Secure equity investment

If your business has been operating for some time, potential investors will be interested in your past activities so that they know exactly what sort of business they will be investing in. Ensure you clear old debts or liabilities before you seek investment.

Investors will also want to know about your business' intellectual property. See intellectual property: the basics.

You should also make sure that you are ready for investment, by considering:

• why you need funding - ideally for a specific reason such as expansion, or to develop a new product or market
• how much funding you will need when you need the funding by
• does your business have a high growth potential?
• do you have an advantage over your competitors?
• does your management team have the skills and experience that will be required by the growing business?
• how you are going to pay any money back - you must be able to meet any repayments on time, including interest
• what the right source of finance is for you - see bank finance and non-bank finance

For further information see business financing options - an overview.