Catalyst Venture Partners

At Catalyst we receive many proposals a week from entrepreneurial companies in various stages of growth. Sometimes it’s obvious that the company is on the fast track to raising finance but in most cases there are obvious – and often simple – ways to improve a proposition. Here are my top 10 tips for fundraising;

1. Understand where you are in your company development i.e. are you at the seed stage (pre-revenue),  Start-up (initial revenues), early stage (below £1m annual revenues), growth stage (£1m plus annual revenues).

2. Have a scaleable business model with demonstrable economies of scale and scope

3. Have ambition to achieve revenues of £10+ in five years

4. Get the right management team. You need to have a management team with the right experience and track record.

5. Research your market make sure you understand how it works from the bottom up – who are your competitors, how big is the market, what is its growth rate and key drivers.

6. Write a realistic business plan using bottom up estimates of growth and a detailed analysis of to whom you are going to sell and why they are going to buy.

7. Have a detailed understanding of the routes to market and tactically how you are going to sell through them’.

8. Get all members of the management team on side and signed up to the plan.

9. Match your fund raising focus to sources suitable for your stage: Seed stage – friends and family; Start-up – Angels and early stage funds; early stage – venture capital; Growth stage – Venture Capital, VCT’s , Bond Finance etc

10. Build a board of industry heavy weights who have invested in your company.

If you would like to discuss a proposal or indeed get more information on any of the points raised above please get in touch for a chat. We are always happy to hear from successful companies who have an interest in raising finance for growth.