Where can I start looking for funding for my business?

My company just went through this. There are several ways you can approach the problem: 1. Find a mentor. Who's the biggest kahuna in your space? Reach out to him or to her. Don't ask for money or intros to VCs. Just pose a good question and start a conversation. Experts love to be heard (how else does Clarity work? :). Use that. If you're interesting and you have a great product, they'll approach you about finding. 2. Attend (and win) some pitch competitions like TC Disrupt. This is a toughie, but if you can cut it there, you can cut it anywhere. Note that good pitches do not necessarily convert to good product (hello, "Yo."). Even if you don't win, some VCs will see you and may approach. 3. Get into an incubator. Y combinator, hub:raum, Wearable World, and do on are all designed to teach you what you need to know to make your next round a success. Find one in the US and get going. Yes, it will cost you a little equity, but it may be worth it in networking and preparation for pitching the US VC market. 3. Pitch somewhere else. Why focus on the US? The VC market there is going to be bone dry in 2016. If you can secure money from anywhere (and you need it) I'd suggest you go and take it now. If you need to raise a round in Q2 2016, good luck to you, because you have a tough row to hoe. 4. PR. If you do an excellent job with PR--especially PR aimed at securing a new investor--you can make good headway in the US. But that will run you ~50k USD to raise 3+ MM USD if you're lucky. Performance can vary wildly. 5. Networking. Hit up the speaking and trade show circuit for your industry and shake enough hands, you'll eventually find a VC. But it's hard going and also super expensive if you're not a US company to travel that much to the US. Hope one or more of these helped. Let me know if you have any follow up questions about, for example, pitching. Which is a whole 'nother ball game. 😊

This is a very complex question. I have personally gone through funding, I've used angellist and other platforms for this purpose. The reason for needing funds is not a concern for you at this time. Your concern is approach. Focus on that. Check out my blog Http://Unthinkeverything.blogspot.com I have some books listed there that I recommend, I particularly did benefit a lot from the Presentations one that is there on the right in my blog. Your goal is to craft an image that engages with a certain type of Persona, similar to what you should do when crafting a marketing strategy to sell your product. Then make that pitch, angel profile, landing page, pitch deck... All speak to that persona only. All you have to do is convince one person, but if you trysts focus on pleasing everyone you'll end up with nobody. That's often true because investors go for the people running the business not the MVP or idea alone. Even a great idea if not presented correctly will lose opportunity. To give you more detailed insight and guidance give me a call. This is not easy but it is a lot of fun!

If the investor is spending his precious time meeting with you, then I assume he has at least some interest in your event. If that's the case, then in my opinion, yes it would be a nice gesture and appreciated. Good luck with your pitch!

That depends a lot on what assets you have, and what type of business you're trying to create. Do you already have a MVP version of your product? I hope so, six months in! One option is to pre-sell your product (beta version) to your audience, which not only helps with financing but also gets them involved with improving the product you're creating. You do have an audience, right? If not, stop what you're doing or building and go back to that stage. Don't build products in a vacuum.

In over seven years of SaaS enterprise marketing, I have found Linkedin to be the best source of information for business research in my my industry - particularly competitive research. With Linkedin, I can: - Identify hiring trends – What are your competitors and contemporaries doing as far as personnel? Are they in the middle of a big hiring spree, or are they stagnant? This can offer clues as to how their business is doing, good or bad. A sudden trend in new hires might mean they are expanding. What could this mean? A new outlet, a new product line, a new service, or perhaps just a large increase in demand. Compare this to your own situation to see how you stack up to the competition. - Identify firing trends – On the flip side of personnel analysis, assess competitors’ downsizing trends. If a sudden reduction in employees occurs, this might be a good time for you to leverage your dominance. If your competitor is struggling, it’s time to increase competitive intelligence. All’s fair in love and business. - Identify hiring anomalies - Is your competitor taking on employees with new skills or with skills that seem out of place? This could indicate an expansion, a new service or something else that’s about to happen. With proper competitive intelligence research, perhaps you can figure out what’s going on and determine if it’s something you need to consider for your own business. - Scan competitors’ new connections – Is a competitor beginning to connect with people in a new business sector? If so, this could be an indication of a new project or a new trend. Study the connections to see what they have to offer and try to see where it could fit into your business. Perhaps you too will want to connect to them. - Locate competitors’ previous employees – A few minutes chatting with a competitor’s former employee can gain you tons of valuable information. Are they disgruntled? Perhaps they’ll be willing to let you in on some operational details. In the best situation, perhaps you can pick them up for your team. - Make connections with industry peers – Find LinkedIn professional groups that relate to your business. This allows you to make new business connections. If you run a salon or a spa in Maine, connect with other salon owners in Arizona to share advice. They’re not your competitors so there is nothing to lose by sharing secrets. I hope this helps! :)