[1lowbowtie]

I need some advise. I think I have come up with a winner of an idea for a totally new unique business that I feel has infinite potential. Before I try to get a business plan established, and find proper funding, I want to know what type of business knowledge is needed in order to be considered suitable to be in charge of a (hopefully) giant company. I have an associates degree in a completely unrelated field and have next to no business managment experience. I do not want to spend the time and energy in this venture only to find that no investor will work with me if I have no business training or education.

My idea is entirely online, and would require very little human resources or manpower as there is no inventory/shipping/management of any product of any kind. It would be almost entirely a marketing task to make this thing succeed. There are a few legal obstacles I will encounter, but I think I have a solution for those as well.

I am a 22 year old guy with some marketing experience and a great idea. Will any investor fund me?

[Bestmiler]

depends on what there investing...

[akula]

Welcome.

Congrats on taking the right approach and asking for advice.

You have two questions (what skills do I need? and will anyone fund me?)

There are two short answers to these questions: you need 4 different skills to work as an entrepreneur, and yes, some dumb person might fund you - but you don't want their money - because they're dumb - because no smart person would fund you - because smart people don't fund entrepreneurs who can't fund them selves.

Skills: To be a great entrepreneur, you need to be trained as a) an investor (skill for how to select market opportunities pursuant to a set of industry standard criteria) b) as a founder (how to problem formulate and aggregate resources currently outside of your control) c) as a CEO (how to manage organisations d) as a board member (corporate governance).

That's the four skills you need to learn.

I encourage you to ask further questions.

Overall message: Investors don't fund businesses. They fund people who make businesses, as different to funding people who can't make businesses. The only way to know that someone CAN make a business (as opposed to CAN'T) is if they've done it before.

In that sense, you need to follow the path followed by everybody else and make a decision. You need to decide whether you want to be capitalist for the rest of your life or not. If you decide that you DO want to be a capitalist, you will spend how many years you need to save up some money, max out your credit cards, con some family members into giving you some money - start a company - fail, do the same thing again - fail again - do it a third time, and by then, because you've had so much exposure in the industry, you will have the contacts, and the business acumen, to be in a position to negotiate term sheets.

That's the path of the capitalist. It is highly unrecommended, because if you're not cut out for this journey - you will find yourself dead by the roadside.

[1lowbowtie]

Thanks for the response. I believe I have the 'entrepreneurial drive' that is needed, I just lack the certified credentials. I am afraid that I will spend months and months preparing and researching only to be turned away because a) I have no proper business schooling b) I've never owned/operated a successful business. (I have tried several smaller side ventures online but with minimal success.) I think it comes down to walking the walk, because I feel I can talk the talk. But will this get me into trouble if I get funding? Will I be in over my head and inundated with corporate politics that I know nothing about? Should I consider enrolling into a few beginner business courses to brush up my knowledge of the business world? Or will they teach me generic ideas that can be learned in a book, and leave it up to the real world experience to teach me what I need to know? I know you can only teach me so much via this forum, but i appreciate any input or advise you can give me.

As far as the funding goes, I can see why the capitalist route is unrecomended. So what other option do I have? I really cannot fund myself in this situation. The startup costs will almost certaintly be in the millions. Like I said, this will be almost a complete marketing task and I plan on advertising on tv, radio, print etc., and I know advertising at this level is very expensive, but it's absolutely vital to make this thing work. Thanks again for the response.

[The Stealthy One]

Ideally, if you have no prior experience in this field, or with running a company yourself, follow akula's advice: acquire the skills yourself. If this is not possible, you are going to want to assemble a management team with past experience in successful ventures.

[akula]

Sure...I see what you're saying. You want to do some entrepreneurship and there are two options available to you. The fast track and the slow track.

The slow track: There are people like Martin Varsavsky (Fon) and Niklas Zennström (Skype) who can raise $20 million with little more than an idea scribbled on the back of a napkin. The way that they can do this, is because when they were in your position all those many years ago - they focused on what was doable - took baby steps - reinvested cash flows and started their companies without looking for some white knight. They were able to do this because they could recite at least 30 ways to finance a startup without saying silly things like "investors".

