If you find yourself with the chance to invest in a business idea, do it with caution. You need to be aware of the liability, the valuation of the business, your timeline and exit strategy. During my decades of raising money capital and start-ups, I have spent them either investing in private Companies or helping investors and companies connect through the right platform.
如果你发现自己有机会投资一个商业创意，那么请谨慎行事。你需要考虑到负债、业务估值、时间规划和退出策略。在几十年的融资和创业过程中，我要么把钱投资于私人公司，要么帮助投资者和公司通过合适的平台建立联系。
In my experience, here are the top 5 things you need to know before you invest in that idea:
根据我的经验，在投资之前，您需要了解以下五件事：
1、take a step back and ensure it aligns with your KPI 先后退一步，确保它与您的关键绩效指标保持一致
I tell my clients that the worst thing you can do is to invest in a new business because you think it’s an exciting opportunity. The problem with business ideas is that everyone seems to be interesting at first, but only few are able to stand the test of time. Ensure you keep it aside and think about other things. By the time you go back to it and you still feel excited and interested like before, then you can consider going for it. In order to have this kind of test proofs and checks, it is important you establish your KPI's early as you come across the idea. That is what I do before I consider investing in a particular start-up and, it has been a great tool that I use for my clients too.
我告诉我的客户，你能做的最糟糕的事就是投资一项新业务，因为你认为这是一个令人兴奋的机会。商业创意的问题是，一开始每个人似乎都很有趣，但只有少数人能够经得起时间的考验。确保你把它放在一边，先考虑下其他事情。当你再回来看它的时候，如果你仍然像以前一样感到兴奋和有趣，你便可以考虑去实现。为了证明和检查这一点，在您发现这个想法时尽早建立KPI是很重要的。这就是我在考虑投资某家初创公司之前所做的，而且，它也是我帮助客户的一个很好的工具。
2、Have a strategic, planning process 制定战略，规划流程
Just as you have encountered that idea and it seems so perfect to you. It is very important you have a strategic approach towards the idea before investing in it. You should have a clear understanding of the following components: target market, market size and growth, unique value proposition, target customers, competitive landscape, product roadmap, long-term plan, your key milestones, especially over the next four years. The strategic plan should also include how you would utilize the idea to make money which includes your gross margin, your customer acquisition cost, total value.
当你第一次碰到一个商业创意，它是如此完美。在投资之前，有一个战略计划是非常重要的。您应该清楚地了解以下组成部分：目标市场、市场规模和增长、独特的价值主张、目标客户、竞争环境、产品路线、长期计划、关键里程碑——尤其是在未来四年内。战略计划还应该包括你如何利用这个创意赚钱，包括你的毛利率，顾客购置成本，总价值。
3、Analyze the pros and cons 分析利弊
You have to rank your idea on a business scale, it is very important you take note of this factor. "I am always thinking of new projects or business ideas to help grow my business in the liquor industry and so I get to develop a statement to implement them. I design the plan, implementation and I write out the pros and cons list. With this, I am able to analyze the idea and make a good final decision on it". This is one thing I help new investors achieve whenever they consult me on an idea. For those that want to invest in private companies, ensure you get to see the CEO or his representative, so that you get to discuss this with him before placing your investment into such business.
你必须将你的创意按业务规模进行排名，注意这一因素非常重要。”我一直在考虑新的项目或商业点子，以帮助我发展烈酒市场的业务，因此我要制定执行这些声明的方案。我设计了计划、实施方案并写出了利弊清单。有了这个，我就能够分析该想法并对此做出最终决定”。每当新投资者向我咨询一个想法时，我都会帮助他们实现这一点。对于那些想投资于私人公司的人，确保你能见到首席执行官或他的代表，以便在将您的投资投入此类业务之前与他进行讨论。
4、Is this what people want? 这是人们想要的吗？
The idea might seem so interesting, it's always important to test them, by interacting with your target customers in the real world. Do this before you invest a lot of resources into the business. I carry out this survey a lot, both for my business and for my clients. I get feedback for them from real world consumers and also, don't be afraid of people stealing your idea. I see so many entrepreneurs starting up businesses and creating new products without even taking a survey as to whether there is a market for them or if such product or services is needed by the people. This can be detrimental to the life span of such a business.
这个想法可能看起来很有趣，通过与现实世界中的目标客户互动来测试他们始终很重要。在你投入大量资源做生意之前，请先执行此操作。我为我的业务和客户进行了很多调查。我从现实世界的消费者那里得到反馈，而且，不要害怕别人窃取你的想法。我看到很多创业者在创业和创造新产品的时候，甚至都没有调查他们是否有市场，或者这些产品或服务是否为人们所需要。这可能会损害此类企业的生命周期。
5、The goal and success 目标和成功
Without a clear picture of what success will look like for a given project/idea you're about to invest in, it becomes difficult to tell whether you're on track. By defining your business success and goals, you can easily measure the project and tell if it's reaching the desired objective.
如果没有清晰地了解您将要投资的给定项目/想法将取得什么样的成功，那么很难判断你是否步入正轨。 通过定义你的业务成功和目标，您可以轻松地衡量项目并判断项目是否达到了预期目标。
To reach success, your idea has to achieve its goals. As consultants, we get credits and success when we have helped our clients achieve their goals at their various investment plans and business start-ups. Therefore, I will advise that you have a success road map of that particular idea you want to invest in so that you can easily determine whether your Investment is yielding a positive result or not.
为了获得成功，你的想法必须实现其目标。 作为顾问，当我们帮助客户在各种投资计划和业务初创企业中实现其目标时，我们便会获得信誉和成功。 因此，我建议你针对您要投资的特定想法制定成功的路线图，以便您可以轻松确定您的投资是否取得了积极的成果。
For more information do not hesitate to ask us.
如需更多信息，请随时咨询我们。
Comments