We are looking for startups. Investments in startups

A business that goes from an idea to its successful monetization. You can invest in startup projects at different stages of their development.

Experienced investors look at indicators such as:

• working prototype stage
• first profits
• strong team

Even one of these indicators significantly increases the chances of a project to attract financial investments into it.

Investing in a startup is quite simple, the procedure does not involve bureaucratic delays. In a successful scenario, you can receive an amount that is several times higher than the original one. The only significant disadvantage is the high probability that the project will not work. According to statistics, no more than 10% of startups turn into a successful business. Reducing possible risks is the main "pitfall" of this area for a potential investor. What are the opportunities to invest in a startup?

Many popular companies and Internet services that bring multimillion-dollar profits today and are on everyone's lips began as startups. These are the legendary Uber, Facebook, Spotify, SpaceX. These projects, having turned into millionaires, have become "goose that lays golden eggs" for their investors. The list of companies that managed to see the prospects of these projects in the early stages is also impressive. Many large corporations professionally buy up young business projects in order to get huge profits from them in the future.

Where to find a profitable startup

It is important to remember that only 1 out of 10 startups successfully goes through all stages of development and starts to make a profit. The ability to analyze the features of an idea's business plan and the current market situation is one of the most important for an investor to receive real profit. It depends only on your experience, knowledge and intuition how much income you will receive in the end.

The next question is where to find a project worth investing in.

No one forbids you to simply look around and find people in your inner circle who need funds to raise a business. If they were not nearby, then you should pay attention to special sites created to meet potential businessmen with potential financiers.

Another way is to attend startup competitions and conferences. There are well-known both in Russia and in other countries. Every year, many young founders bring their presentations there, even despite the initial stages of developing a business idea. Their main goal is to find, yours is to discover a truly worthwhile idea and team. At such events, there is an opportunity not only to be the first to see a worthwhile presentation, but also to personally communicate with the founders. A well-written presentation is designed to demonstrate to a potential investor the prospects and profitability of the project, and the conversation allows you to evaluate the knowledge and experience of its creators.

Crowdfunding - "people's investment" in a startup

On these and other platforms, you can find a project with good potential in any field. By the way, there is an opportunity to invest in the site itself. Most often, a “crowdfunder” can count on a product for the sake of which the funds were collected, but sometimes he can also receive a share in the invested project.

If there is a desire to start investing money profitably, then it is quite possible to allocate funds for a dozen or two different projects on reliable crowdfunding platforms. This direction is popular and continues to develop. The World Bank predicts an increase in the size of the crowdfunding market. It is possible that by 2025 it will reach one hundred billion dollars and will significantly, several times, exceed modern market venture investments.

On such serious sites as AngelList or the Russian StartTrack, you can choose projects in which investors with experience, who have the necessary knowledge and specialization, invest. This is one of the most inexpensive ways to try your hand at investing.

Diversification of deposits is the basis of venture strategy

Unfortunately, 90% of all startups go bankrupt and that is why venture investments in startups are a more reliable and proven way to generate income from them. They are represented by special funds and private investors. The latter, so-called business angels, are also exposed to risks and rarely receive significant dividends.

Another thing is a venture fund. This collective form investment designed to minimize possible risks. This result is achieved through:

• a large number of fund participants
• high-quality expert evaluation of projects
• investment for the long term

The unconditional advantages of partnership in a venture fund are obvious, but for these advantages you will have to pay not only the established fee for managing the fund, but also the entire amount of investment must be made at once, for a long period of several years. In addition, it is worth considering that such partners practically do not take part in the current affairs of the fund, do not participate in its politics, and have nothing to do with the selection of startups and other related procedures.

Venture funds are regularly evaluated by independent experts who compile their ratings. Based on them, you can make a decision about joining a particular fund. Obviously, not every potential investor can afford it, since the entry threshold is quite high there.

