If you're going to get an investor

May 30, 2017

If you’re going to get an investor, I wouldn’t just get one for money. I would get an investor with the experience to show you how to do it. Otherwise, you’re giving up a lot of equity and getting no advice. You’re just getting money. What happens when you raise money is you basically take money and you apply it to bad thinking, because in the beginning, you don’t know what to do, you don’t know the ideal business model, you don’t know who the ideal client is, you don’t know the best ways to market. Learn more about marketing your landscaping or lawn care business.

Instead of focusing all your attention on finding the big initial investment, consider it a blessing in disguise. Without a large investment, you’re forced to be aggressive and scrappy; you’re forced to figure stuff out and find creative solutions (because there isn’t any money).

My advice? If you do invest time and effort in raising money, do it 4 or 5 years in once you’ve figured everything out, because then you can pour good money on top of good strategy instead of good money on top of bad thinking and bad strategy, which is what generally happens when you raise money without a mentor early on. Instead, go out and start doing this thing on the side now.