Raising Capital – Two Equity Firms Advise

Hans Heer Terry Frishman

Hans Heer (Emil Capital Partners) with Terry (Culinest).

When raising capital for your food business, will you know what to do – and what to avoid? Learn from the experts!

Hans Heer (Emil Capital Partners) and Chris Bradley (Mistral Equity Partners) hear lots of investment pitches. Here are their great recommendations from my recent Food Entrepreneurship class.

Pre-Pitch:

You can have a great idea and a great concept, but a plan is on paper. It is unproven.

Your plan should be based on reality.

Investor Due Diligence:

Do the research on investors, and properly match up, if you are trying to raise money.

Investors need to trust you. If you don’t have a contact, find someone they invest in, and ask for an intro.

Funding Strategy:

Be careful about giving away too much equity in the beginning.

Friends, family, angel groups are best for food-type startups.

Before asking friends and family for capital, ask if they are comfortable with possibly losing it.

Consider factoring – taking a loan against accounts receivables.

Suppliers sometimes invest in a company.

Presenting:

Be confident when delivering your business plan and be open to feedback.

Believe in your product and show it.

Give short, to-the-point presentations that show you understand the market.