Rules for investors

If there is a goal to make money on startups, then it is worth investing in several at once. The more, the higher the likelihood that at least one of them will become truly successful. This allows you to balance income and losses, which will certainly be. Another thing is that one successful startup is able to cover the losses from several unsuccessful ones.

For investments, it is worth choosing projects that can be called successful already at the start. Their prospects are determined by the number of users or by real income.

For an application, the number of downloads is important, for a product - the number of units sold.

Successful entrepreneurs do not stop there and create startups after startups. Investments in new projects by founders with positive business experience are likely to be profitable. Give preference to a more “strong” team of professionals who already have experience in creating successful, working startups.

Working with startups gives you the opportunity to communicate directly with the team, i.e. a chance to explore not only the project itself, but also the people behind it. This, in turn, allows you to better understand the essence and prospects of a particular innovative startup idea. Give preference to open, transparent projects.

There are startup projects in the most different areas Oh. The most "profitable" areas for investment are high technologies, IT and Internet projects (Internet startups). It is worth taking a closer look at the "fresh" ideas in these industries.

It makes sense to invest in several projects at once if they are from different business areas that are not related to each other.

Investing in a startup can be a very profitable venture, but it comes with a lot of risk. It is very important to find a promising startup. Before making a decision, you should carefully study all the evidence on a particular business plan and evaluate its potential. The right valuation is the key to a successful startup investment that can literally make its investors rich in a very short time.

Modern realities are such that all over the world such a concept as “ startups". This is not strange, because having developed and implemented the idea of ​​a unique and progressive project, one can gain great wealth and great popularity in a short time.

Organize a fundraiser for a startup or invest own funds in an already existing one, for example, on Simex exchange. But first things first.

At the implementation stage, most of the most promising start-up projects are curtailed, even before they really start. This is because, in order to bring any business idea or startup to life, a certain amount of start-up capital is required. It is often not there.

In such cases, it is imperative to find a reputable investor willing to provide investing in startups. Let's try to figure out what the concept of "startup" means and how you can attract investment in a startup?

What is a startup and how much can an investor earn?

In the broad sense of the word, "startup" is a temporary structure, which was created in order to find and implement a specific model of a business project. Also, this term can be applied to companies involved in the development of a new product, the so-called start-up projects, or provide conditions for bringing it to the market.

However, entering the market is completely impossible without cooperation with investors who are a key source of financing. In fact, finding an investor is not as difficult as it seems at first. It is much more difficult to interest him, to make him believe that the provided project will be worth investing in it. required amounts money.

An investor's earnings depend on many factors, usually 60%-80% per annum can be safely calculated. But to a greater extent, everything depends on the prospects of the chosen project and the literacy of its creator. In some cases, the investor's income can be even several hundred percent in year.

Startup exchanges or where to look for startups?

However, everything in the world is in development, including the area of ​​investment. One of the innovations in this area is the emergence and rapid growth in popularity startup exchanges.

Many in this case are wondering - how to invest in startups in this case? In fact, everything is quite simple. Thanks to these projects, you can both exhibit your own startups in search of potential investors, and act as an investor.

Now there are both newly created exchanges and those that have been operating for a long period of time. One of the most popular is startup exchangeSimex. Here everything is done solely for the convenience of investors from investing money to trading in shares.

When an investor finds something for himself, he looks through the information regarding the amount of investment required and, with the help of an intermediary exchange, makes a contribution.

Profits are also made through the same exchange and there is no need to make direct contact with the creator of the project. Separately, it is worth noting that the advantage of startup exchanges is that here all promising projects are ranked depending on the degree of attractiveness, which means that a potential investor does not need to view a large number of unnecessary projects, because he can go directly to the section " Top Startups».

In order to diversify and reduce non-trading risks, you need to scatter money into different projects. The latter truth specializes in investing in websites and the startup section is not very popular there.

Common mistakes in organizing startup projects

Very often, in an attempt to attract investment in start-up projects, novice entrepreneurs who want to get money faster have the imprudence to embellish their idea, keeping silent about serious shortcomings and potential risks.

