there are 725 investors and 37 projects in the StartTrack database. This ratio hints that the site's requirements for startups are very high.
• Spark is a service for finding an investor who has retrained into a crowd of technological projects (analogous to Habr), where you can share experience and post vacancies. There are 4249 projects in the database, 1329 of which are looking for investments.
• Napartner is one of the first startup exchanges on the Russian market. As stated on the website, there are 1139 registered investors, 9892 "innovators" and 456 projects in search of investment. There is also a section for selling a ready-made business and a section for vacancies.
• Askcap is perhaps the largest Russian database of startups. According to the project's own information, profiles of 5,410 projects are posted on the site, 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 premier startup and investment discovery service and has spawned many clones (ours are listed above). Its database contains 1589 startups and 378 investors from Russia. AngelList provides opportunities for co-investing in projects, posting vacancies and resumes.

Participation in competitions and other events

Contests help to gain valuable competitive experience, and in case of winning - a grant and investor attention (including due to reporting publications in the media). Competitions, hackathons and free educational programs for startups are regularly held in Russia and abroad - it is convenient to follow this stream of opportunities with our tag.

It can also be helpful to be like industry events, especially if you're new to the venture capital 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, a measure is needed in everything - you can’t promote a project with connections and hangouts alone. We collect the main events of the startup industry in the "Entrepreneur Calendar" section.

Active search for an investor

If you did not find an investor at the events, you can try to write to venture funds. Try - because cold and warm contacts in such matters do not work well, the most effective means has always been and will be a personal acquaintance.

Before writing a letter to an investor, it is critical to make sure that your project meets their preferences. Funds usually indicate on their websites startups in which niches and stages they are interested in. If not, then you can still guess from the list of portfolio companies (which should be studied in any case). To compile a list of funds to which you can submit 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 a letter, you need to carefully study the foundation's website. Investor fan mail never worked. Also, in no case should you write from someone else's box. In order not to be left without an answer, you need to accurately formulate the subject of the letter, adequately present yourself and the project (and yes, ask a literate friend to subtract the text for errors) and explain how your startup is relevant to the fund (for example, similar or complementary to one of the portfolio projects). If the letter consists only of a reference to an attached presentation, it simply will not be opened.

Read more about this here:

Why go to accelerators?

Accelerators are intensive face-to-face educational programs (usually lasting several months) that help early-stage projects grow to the point of receiving initial investment. This is a great option for those who can't find an investor on their own.

Accelerators usually charge 3-7% of the company for their services, so they are interested in finding investors for them in order to recoup their costs with a successful exit. There are enough accelerators in Russia; to choose the best one, you need to look at its requirements for stages and niches, as well as the fate of graduates.

The most active on the market are:

• The IIDF accelerator selects experienced teams of at least 2 people with a legal entity, business model, market size of at least $10 million and the possibility of monetization during acceleration. The list of alumni can be viewed.
• Here .

Startup PR in the media

To better understand the market, it is definitely worth subscribing to thematic media - Rusbase, vc.ru, Firrma, Roem and Sekret Firmy. When you thoroughly understand their headings and formats, you can try to get on the pages of these media. When implemented correctly, this is a good way to attract the attention of investors and audiences.

But there are also pitfalls - for example, you should not meddle in the press with a raw product or lack of competencies (readers will immediately notice this). But when you grow up, journalists will come to you themselves (as well as investors).

Read about how to reach out to a journalist and not get into a puddle, read here:

Just please don't forget that no amount of PR and investment can replace your business with a quality product that people need.

Exclusively as a private investor, without analysis, expertise, intermediaries and other nonsense. Investments from $2 million (130 million rubles). Smaller projects or with a "stretch" on these figures - I do not consider!

I invest in businessCHECKED

I am looking for investments in an existing business of 16 - 18 million rubles, with a withdrawal of at least 200% during the first year, I am not interested in investing in startups !! Stores are also irrelevant. Anything that brings in money!

I invest in a startup 50 million

I will invest in a start-up project on the topic - production, agriculture, greenhouses, Internet projects, pasture options for a trade direction. Assistance to an existing business is possible, all investments without intermediaries

We attract investments

If you are looking for an investor, our offer is for you. Applications are now open for the 2020 investment portfolio funding from MIT Invest. We also invite investors to finance projects with deposits

Investment proposal

Dear Private Investors Meat-Invest Fund provides unique investment opportunities for lending to business partners. It is profitable for us to invest savings and earn on investing

I invest in a startup business idea of ​​carsharingCHECKED

I invest in a startup up to 200,000 euros and all kinds of assistance to the marketing and staff project. We need a business idea for profitable car sharing today. Investments only in St. Petersburg. We invite investors to equity participation.

I invest in a chain of restaurants, cafes. I will invest in Moscow. Up to 25 million rubles

I will profitably invest money in the restaurant business in Moscow. I am not interested in startups, I will only invest in an existing business as a restaurant or cafe. Please send a reasoned proposal to investors.

Private investor. I'm waiting for your proposals to investors

Private investor. I look forward to your proposals to investors. I invest personal funds in the ico project. I am looking at all options including investments in start up and buyout of scam ico. Also interesting is the redemption of the theme web resource. cryptocurrencies.