 |
 |
|||
Entrepreneurial Investment Strategy
|
||||
Note:
this is for the kind of limited
risk taker who wants to get growing rewards slowly with
investing personal time and preferably not too much money at the outset into a promising but
unfamiliar field.It is for those who want to achieve something in an uncharted field by developing and owning a patent, franchise, trademarked brand or the intellectual piece of some novel technology. I appreciate how hard it is to accumulate cash at that stage, and how resourceful you need to be to remain on the ball and not loose focus.
You
are here because you are just starting out on researching a new
concept or opportunity. And you also think that you have skill sets to
apply.
And I bet you have dreams too. So look at yourself as a determined entrepreneur (or infopreneur if you have little time to spare from your own.)
You already can look at your time as an asset: an in-kind investment.
Goalsetting: Mine those fields where your past successes can be applied to become the basis of new and exciting goals.
And I bet you have dreams too. So look at yourself as a determined entrepreneur (or infopreneur if you have little time to spare from your own.)
You already can look at your time as an asset: an in-kind investment.
Goalsetting: Mine those fields where your past successes can be applied to become the basis of new and exciting goals.
I believe in a string or a network of shared successes that synergyse each other. In other words they are much bigger than the some of them. Sharing is a key word in targeting mutual benefits.
So I find the following strategy is powerful enough but also it is relatively simple to implement freeing up your time and resources to focus on the important bits.
Value proposition
I would offer a real tangible or intangible benefit to attract growth opportunity.
Your punter
Consider for your offer a future Client who could diversify or attract a complementary market with the package of what you offer (product, service, knowledge, skill et.)
Any company serious about growth will be quite keen on capturing a new market. And it is not a particularly high risk if you can introduce your offer as a relatively small incremental improvement at first. In other words, however big a step change may happen as a result of your offer, it will not be taken on if it cannot be applied to what people already have and comfortable with.
He or she may think: - "What the heck we'll give it a try we have nothing to lose on the starting bit." And;
"We are newbies in that area there, yes. But this guy is a newbie too, so we won't embarrass ourselves by trying a newbie in a fresh segment." And would highly recommend you to prepare kind of "volunteer" at this stage -- to be paid relatively little at first. If nothing gained not much will be lost.
Negotiate
But try and negotiate to get a tiny portion of the royalty as a kind of bonus. As you well know, good royalties are like deposits on interest; they accumulate with time. The bigger the step change, the smaller royalties will be sufficient.
This is how the strategy Loosely works
and will be behind your future entrepreneurial
investment strategy
(if you will, replace employer with investor or VC)
It is about allowing your prospect to try out your idea on their terms with a provisional benefit that is attached to the end. It will tend to make them interested in slowly turning your perceived weakness into their future strength. Sweet. :-) And that's really the name of the game. Putting the pressure off you while giving you a degree of freedom to explore, grow and evolve.
The other benefit of course was that you will get to know your prospect in a framework of shared success, and partially on your terms.
When I try to apply that strategy to attracting money investors I try to bear in mind this:
Investors
are individuals or companies who positively love passion and committment. And even more so when your prior actions prove this.
Your bargaining position
Let's face it, you have week bargaining position in areas where you are a newbie. So what you may want to offer is your participation, but not as a major cost loading. Instead, as a win-win opportunity with a built-in provision for cost saving. If you, as an idea entepreneur, can prove that to a money investor, you are on easy street.
Cost saving hardly fails
And looking for cost saving provisions is one opportunity hunting strategy that should always work for an etrepreneur, no matter what the market is. I am not saying that this is the only way, far from it. But at the beginning, it should be an important focus, regardless of where you happen to be in the boom and doom cycle. Besides, by starting small you will have such a narrow risk profile, that the two strategies when combined well should make your venture watertight.
When you aim at growth long term
But if you want to set things up for growth, you may think about ways and plan for scaling up right from the beginning. And make sure you revise that thinking several times. And start that thinking in a business like manner also. Now one way of doing it is staging.
Staging strategy
The idea behind getting a provisional patent is instructive for such a staging strategy.
Speed trumps perfection
Don't worry about having the right technology etc fully developed right now.
That will not only paralyse and procrastinate action, but also is impossible to satisfy. Erik von Hippel says in his wonderful work that "in success, speed often trumps perfection." (Dowload his ebook free: http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/books.htm) If you make that a basis of a recursive process, evolving improvement will be the byproduct of a truly organic growth.
Read these articles with an open mind more about possibilities than problems.
Related Articles:
Thoughts on (VC) Venture Capital investment. Support platform system and Management Incentives.
Consider investing in these parts of the legal sector moving to market
Get a provisional patent early (and maybe a Component Trademark.) It will protect your IP and save you money.
Business patent or rapid duplication licensing ...? Like a franchise.
Good franchise opportunities (US). One established, one new ...
Return to top
Home to Placemark
|
Published since 2000 by Placemark® All rights reserved subject to Website terms |
Placemark is a
registered trademark. Webpage and images: Copyright Placemark
(2000-2009)
Home
> Investment Strategy Grey Zone