Definitely, it is better not to do this, because reliable investors understand all the nuances on a professional level and, realizing that they are deceiving him, will not only refuse to cooperate with the entrepreneur, but will also be able to ruin his reputation among his colleagues. And this definitely threatens with a complete failure of both this startup and all subsequent ones, since investors will always suspect such people of unreliability.

next typical mistake is ignorance of those investors with whom the entrepreneur is dealing. This directly threatens to meet with scammers who are engaged in fraud with startups and steal business ideas. Here it is not necessary to explain for a long time what consequences all this threatens the author of the development.

If, at the first stage of a conversation with a potential investor, he was interested in a business idea, then he will probably ask for business plan. It should clearly describe the study of the market situation in terms of the marketing plan, the level of initial costs in terms of financial plan, as well as plans for the future in terms of immediate prospects for development. This is because a potential investor wants not only invest in a startup personal funds, and do it with an eye to the future, in order to consistently make a profit for several years.

Fatal mistakes are also often made at this stage. Firstly, many entrepreneurs do not even have this document drawn up, and some do not even know what it is. Secondly, those who have a business plan can often experience unreasonable overstatement of requirements for the required amount. Money. It is clear that in both cases negotiations with potential investors are doomed to failure.

It is also worth noting that in the practice of Internet startups, their authors may encounter such a phenomenon as project cloning. This happens when certain individuals try to pass off someone else's startup as their own by posting a similar project on the Internet.

However, if this happened, then you should not worry too much. This is because it is not enough to place an announcement about the development of a certain project, it is much more important to show a potential investor your own vision of how this idea works. But this information, even if desired, will no longer be possible to steal from the true author of the startup.

In addition to private investors, the following categories can invest in startups: investment and venture funds, commercial banks, business angels, as well as the state. Let's look at each of the categories in more detail.

Investment and venture funds are often the most likely investors for start-up projects. This is especially true for the latter. With the role of investment funds, everything is very clear - they select the most interesting projects, the implementation of which is subsequently financed. A feature of venture funds is investment of money to untested projects with very high level risks.

However, this often pays off due to the rapid development of some of the startups. In addition, representatives of venture companies are directly involved in the development of business ideas, namely, they invest not only their own money, but also their knowledge.

Business angels are companies that also invest in risky business ideas, but the amount of investment does not exceed one million US dollars. As a rule, this happens at a very early stage, in order to resell the business at a much higher price after 5-7 years.

The role of commercial banks in financing start-ups is to provide a loan to start your own business. Nothing new here: the classic credit for certain period and fixed rate interest. It is rightfully considered the least profitable source of investment for starting a business.

The state in investing in startups often acts as a party that provides subsidies from the budget, which are designed to facilitate tax burden for start-ups and small businesses.

Startup and crowdinvesting

It is worth noting that a separate concept has been introduced to describe the collection of money from small investors to finance a large financial project. crowdinvesting. However, funds in the form of crowdinvesting can be collected not only to finance a new project, but also an existing one, when a simple expansion of activities is expected. Therefore, these two concepts should not be confused.

In conclusion, I would like to note a few tips that any novice startuper should keep in mind:

1. Don't allow cheating. It must be clearly understood that an investor for a business is not an enemy or a competitor, but a partner who, at the risk of own capital, is directly interested in the startup being implemented and turning into a profitable business.
2. Availability of business plans and estimates, calculated to the smallest detail
3. The presence of a professional team and the ability to lead it.
4. A competent choice of a source of financing for your own startup.

- a subscription to underwear. If you are also thinking about developing your startup or launching something from scratch, then our experience will surely be useful to you.

We spent some of our own money on the project to test the viability of the idea, but there were no longer enough funds to grow and test serious marketing hypotheses. Then we began to look for investments and found.

