By ANAMIKA VASIL*
Matches made in heaven between entrepreneurs and business angels do happen, but it pays to do your homework.
An entrepreneur requires thorough planning, goal setting, determination, vision, values and professionalism if he or she is to successfully woo an angel investor.
It also helps to check your
prospective investor's background.
So say some entrepreneurs who have happily tied the knot with a business angel.
Talk Tactics founder and operations director Craig McFadyen, who attracted a substantial amount of funding through Mentor Investor Network (Mine), advises entrepreneurs to find out more about potential investors by researching media archives and the internet.
"If anyone is good there will be stories written about them. You don't want someone who is just there to make money at whatever cost."
The Auckland call centre training firm is using its investment to expand its technology-based career development programmes into overseas markets.
Instead of focusing on business information and projected earnings for his Mine presentation, McFadyen outlined "where we are, where we want to be and this is the help we need". Although he spent two weeks on his presentation, it was still nerve-wracking on the night.
"I'm a trainer and a public speaker and it was the longest 10 minutes of my life."
McFadyen's business was five years old before he began looking for an investor.
"We knew what we were talking about. We weren't green fields. We had clients and wanted to expand overseas."
Despite much talk about New Zealand's high rate of entrepreneurship, it is hard to secure investment in start-ups and new companies. "Mine is a breath of fresh air. It makes the whole process so easy."
Mine for Business Angels manager Melissa Yiannoutsos says since the network was set up nearly two years ago she has noticed an improvement in the quality of business opportunities it receives.
"These have moved past the initial ideas and development phase into providing details about potential customers and an understanding of their competition. They are beginning to identify gaps in their teams' skills base."
* Anamika Vasil handles communications for Mentor Investor Network.
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