Steps to Growth Capital

Steps to Growth Capital (Steps) is a skills development program for entrepreneurs so that they can access growth capital by becoming "investor ready". Steps has been developed to meet the needs of higher growth companies seeking risk capital of less than $1 million. While the capital is available, many small businesses lack the skills necessary to access it.

Summary

Steps is a pioneering initiative and one of the first entrepreneurial skills development programs to be offered over the Internet. It serves entrepreneurs by opening the doors to the risk capital they need to finance growth. It serves investors by improving the quality and scope of their investments.

Steps is an online guide which leads entrepreneurs through nine steps on how to secure equity financing. An important feature is the Investor-Readiness Self-Assessment Test which allows clients to determine which of the Steps they should concentrate on to identify what they need to know about meeting investors, writing a winning proposal and negotiating a deal. The Fast Track provides an overview for those who just need to brush up their knowledge and skills. There are also four modules designed to improve key investor-readiness skills.

The Overview explains how to make maximum use of the Web site. Each of the 9 Steps covers key activities that the small business should accomplish in order to secure growth capital.

• In Step 1 -  Identify Your Financial Needs - you'll learn the basic process for figuring out how much money you'll need to fund your company's growth.
• In Step 2 -  Know Your Financing Options - you'll learn about the different types of financing options open to you, and the different uses and merits of each.
• In Step 3 - Show Your Investment Potential - you'll learn how to assess your company, internally and externally, with business valuation methods.
• In Step 4 -  Demonstrate Your Management Capabilities - you'll learn why risk capitalists will investigate the way your company is managed and discover what they're looking for.
• In Step 5 - Build an Investment Proposal - you'll learn how to assemble a proposal that will appeal to investors and put your company's best foot forward.
• In Step 6 -  Identify Potential Investors - you'll learn about the different types of investors, what they finance and how much money they want to invest.
• In Step 7  -  Meet Potential Investors - you'll learn how to look into your community, your networks and your industry to find potential investors.
• In Step 8 -  Negotiate the Deal - you'll learn how to do some important advance preparation before negotiations take place and you will also consider how to handle a negotiation session most effectively so as to achieve a win-win outcome.
• In Step 9 - Close the Deal - you will learn to take a careful, last look before committing yourself to a negotiated deal and you will find out more about the due diligence review and get some tips about how to handle it.

You may find it useful to take a look at four modules designed to improve key investor-readiness skills:  

• Enhance Your Writing;
• Get the Most Out of Meetings;
• Improve Your Negotiation Skills;
• Embrace and Resolve Problems.

You can also follow the story of New Tech Distributors Corp., a fictional but realistic company, as it faces the challenges at each Step of the process. Finally, you can refer to Web sites and publications listed in the Resources section.

Ontario Contact(s):
See National Contact.