Trusbox is not a purely technological service, but it definitely has the potential for development towards IT, so we were looking for investments like that. Technological projects often require long and complex development, and the result is measured not only by such metrics as we are accustomed to based on university economics lessons 10 years ago. So if you want to open a beauty salon or a car repair shop, then my advice, alas, will not work for you. But if you came up with a program that facilitates the work of a car repair shop, you can find investments in the project, following our experience.

Anna Gorodetskaya

My documents: what to prepare

At the first stage of the project, it is often recommended to draw up a lot of documents: a description of the concept, mission, necessary regulations - that is, materials without which new team members will hardly understand what your project is about. It is not a fact that you will definitely need all the files later in your work, but they will definitely come in handy when you are drafting key documents for investors.

• Detailed presentation of the project
  You must have a document ready, from which a person who has no idea about the scope of your project will understand what you are doing, for whom and how. The document answers the usual questions: what do we do, who do we do it for, how do we do it, who are we, what are our plans, who are our competitors. If you, like me, are thrown into a work stupor by open empty files, then use the presentation template on canva.com - there are already structured templates with a minimal design and icons that you can use to visualize processes and numbers.
• Project business plan
  Even if you have not made a single sale yet, you should still have an idea of ​​where the money is in your project, even if it is small and not soon. But if your project, in principle, does not involve earnings, then perhaps it belongs to the social or art sphere, and sponsors rather than investors will help you better.
• road map
  A document that will describe what, when and with what forces you plan to achieve. It should consist of several milestones and a description of the processes and resources that will help you get there.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator/Unsplash

Where am I: determine the stage of the project

To choose the right potential investor and project presentation strategy, you first need to decide what you have. For projects in the early stages of development, there is a simple classification.

• Pre-seed- you have an idea, a team, a working prototype, hypotheses about the audience and distribution channels, confirmed by small numbers. That is, you have a project in which there are some people, and the project is working confidently, albeit at a low speed.
• Seed- you have bypassed all the traps of the previous stage, did not go crazy, did not go to Nepal and are now ready to grow dramatically and strongly.

Your investor search strategy will depend on what stage your project is at: some funds may specialize in projects of different stages. When you contact a specific fund, you will need to indicate what your current status of the project is.

If your stage is a confident pre-seed and you have not released, in fact, nothing, then this does not mean that you will not be able to find an investor. The first option for finding an investor will not require you to have a finished product.

About the benefits of hackathons

If you have a development team, even a small one, be sure to participate in thematic or corporate hackathons. A hackathon is a short-term event (most often they are held on weekends) where teams or individual developers solve one problem voiced by the organizer. In addition to the possible winning of an impressive prize that can be spent on the development of the project, you will meet serious people in your industry.

Companies that host hackathons are obviously interested in additional products, if they like your project, you have a serious chance to attract the organizers of the hackathon as an investor, as was the case with three teams at the hackathon "Create a University" . A list of upcoming hackathons can be viewed.

If the hackathon does not suit you, then nothing prevents you from contacting the investor directly, because thanks to the documents that you have already prepared, you know how much investment you need (although this point will be discussed).

QIWI Universe/facebook

Where to looking for

1. Follow the trail
If your product can definitely be classified as “something tech” (medical technology, financial technology, etc.) and it solves some understandable problem, then pay attention to large companies in your sector, many of them have their own investment solutions. For example, QIWI has a separate platform through which you can contact the company with a request for investment.

2. Spying on the neighbors
If you carefully and carefully prepared the presentation of your project, then you probably know all the competitive startups in your industry. Information about transactions is a major newsbreak that is very rarely hidden. You can check online to see if your competitors received investments in the last year, and if so, from whom. Feel free to contact funds that have invested in projects similar to yours: this means that the fund is already working with your topic, understands something about it and will be able to evaluate your project for subsequent investment.

