Les Mathews, Mesa Capital Partners
Business owners who obtain outside equity – whether from family, friends or institutional investors – quickly learn money has strings attached.
Most outside equity providers want to get repaid over a reasonable period of time and at a very good rate of return. In exchange for providing capital, they obtain a piece of the company, thereby becoming business partners.
Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund
Specialization is common within the equity investment world, with investors generally focused on specific stages of business development. A “seed” stage investor, for example, has a different specialty than a firm that provides expansion capital.
An entrepreneur who knows the terms used to describe development-related types of equity financing is more likely to seek the investor right for her venture and increase the chance of obtaining funds.
Most investor specialization terms fall close to the following:
Seed-stage venture capital refers to investments made in firms with products under development or recently introduced to the market. Continue reading
Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund
Anyone looking for a business investor must examine their personal goals before looking for funding – different reasons for starting a business mean different ways of finding money.
Venture capitalists classify entrepreneurial businesses into two groups: growth businesses and lifestyle, or legacy, businesses. Only growth businesses will be attractive to venture-capital firms.
Lifestyle businesses are those started by people who want to have control over what they do and how they spend their time. These businesses tend to be focused on a local market, and entrepreneurs expect to own and run the business indefinitely. Continue reading
Stephanie Spong, Principal, Epic Ventures
Entrepreneurs looking for additional funding to launch or build a business have numerous options in New Mexico. Those with experience, skills and passion can choose from a number of potential sources of private-equity capital, whether they are “angel” or institutional equity investors. Determining which source to pursue depends largely on industry focus, business stage and the amount of money needed.