A new company started by a fresh, enthusiastic entrepreneur will often choose a private corporation as its business form.  With a start up company, the entrepreneur will not only have to fill key management and director positions, but also seek out a board of advisers. These are the people upon whom the entrepreneur will heavily rely to take his or her new business idea to the next level, as well as even help in obtaining venture capital.

The board of advisers can help transform a start up company into a viable investment opportunity for a venture capital firm. Their experience, status, and networking contacts are always a benefit, especially during the funding phases. Here are some other top qualities you need on your start up board:

Share the Vision

Does the candidate share your vision with your product or service? It’s essential that you get board members involved who are receptive to your enthusiasm for your idea.

Successes and Failures

A good board member is one who is not only successful, but has his or her share of setbacks. This kind of experience is invaluable in providing advice for the new entrepreneur in making wise decisions.

Experience with Growth Companies

If you are able to locate board candidates who have previous experience with growth companies, all the better! Their advice will be key in getting your company in front of a venture capital firm for an investment opportunity.

Specialty in Operations

Experienced board candidates will usually be executives or even CEOs of existing companies, but they should have a particular specialty. Consider your industry. The advice from a finance executive, medical operations manager, law firm partner, insurance company VP, or technical research executive could be the catalyst in getting approval from a venture capital firm.

Committed and Available

The board members you choose may share your vision, but not be able to commit to the duration of a board term. Their availability with other projects or commitments may prevent them from giving you the attention you need with your new start up.

Don’t be tempted to ask a great choice to become a board member just because of his or her status. Make sure they can commit to your business growth as well.

Be wise in your choice of board members. Your key board advisers could be the people who help your new business idea turn into the success you dream.

As a matter of need, entrepreneurs with a great business idea and a start up company want money immediately to continue on the journey to success. However, a venture capital firm who is willing to invest in a new start up company also has a need to be thorough in its due diligence. Thus, there exists a division of practicality between the wants of an entrepreneur and the needs of a VC firm.

Entrepreneurs who fail to understand this practical funding timeline also are likely to fail in their business. Budgeting time for venture capital investment funds to arrive to the bank can prevent many mistakes along the road to capitalization. How can a new business survive if existing capital is almost on empty before applying for venture funding?

After getting an approval from the VC firm, how long do you wait before obtaining venture capital funding? The answer is always, “it depends.”  

If you ask an entrepreneur how quickly they expect VC funding to arrive at their bank, the answers are not surprising. According to a poll conducted by the authors of the book, Inside Secrets To Venture Capital, entrepreneurs answered:

Time to Closing       Entrepreneurs’ Response

Under 30 days           22%

30-60 days                  25%

60-90 days                  20%

90-120 days                15%

120 days or more       18%

In contrast to the answers provided by entrepreneurs, the same question was posed to VC firms about how long entrepreneurs should expect the funding process to take. Here are the results of their responses:

             Time to Closing        VC Firm Response

Under 30 days             1%

30-60 days                  18%

60-90 days                  45%

90-120 days                26%

120 days or more       10%

You can see the chasm separating entrepreneurs’ expectations and the VC firms’ closing reality. Almost half of entrepreneurs expect to receive funding in 60 days or less, while the actual average funding time is between 60 and 90 days.

However, when VC firms were asked about their quickest funding time, 80% responded that they were able to fund in less than 60 days, and 41% were able to fund in 30 days or less.

The point is clear. Entrepreneurs should budget plenty of time to obtain venture funding. Never wait to the last minute to approach VC firms. You never know when you’ll receive a “yes” answer, and then you can expect at least 2 months or more before funding arrives.

What makes a successful entrepreneur? An entrepreneur must wear many hats in the process of starting a new company, but one of the traits that sets an entrepreneur apart from others is the ability to successful raise money needed to get a company off the ground.

Start up capital is essential for new businesses to succeed.  Unless an entrepreneur has substantial savings to use as start up capital, he or she will need to ask for money. Raising capital for business funding is not easy. It requires a bit of diplomacy, flattery, enthusiasm, vision, as well as a host of other qualities to convince people to part with their money and invest in a new business.

What traits do venture capital firms usually see in successful fundraisers? Here is a list of skills and traits you might need to be a successful venture capital fundraiser.

1. Networking Ability – A successful VC fundraiser needs to have a large pool of potential investors in which to pitch his or her idea. A smart entrepreneur knows the law of averages and will not narrow a fundraising search to just a few possibilities.

