In my opinion, you should start with a business plan. A thoughtful business plan dramatically increases your odds of succeeding as an entrepreneur.

A business plan can help you: clarify your vision for your idea, set important goals and objectives for the business, identify your market & competitive advantage in the marketplace, think through financial projections, identify how profitable your idea could be, and a lot more !

Your business plan will also be a necessary document for convincing investors and lenders to fund your business.

A “venture capitalist” is a professional investor. He or she manages a fund and is looking for suitable investments for that fund.

An “angel investor,” by contrast, is an individual who, while also looking for a suitable investment, is also looking for a personal opportunity. An angel investor often has business experience relevant to the company he or she invests in and is interested in adding value to the business, as well as making a return on his or her investment.

Angel investors are usually the bridge between the entrepreneur’s self-funding stage and the venture capital stage.

A good example of a “risk capitalist” is Laurence Spelman Rockafeller, one of the five- (5) sons of famous oil tycoon. Laurence Spelman Rockafeller, who is worth like $200 million, doesn’t have to invest capital believes that wealthy individuals have a social responsibility to risk their capital by investing in inventive, young companies. During his lifetime, he is someone who has both “talked the talk, and walked to walk.”

Hope this helps your understand of the differences of venture capitalists, angels, and risk capitalists.

This how I’d go about building a list of Angel Investors:

Start with PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS – namely attorneys, accountants, bankers & and, of course, consultants. (In your search, don’t overlook OTHER HIGH PAID PROFESSIONALS, like SURGEONS and DENTISTS, for instance.)

After professional advisors, I’d seek out LEADERS IN YOUR INDUSTRY – both ACTIVE and RETIRED; in addition, I’d identify successful entrepreneurs of complementary businesses. (So, industry suppliers or service providers, for example.)

Then, I’d branch out by engaging in what’s called “DEEP NETWORKING” which is nothing more asking for referrals, and asking those referrals for referrals.

OTHER RESOURCES include INDUSTRY CONVENTIONS, ANGEL DIRECTORIES — and you’ll find a lot of good resources on the web, as well as INCUBATORS, (national incubation website) and ANY LARGE UNIVERSITY or GOVERNMENT AGENCY that supports small businesses in your area.

Georaphically — and this is a very important point — FOCUS on PROSPECTS WITHIN A 50 TO 150 MILE RADIUS of your business, because anyone who is going to make an investment will be making a several year commitment, and will want to play an active role in the company, so he or she is going to want to be within a reasonable drive of your company.

BUILD AS LARGE A “QUALITY” LIST AS YOU CAN.

After hearing the investor’s response ask: If I were to modify my presentation by getting you this missing information, could we set up an appointment to meet again?” If not, why not …

If the answer is still “no’” then ask for a referral and move on. As mentioned during the radio interview there a plenty of other fish in the sea !

Good luck !

Jim