Help with finding investors

jrpbucks

I have what I feel is a GREAT opportunity to purchase a business, but need help financing it.  The business has been open for 16 years and the owner is selling all of the business.  I don`t want to waist time going through a bank because I know I will not get approved because there is no collateral involved that the bank will accept, and the business has two sets of books.  I am thinking the best thing to do now is to write a business plan to show potential investors.  Does anyone have any comments or suggestions?  I am thinking I will need help writing my business plan and may want to share it with others to get feedback and help me when I am stuck.  Is this a good idea and has anyone here wrote one that would be interested in helping me out?

strongbusinesscredit

Small businesses can prepare for eligibility for financing by building a business credit score. This type of credit score is not associated with the personal credit score of the business owners, and therefore does not put the personal assets of the owners at risk. Dun & Bradstreet and Experian are the primary companies in the

jrpbucks

I have been reviewing business plans and preparing to write one, but have many questions.  My first question is when you are looking at purchasing a business that has already been running do you include past financial figures in an analysis?  If so, how far should you go back, 3 years?  Also, and this is the big one, how do you do this in the case that there is "two sets of books?"

jwmoore78

I agree, building a strong business credit score is definitely where to start, then from there it will be much easier to find investors.

WebJunky

jrp - which two sets are you talking about? internal vs. external? use the internal bec these are the true results to the business owner. an external is usually kept for tax purposes with several adjustments that you dont need to worry about at this point.
 
include past figures to the extent they are applicable. i.e. has the business significantly changed? has the economy changed? has the consumer / product mix changed?  make this relevant to current times today.
 
if the seller is valuing the business based on past earnings (EBITDA) then try to weed out the one time/unusual events and measure historical earnings consistently through periods.  bottom line is everything has to be consistent and relevant to today`s times. only then will you get a clear picture of the business. it is worth paying a CPA to audit the books and conduct due diligence before you make an offer.

Bauism

4 Basic Sources of Income 



1. Friends and Family
2. Angel Investors3. Venture Capitalists4. BanksI prefer #1 & 2. A business I co-founded got a fairly solid investment from a friend of a friend because of certain steps we took. Write a solid business plan, have an attractive(profitable, feasible) idea, protect any intellectual property and start making connections.

TomTim

These steps we will take your business through building strong business credit scores with Equifax, Experian and Dun & Bradsreet.


In Steps 1 & 2 we make sure your business is ready to apply for vendor lines, business credit cards, loans and lines of credit.  Steps 1 & 2 of our building business credit system include items that every business must attend to before applying for any of these.

A critical component of setting-up for approval is separating your business credit from your personal credit. This provides a layer of protection for your personal credit scores. The Business Credit Building System builds will ensure that you know exactly what it takes to qualify before you apply.
These vital steps from our Business Credit Building System are the result of years of research. We save you hundreds of hours and lead you step-by-step through getting it done right the first time.
There are over 500,000 vendors that are currently extending business credit to their customers. But only 6,000 - 7,000 of those are reporting payment histories to the business credit reporting agencies.  We have done the research.
There are over 500 business credit cards, but only about 40 of those will even consider issuing your business a card without attaching it to your social security number. We have done the research.
There are over 4,000 business lenders that all have different criteria and checklist requirements for approving your business loan. We have done the research.
Your business needs a bank loan that at least reports to the Equifax Small Business Financial Exchange. There are only certain banks that will help you. Our Business Credit Building System has done the research.