About Jim D. Ray Expertise Jim Ray is coordinator of a regional venture capital network, serving entrepreneurs and investors seeking funding relationships. Ray is an experienced entrepreneur and is presently involved in the operations of several business concepts, including a national commercial real estate company and a web design firm. Areas of expertise include the overall startup funding process; writing venture capital proposals; and win-win exit strategies for existing private funding relationships.
Expert: Jim D. Ray Date: 2/6/2004 Subject: Locating Investors
Question I am a film director based in the Midwest. Since I'm not an established Hollywood player (yet) I'm forced to find money for my films on my own. I currently have a handful of projects that I'm looking for funding for. Budgets for my projects range from $3,500 to $10 million. I've spent hours studying business strategies, SEC regulations, and talking with lawyers and financial planners to hone my business plans. However, I have not been able to find out any information about finding investors or financial sponsors. I know that people with money to invest don't usually advertise, so where do I start looking to find these people? Who are the people who have access to investors? What strategy do you recommend for finding investors or financial supporters? Thanks
Answer Sunday, February 08, 2004
10:39 PM DST
Hello, Robert:
Excellent questions! Let's get right to them:
You are correct -- most private investors do not publicize their availability in the marketplace. Instead, many investors join venture capital organizations, to identify investment opportunities as they are presented to the group.
To locate these venture capital organizations, I recommend performing a search on Google (www.google.com) using terms such as "venture capital organizations" or "VC networks." These search terms should produce a healthy supply of results. Each site will provide you with guidelines for submitting your investment opportunities to the group, either by U.S. Mail or via the internet.
As for strategy, I recommend contacting as many of these groups as possible, to increase your chances of success. Private investors are as unique as the projects they invest in; finding a match for a specific project can oftentimes be a time-consuming task.
Robert, I hope this information helps point you in the right direction. Should you think of other questions, please feel welcome to write me again anytime.
