Brand for Capital

So you've discovered or invented a new product category, but to develop it and take it to market you need capital. Lots of capital. More capital than your local bank is willing or able to advance. More than the SBA will loan you. More than all your friends and relatives put together could dredge up even if they were willing to back you.

You'll need venture investors.

So you write a plan and get all the legal compliance docs you need to raise money.

But I suggest something's missing.

Your brand.

Even at this early stage, you have more than a product idea. You have a vision, a dream, a mission, a passion.

Though the business may be an intangible at this point, it just makes sense to build a brand that reflects and reinforces your passion, and helps convey that passion to potential investors. Once investors get enthusiastic, who knows where that might lead?

And a strong, unified brand will help build confidence in the venture, impressing potential investors that you are business-savvy and have a market-orientation many entrepreneurs lack.

So those documents and presentations you must develop should, even at this early stage, be grounded in a brand, emanating from your vision and executed in a professional, convincing brand with which investors can identify.

After all, they are the first group of "prospects" you'll need to convert to "customers".

This is the ultimate example of adhering to my admonition to all entrepreneurs, "Brand smart from the start".

Oh, and a powerful brand can't hurt when you go to your local bank, either.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller businesses profit from the power of branding.