For this note, I want to focus on whether or not your company can establish its credibility or “expertise” in the eyes of the investor (putting aside the issue of whether or not you have a good business idea). In later notes, we’ll deal with how investors think about “good” and “bad” businesses. Continue Reading »

In my notes on this blog, I will return again and again to the most important aspect of raising capital for your business: credibility. If Steve Jobs were to leave Apple and launch a new firm, he could probably raise funds by simply expressing his ideas in a single meeting. He can do this because he has proven that he knows how to not only create new products but to create new products that capture the imagination of the public and which can generate large profits. Continue Reading »

I’m Matt Ridenour and will serve as the author of our initial articles and moderator for the blog. Along the way, I expect that my partners and associates at Momentum will participate and I’m hopeful that readers will join in! Over the past several years we’ve been approached on occasion about writing a book about how to launch a start-up. We spent some time reviewing the current offerings and, in general, found them to be interesting reading that provided unique insights into the culture of a particularly successful company or into the broad perspectives, for instance, of venture investors.

However, what we generally found lacking in retail books is real world, in the trenches, advice on how to take a new company from concept to institutional financing. We felt that we could offer up guidance that was more tactical and immediate; rather than writing a book we decided to launch this blog!

Our goal, with this blog, is to give some specific answers to questions such as: what are an investor’s criteria for an investment; how do I prepare my company to be attractive to investors; how do I know that I am ready to approach investors; who should I approach and how should I approach them; what should I expect during the process of raising money and what are the various terms and structures I might encounter.

Our hope is that by seeding the conversation with topics of conversation we’ll stimulate questions that will help us deliver better and more specific advice. We hope it works! And, we hope it is helpful to you.