Know what you're missing

A friend of mine is a partner at a venture capital firm in Los Angeles. He says he sees about 1500 business plan each year and, in a good year, they will fund maybe 6 or 7.

When evaluating businesses for possible investment, he has told me that he looks closely at the company leadership, and he wants to see two main things: passion and business acumen.

Whenever he watches an entrepreneur eloquently describe his dream, and sees the excitement and fervor in the presentation, he always looks on the staff for "the nervous, book-ish person; the guy with the bow tie or the shy woman with the glasses."  If he/she is there the VC will feel much better about the enterprise.

He feels that many businesses fail because they lack a key resource (financial controls, management, etc.).  He feels you need to have both the passion and the business knowledge.  And he wants any new business to at least understand what they are lacking.

The point is, it's a good idea to take a long, hard, honest look at your company and see what resources you're lacking before you present to a potential investor.  You should at least be aware of areas you need help in, and admit to those needs, before you look for investment cash.