Taking on investment - Who has done it?

[JCKST1]

Our well established eCom business (sports/retail based) has had a big jump in sales the last 6-8 months, after some private investment in December (money from the sale of a BTL house was used for more stock) we have been able to secure some more contracts and deals with companies which means we are now getting offered huge amounts of stock on a regular basis from some of the UK and EU biggest suppliers, all at well below trade price as we are now becoming known as a buyer of such stock and we dont mess about, if we agree to the deal then we pay that day and take what we can. On the back of that we are able to sell B2C at great prices and are also supplying companies in the UK and EU B2B.
Its been a learning curve but we are on top of it however our capital can only go so far and we are leaving money on the table with these deals, we are also seeing sales continue to grow where we are going to have to start 'properly' putting new sales/order processing etc in place.

Getting a loan from Barclays who we bank with wont be a problem, they have offered us this on a plate recently after seeing a spike in sales the last 8 months however we are also thinking about looking for private investment so we can also benefit from someone who has done something similar, repay them & also pick up a few tips and skills along the way.

Has anyone on here gone down the route of taking on an investor, if so how did you find it?
How would the deal normally be structured, similar to a loan or do investors want a share in the business etc?
Is it beneficial to just get a loan and continue to do it alone?

Any tips appreciated.

[Nicetobenice]

I suppose the first question is

What do you and your business need?

On the face of it you appear to be doing very well and all you are lacking is cash to maximise opportunities.

If you feel like you need wider support than an outside investor could bring cash, advice and connections.

If you feel like you just need cash then I'd be looking at bank loans and maybe a trade finance deal.

So if you got the cash you need would be able to run the business sufficiently well the maximise the opportunity?

[Countdown]

JCKST1 said:

Getting a loan from Barclays who we bank with wont be a problem, they have offered us this on a plate recently after seeing a spike in sales the last 8 months however we are also thinking about looking for private investment so we can also benefit from someone who has done something similar, repay them & also pick up a few tips and skills along the way.

.

Just looking at it from a potential Investor's point of view;

I can probably get a decent return on a tracker fund with limited effort. You want my money AND you want me to provide advice, support, guidance on top.

How much extra are you willing to pay for my expertise if you only want me to loan you the money?

How much of your company are you willing to give up if you want me as a shareholder?

[JonPH]

Investment will take time and effort. It's more likely to be an equity deal, and can lead to all sorts of challenges unless/even if, they're well known to you.

If you can get the Barclays loan, I'd borrow more and buy-in advice at this stage.

[StevieBee]

JCKST1 said:

Has anyone on here gone down the route of taking on an investor, if so how did you find it?
How would the deal normally be structured, similar to a loan or do investors want a share in the business etc?
Is it beneficial to just get a loan and continue to do it alone?

My previous business came very close to completing on the investor route who would have taken a sizeable stake in the business but injected both cash, expertise and crucially, access to markets would would have found difficult to reach on our own. This was a large multi national. They pulled out at the 11th hour because of a shift in their corporate strategy. Prior to this, we explored opportunities with other investors and all of them wanted a slice of the pie.

For this type of investment, the deal is normally structured around the investor taking a share in the business equitable to the amount invested and the value of the business. They may be permanent shareholders taking dividends and standing to benefit on exit, or they may be happy to earn out over time.

Beyond the money and business, you have to consider personality. This is important. It's easy to fixate on the money and ignore day-to-day practicalities. Any investor will be a part of your life for possibly a long time so you need to take this into account. When looking ourselves, we ventured into extended conversations with one chap who on paper would have been really good for the business but we didn't pursue it because we didn't like him. He had a completely different character to us (in that it was difficult to determine if he had any character at all!) and we felt that his presence in the business would be sufficiently disruptive as to be damaging to it regardless of the money invested.

Based on what you've described, if it were me, I'd borrow the money and use some of it to hire a consultant to fill any knowledge gaps in your operations.

[MustangGT]

The comments made by the dragons on Dragon's Den can be applied in a general sense to provide the view of an investor.