That's the slow way. It prepares people to be ready to accept their role as stewards of other people's capital. In that sense, money has this wonderful quality that it's only attracted to people who are ready to manage it. You are not ready; so you need to take the slow track, learn the various ways people can finance their ventures, start small and, when you're ready - you'll find that you can't turn away all the money that's miraculously attracted to you - that's a certainty.

The fast track: Now, there are also punk kids like Fred Smith (FedEx), who, without any track record in the industry were able to convince people to hand over millions to them.

If this is the sort of thing you want to pull off and you think are emotionally and psychologically ready to pull this off - then there are conceptual, and other, tools you need to be aware if you are to pull off this job.

Make no mistake; if you do want to take the fast track, and you are prepared to deal with consequences in case you derail - there are certain things you should and shouldn't do.

I would consider answering any further questions you have about how to get on the fast track.

[1lowbowtie]

Another great response. I guess Im still trying to decide which path I want to take. Of course I'de like to get going asap, but Im not sure if I'm ready for the consequences you speak of.
I would like to be completely prepared, and a more 'well rounded' entrepreneur but I don't see my self being able to fund a million dollar venture on my own any time in the near (or distant) future, just being realistic. You seem to be well imformed, what would you suggest? What are the consequences of the fast track that I should be aware of?

[akula]

Originally Posted by 1lowbowtie

Another great response. I guess Im still trying to decide which path I want to take. Of course I'de like to get going asap, but Im not sure if I'm ready for the consequences you speak of.
I would like to be completely prepared, and a more 'well rounded' entrepreneur but I don't see my self being able to fund a million dollar venture on my own any time in the near (or distant) future, just being realistic. You seem to be well imformed, what would you suggest? What are the consequences of the fast track that I should be aware of?

Ok, unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time to answer this question is as much detail as possible, so I'll try to be concise.

The decision: There are two different kinds of entrepreneurs. The real entrepreneurs follow the slow track and concentrate on building outstanding companies, which serve real customers with real products. These people do not wait for someone to come along and miraculously fund them.

Then there is the other kind of entrepreneurs who follow the fast track. They try to build a company whilst bypassing the necessary evolution stages which are required for a company to be born and take shape. The consequences of following this path are; change in personality and uncertainty.

Way of the con artist: There are two kinds of investment decisions; rational and irrational. When people invest in real entrepreneurs who follow the slow track, they are making a rational investment decision. Alternatively, there are con artists who are talented enough to persuade people to make irrational investment decisions such as paying $2million dollars for a tulip, or buying shares in a company which has no revenues and sells nothing but vaporware.

By making the decision to follow the fast track - you choose to make it your professional occupation to connive people into making irrational investment decisions. To do this effectively; you need to use deception to make irrational investments look rational. This change in personality - from a honest hard working company builder - to a charlatan who plays on people's greed and insecurities to build illusions and air castles; is the price of following the fast track.

There are also other consequences.

Cumulatively; if you make the decision to follow the path of the con artist - whilst what you do may be quite legitimate and legal - you are still a con artist. Likewise, because the job description of a real entrepreneur is different to that of a con artist - you need to learn diffrent skills.

* Con artist, deception and other derogatory terms are not meant in terms of their legal meaning - but in the sense that they more closely describe the activities of entrepreneurs who raise money for non-existent companies. Of course there are exceptions.

[1lowbowtie]

Thanks for your input. While I think 'con artist' is a very harsh word to describe someone who's merely seeking an investor, I see the point your trying to make. I will take this into consideration as I proceed. Thanks again.

[utkarsh.s]

To be honest lowbow, the type of knowledge required for your biz idea otally depends on how you want to handle your company. For a start start reading Business Weeks, ENtrepreners mags etc. You should try to dig out all the business related websites and learn every minute from now on. Only then you will be able to distinguish that which are you have to concentrate more on. I hope this helps.