If you’re after investment for your business, one of your options could well be a venture capitalists. But will they be interested in your business? Well, it depends on what you’re offering. Venture capitalists usually has a specific set of criteria that a business needs to pass before they’ll invest, so make sure your venture ticks all the boxes.

First up, a business needs to have great potential for growth. Growth and profit is the primary goal of any venture capitalist, and is the only way that they’ll even consider investing. Make sure that your business has this potential. Usually, venture capitalists need to envisage this growth happening within 5 years, otherwise they won’t be interested.

Even if it’s a unique or unusual idea, don’t be put off. It’s often the most unusual or seemingly risky ideas that will make the most money in the long run, so make sure you portray this to your potential investor. Investors are never put off by risk, but if your business idea is boring, has been done too many times before or has no chance of making a profit, there’s no way that a venture capitalist will be investing.

Venture capitalists will only invest if they have a sound business plan presented to them. Your plan really needs to stand out and have all the facts and figures that they’re looking for covered in a clear, well-presented manner. You need to make sure that you cover all areas of finance and financial forecasting, so have a sound grasp of all the figures before you approach them and convince them that you can do what you’re planning to.

You need to offer them a decent share of the business. If it isn’t worth their time and money to invest, they won’t be doing so. Also, you need to have a clear exit strategy in place for them to get their return. Obviously, they need to see that they’re going to get their money back and that they’re going to get a nice return on their investment. Usually this is done in the eventual sale of the business, so if you can’t bear to see your business being sold, they won’t be interested and you shouldn’t consider them as an option.

So, a venture capitalist will be interested in your business if it’s a large company with huge potential for growth and return, if you know your figures and they can trust that you can take the business to the next level, and if you can offer them a decent share with a clearly marked exit strategy. As long as you cover all of these aspects, there’s no reason why you won’t get a venture capitalist interested in your business.

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3. Private investors and what they look for in a business