Starting a Company

Starting a company is rather easy. As a dealmaker I want an entrepreneur who has customers, otherwise I can do only so much to help him/her finding investor capital. Why? Because without customers there is no value for an investor you see.

So my advice to entrepreneurs starting companies from scratch is:

1) Before producing the actual service or product you want to sell I would, as entrepreneur, go out and ask customers if they would like to reserve a place as a future customer for the service you would like to offer (say you want to sell MP4 players for $5 a piece).
2) If there is an interest, then potential customers would like to reserve themselfs on a paper (on a lead form).
3) Then, when you have a lot of customers who has commited/reserved themselfs on paper, willing to buy from you when you are ready to give them the proposed service/product, you go out and start your company.
4) You then sell of some percentages of your company to investors with the help of a professional business broker. Preferably a business broker working on a contingency basis. You should never pay a business broker until they have delivered a value for you (if you make money, they make money).
5) With proceeds from the stock sale you finance a certified project manager who will develop your dreams to something really tangible. You also finance the project cost.

In short:

1) Find customers and have them reserve a spot as your customer.
2) Start a corporation/company with shares.
3) Sell part of that vehicle so you can finance the project 100%.
4) Hope everything works out and your certified project manager is good at what he does.

Starting a company is not rocket science even if many strange people say it is. You start a company around a real demand or want. No demand? Don't start the company. Make it simple or don't do it at all. Think big or don't do it at all.

As they say: Think big, start small. Start with one place and expand. But have expansion in the initial plan.