Entrepreneurial Hurdles to Overcome
I’ve been on both sides of the fence when it comes to raising capital, and neither side is any easier than the other. On the capital raising side, you’ve got investors giving you ridiculous reasons why they may or may not invest, and on the investor side, you’re looking for that deal that is going to give you a solid return and be ‘the one,’ which is never easy to find.
One thing that we’ve all heard or said (entrepreneur or investor) is:
“It’s been done before”
“It’s never been done before”
Seth Godin points this out on his blog and actually struck a nice chord in my mind. I’ve certainly given both of these excuses before as an angel investor, and on the other side of the fence, I’ve received these responses when raising capital. At the end of the day, most things in this world have been done before, and nothing is really new. The ‘new’ things are essentially the same icecream, just with different sprinkles or hot fudge (as an analogy). Be prepared to defend what you’re entrepreneering as whether it has or has not been done before is irrelevant.