Investors, How to Find Them?

It's extremely difficult. Watch Dragons' Den  - it's not entirely realistic but gives you an idea of the sort of thing people are looking for and will ask you.

The key thing is that an investor wants to make money, most of them want  a reasonable return at low risk. A few want a huge return in exchange for high risk. Banks ask for interest (ie no share of the business or profit) for NO risk. (ie they will want a guarantee that the the money will be repaid - which might be your house.)

So number one is work out if you have  a banking proposition (ie so little risk you don't mind betting your house) or an investment opportunity.

Work out a  business plan and prove that it can make money and pay back the investment.

Are you sure you know enough to design it , make it, sell it, etc - if not then all these things have to be added. If its an amazing idea and unprotected most investors won't want to know - they want IP with some kind of protection (mostly patents).

Every time you show it to some one you run the risk that they'll steal your idea or leak it accidentally. You can get people to sign NDAs (Non Disclosure Agreements) but it's not clear that these are worth the paper they are written on (are you really going to sue MegaCorp for stealing you plan ?).

Or you can try Kickstarter - it works for some but it requires different marketing skills and you need to have all the stuff in place to make something.

The next bit is (possibly) prejudice:

If you came to me with something based on a PI I wouldn't care if you are using the Pi just as a prototype platform (although that means you are a long way of production)  - but if you mean to use the Pi in your production design I would not be interested - why - because the existence of your business is dependent on the RPI people going on making the thing. I would be looking for a critical key component to be sourced form a company with a  track record of business to business supply.

MK

Was thinking this would be a great question/topic over in the Business of Engineering group too!  Maybe the folks there have some insight?

*Bump*

Not really...

jamesbenson any insights for matttuck?

Sometimes I work with startups before they find their funding where we get food or drink and chat about what's possible, what to expect in terms of time/money on product development, etc... Although I wouldn't be so bold as to say that I know anything about getting money. My work with companies heats up once they have the money and need to spend it.

Although I can make a few suggestions from places that my clients seem to hang out, which may help you talk to the person who will give you better advice:

1. Angel investor groups
2. Entrepreneurial events which can be found on www.meetup.com
3. Your local government's economic development office or commerce center

Raising money is similar to product development in that finding a solution that 'works' is a difficult, non-linear process. Good luck!

I've no experience myself but here's a few leads.

I have seem a couple of websites that promise to hook up investors with entrepreneurs. https://www.crowdcube.com/ and https://www.matchcapitaluk.com/

I saw a chap from HAX | The World's First and Most Prolific Hardware Accelerator the other evening and they definitely knew their stuff.

You might find Hardware Startup IO | The Best Resource Directory For Hardwarians to be helpful and perhaps the forums at https://www.tindie.com/

I stumbled upon this thread accidentally and rather late in the game, but I can offer a few insights.

My experience is from the Canadian polytechnic perspective, so it may not be applicable in your context.  Over the last decade or so provincial and federal governments have been looking to polytechnic institutes and colleges to help foster innovation and economic growth.  The idea is that there is a lot of useful capital infrastructure and human resource capacity within colleges and polytechnic institutes that could be directed toward moving innovation toward commercialization.  Governments in Canada are now assisting the innovation process by providing targeted applied research funding to colleges and polytechnic institutes.

Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) that have an innovation need, or have an innovation that directly addresses a problem in industry, can partner with colleges/polytechnics to advance their innovation, or have it characterized.  Funding can be obtained by the college/polytechnic that leverages funding provided by the SME.  This funding and collaboration model can be of great help to small companies as they move toward market readiness.

The idea or innovation has to have a solid business plan behind it as suggested by michaelkellett, and it must address a specific industry pinch point.  If the business plan is non-existent or weak, the innovator is directed toward mentoring and business development services.

In my experience, about 9 out of 10 ideas we evaluate are missing some crucial component of a solid business plan.  However, the 1 out of 10 ideas that are well aligned with specific industry innovation needs can enjoy the benefit of leveraged funding and move forward through the innovation support system currently available in Canada.  On that basis, I support the advice of jamesbenson and recommend you investigate your local government's economic development office as they may be aware of similar innovation support programs linked to your regional polytechnic/college system.

Mark