1. Targeting Ability – Not only does a successful start up capital fundraiser need a large set of contacts, he or she needs the ability to narrow down a list to the ones who the best candidates. Rather than a ‘scattershot’ fundraising approach, efforts are focused on VC firms who fund new companies similar to the size and scope of his or her new business.

1. Enthusiastic Communication – Finding investors requires an ability to make a pitch to those investors that convinces them of the potential of the new business. An entrepreneur who has passion and enthusiasm in the way he or she communicates to investors will have a better chance of receiving funds.

1. Preparedness – An entrepreneur who expects to receive VC funding never wings a presentation. Every detail of a presentation is practiced and honed until the message is exactly right.

1. Tenacity – Rejection is rampant in the world of VC fundraising. A successful VC fundraiser accepts this as part of the job and begins again when he or she meets a dead end.

1. Patience – No entrepreneur who needs money “now” will succeed. A successful VC fundraiser knows that there is a process to fundraising, including attracting the right venture capital firm, due diligence, and negotiation.

1. Flexible but firm Negotiator – Negotiation requires the ability to be flexible, but also the creativity necessary for the give-and-take of the process. A good negotiator will also recognize a good deal and have the ability to walk away from an unfair deal.

1. Realistic – Though enthusiasm is good, knowing the limitations and risks of the business, and being able to talk about them with venture capital firms, is also essential. A VC firm will easily see through a “smokescreen” of all positives and wants to know that the entrepreneur accepts and is aware of the risks as well.

While every potential venture capital deal hinges on various factors, there are three important valuation factors that fit across the board for venture capital firms. Here is a look at the top three valuation factors that could give you an edge when approaching a venture capital firm.

1. Management is Everything

In a poll conducted by the authors of Inside Secrets to Venture Capital, venture capital firms were asked to rate the factors they use to determine the value of a potential investment. By far, the top rated factor was the quality of management.

VC firms were asked to rate the factors on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest importance. The numbers were overwhelmingly in favor of the management team, with nine out of every ten VC firms rating this factor a 4 or 5. Seven out of ten rated this top factor a maximum of 5. The average rating for management team was 4.5, and no other factor even came close.

What does this tell you? Make the effort to recruit and attract the best possible people for your company. VC firms know the value of a management team who can weather storms and guide a small business to big success.

2. Size of Market

The next most important factor in the poll was the size of the market. The average rating for this factor was 3.8 out of 5.  30 percent of venture capital firms rated this as the highest importance. Thus, it is important for you as an entrepreneur seeking start up capital to find a market that is sizable, yet penetrable.

3. Product Qualities

Product quality was actually third on the list of top importance to venture capital firms. Only 25 percent of respondents said this was top importance, and the average rating (out of 5) was 3.7.

Along with product quality, venture capital firms look at the product’s uniqueness, the brand strength, and potential patent and intellectual property assets.

With these factors in mind, now you have an inside look at what venture capital firms are seeking. Be sure you design your new company with these top factors, and you will stand a better chance of getting a “yes” for venture capital.

So you want to become an entrepreneur? Believe me, you are not alone. The idea of becoming an entrepreneur has a long history. Entrepreneurship has been around since ancient Babylon when business was governed by some of the oldest set of written commercial laws. The actual word “entrepreneur” is descended from the Latin word, prendere, and later, the French word, pendre, which means ‘to take”. Webster’s dictionary defines an entrepreneur as a person who runs a business at his own financial risk

By definition, any person can become an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurialism is a career option that anybody can pursue provided the right effort. However, to say that any person can become an entrepreneur does not necessarily presuppose that just anyone can be successful at it. So what does it take to achieve entrepreneurial success? Ultimately, I think that the winning combination is great entrepreneurial genes coupled with learned business tools. Successful entrepreneurs are visionaries who are innately able to see opportunities where others do not. However, recognizing opportunities is not enough to carry the entrepreneur through the inevitable challenges of starting a new venture. That requires capability, namely being willing and able to do what needs to be done. The following are several character traits and work ethics that are common among successful entrepreneurs.

• They are visionaries gifted with intuition for opportunity.
• They are overachievers with a passion for venturing.
• They are self-confident and highly competitive with an above average risk-taking tolerance.
• They are attuned to the importance of money and are careful about their finances.
• They are equally motivated by monetary rewards and the internal rewards of creating new ideas the solve real life problems.
• They are extroverted, sociable and charismatic.
• They have a good personal work ethic and are respected as fair players in the business world.

So, do you have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur?

Personally, I believe that any person with a passion for their venture, desire to succeed and a willingness to work hard, take risks and forgo short term success for long term goals can be a successful entrepreneur.