3. Contact directly
The simplest and most obvious advice, which for some reason no one uses: just write to investment funds. The Firrma website has a ranking of the most active (that is, those who made the most deals) venture capital funds for the year. There are both seed and new funds. The algorithm in this case is as follows: you need to go to the investment fund website, try to find a project presentation template there, fill it out and send it along with a cover letter to the address indicated on the website. Investment funds really read the letters that come to them. They make money from investments and certainly don't want to miss out on interesting options.

I strongly recommend that you find a specific foundation presentation template and work with it, because in any case you will be asked to provide information in a standard form, and you will simply lose time and some credit of trust if you do not use a document that is in the public domain.

cartierawards/instagram

One of the formats for accessing investments is startup competitions. Most often, an investment fund and some large firm are combined to organize them, and the winners receive prizes from both: in the form of investments, in the form of services from the firm, or both. For example, the First Height contest is held jointly by the consulting giant McKinsey & Company and the large investment fund Winter Capital. But the most famous startup competition in Russia is GenerationS. In addition to the main competition, it has different nominations every year, the application process and expert verification in them can be easier, so check if there is a special nomination on the subject of your project this year, and if so, feel free to apply on the website (list of special nominations located at the bottom of the home page).

Separately, pay attention to competitions that stimulate the development of women's entrepreneurship. So, the famous jewelry house Cartier has a competition program for women - business leaders from around the world.

By the way, separate women's acceleration and investment projects It's not just Cartier. Read more about special opportunities in IT for women Pink already.

Investor's Choice

Important and responsible business. Because the investor gives you not only money - he gives you connections and opportunities to make this money even more money.

In addition, investment money is not given just like that - you can only get it in exchange for a share in the company. That is, by letting another participant into your project, whose interests will already be exclusively commercial, you should be prepared for the fact that your actions as a project manager should also take into account the possible benefit for the investor.

This is the main difference between investments and lending: you can simply return the loan and forget it, and the investor will stay with you until he leaves the project (sells his share). So if your project involves a relatively simple development cycle and does not require so many funds, then it will probably be easier and faster for you to take a loan for business development, and only then attract larger investments to scale the project.

Whichever option you choose, I wish you good luck and courage: no matter the outcome of your investment hunt, the experience of communicating with funds and making presentations will remain with you forever.

You will learn what startup is and what are the stages of its development, as well as how to open your own startup project and where to look for investors for your business

Today we will talk about how to properly organize a startup.

Since we ourselves have repeatedly launched business projects, we will tell you what obstacles may arise at the initial stage and give valuable advice to overcome them effectively.

1. What is Startup in simple words - definition and history of occurrence

During our short entrepreneurial career, we have opened several businesses and we understand that this is not easy. Now our site "HiterBober.ru" can be attributed to the concept of "startup".

So, first, let's figure out what startup is. The classic definition of a startup, given by the American entrepreneur Steven Blank (who, in fact, introduced this term).

Startup is a temporary structure designed to find and implement a scalable business model.

More in simple terms You can define a startup as a new commercial project that is created with the aim of making a profit from the business after its successful development.

The term "Startup" is translated from English as "the beginning of the process", its "start". However, not every commercial project that has opened can be called a startup. Only a small part of business projects developing from scratch falls under this definition.

Classic startups have one feature- they have a unique (original, exclusive) idea. A real startup never copies already known commercial projects, but represents something radically new.

Example

At one time, Mark Zuckerberg's idea to create social network Facebook was absolutely original and new: there were no analogues of this format on the Internet.

IN last years the word "startup" has become very popular, although a significant part of the population does not use the term quite correctly.

By this concept, people mean the launch of almost any business, up to the opening of a new stall in the market. Often, a startup is used exclusively in relation to Internet projects.

In both cases, the definition can be correct: if an outlet on the market operates in a fundamentally new format that can be duplicated and used as a profitable business model, then this will indeed be a successful startup.

The same can be said about the online project. If you have launched a fundamentally new network service for serving the population via the Internet, then you have made a successful startup and become a promising network entrepreneur.

