how to raise capital

It’s been a busy time at the office, but I always try to keep up with the latest news on entrepreneurship and capital raising for companies. I found some good-news stories about the investment community as well as some well-written overviews on the capital-raising process. Please enjoy!

• Angels Looking for More Investments. “Recent data shows that high net-worth individuals are making more private equity investments.” Very promising.
• Angel Investing Trends for 2012. Angel investors talk about what they’re looking for this year.
• How Entrepreneurs with Social Vision Secured Venture Capital. Two friends, a killer competitive advantage and a passion for changing the world led to entrepreneurs to success.
• Immigrants Founded Half Of Top U.S. Start-Up Companies: Study. Venture capitalists are continuing to help fund the American dream.
• How to talk to venture capitalists. I’ve been talking about these fundamentals for years. A good overview.
• Venture capitalists focus on later stages, but Silicon Valley still rules. Some excellent bar graphs illustrating recent deals.
• Venture Capital Survey Shows Clean Tech Realism. An interesting update on the viability of green tech startups.
• Entrepreneurs make the right moves. A good article on the process of raising capital for an Internet startup.

Have you read any great articles or books lately on entrepreneurship or raising capital ? Make your own suggestion by contacting us

I am sure many of you heard about an elevator pitch. What really is it? And why should we know about it?

An elevator pitch is so called because it is something you deliver to a potential investor as you travel in an elevator. We know how long that can be. The ride to the top of Chicago’s Sears tower takes an estimated 51 seconds. On the demolished World Trade Center in New York, it would have been a little over a minute. You get the idea. Give or take a few seconds for halts, and a few more perhaps as you keep pace as your investor hurries into the hallway and then onto an office. You might be able to squeeze in a maximum of 2 minutes, if you are lucky and your target is slightly indulgent.

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