Startup- a recently created company or organization (sometimes not even legally registered), building its activities on the basis of innovative ideas or new technologies that have not yet been put into mass use.

The weaknesses of a startup include a lack of funding and a precarious position in the market. Abroad, such projects are most often created by students: sometimes such firms are called "garage" ones.

For the first time this term in application to a commercial undertaking was used in 1939 in the United States. At that time, almost all innovation and high-tech companies were based in the San Francisco area.

Several Stanford students, creating a new business based on a fundamentally new idea, called their business a startup. It was this business that eventually took shape in a successful and profitable company in the field of information technologies called Hewlett-Packard or H.P. (HP).

Today, the word startup is more often used for Internet projects. This is partly true, since it is the worldwide network that is the most promising modern commercial direction.

Without even thinking, you can name 5-10 successful Internet startups that have brought millions of profits to their creators with minimal initial costs. Suffice it to recall the already mentioned Facebook, as well as its domestic version - VKontakte and other social networks.

You can mention Wikipedia (the largest and most popular online encyclopedia), the YouTube video database, the Radical service for storing and quickly displaying your personal photos on the Internet, WhatsApp, Skype and other services for online communication.

2. Main stages of startup development

A startup must be successful and in demand in order to attract the target audience, and along with it, investors' money.

The main indicator of the success of a new undertaking is the readiness of business partners to invest their finances in it. A startup is not always based on pure commerce: it can be informational, humanitarian, scientific, but in any case it is promising.

The initial stage of work on any startup is creation of its prototype . As a prototype turns into a full-fledged product, a startup transforms, develops and scales. Under scaling is understood as an increase in the sphere of influence of the project associated with the investment of finance.

The ultimate goal of a successful startup is product sale a large corporation or the continuation of a profitable business as an independent company. There is another option - the withdrawal of the project's shares to the stock exchange and the expectation of its sale at the maximum price on the market.

For clarity, we suggest studying the following table, in which the stages of a startup are presented in more detail:

№	stages	Embodiment	Peculiarities
1	Pre-seed	The creators have a clear idea and understanding of what exactly the target audience needs	At this stage, there is usually no plan for implementing the idea.
2	Seed - "sowing"	Market research, development of a phased plan, preparation for launch	It is desirable at this stage to think about the search for investors
3	Prototype	Creation of a working model of a startup	The prototype has only basic functions and is designed to work in ideal conditions.
4	alpha version	The product is already ready, but is used only by a small group for testing and identifying flaws	At this stage, adjustments are made and defects in the working model of the project are eliminated.
5	Closed Beta	The product has a fully functional status, a limited number of third-party users are involved	Investors and commercial partners have already been found
6	Open Beta	Users are actively involved, a large-scale promotion of the project is underway	Contracts are concluded with customers, the first sales of services and products are carried out

When the above stages are successfully completed, the product (project) is launched into mass use or production. It is clear that without attracting large third-party capital, a large-scale distribution of a startup is impossible.

That is why for any commercial idea, the investor is no less important than originality and novelty. Even the most ingenious projects need financial support.

Generating commercial ideas is not so much an inborn gift as it is a skill. Everyone can become a successful startup reasonable person with minimal creative inclinations, which, as you know, everyone has.

Experts in the field of profitable startups believe that startup ideas latest projects can be seen in everything that surrounds us. You just need to change the angle of view a little and abandon some of the generally accepted social judgments.

Most "serial entrepreneurs" have a special notebook in which they regularly enter fresh thoughts and observations. Over time, they can develop into interesting and profitable business ideas. We advise you to also have such a notepad or open a special file on an electronic device.

For greater efficiency in doing business, you can use and implement TRIZ - the theory of inventive problem solving.

And now - expert advice on creating your own startups

Let's start with a simple example:

Resale of Chinese goods with a large margin (300-800%).

You can buy goods in bulk in China or from a wholesale supplier in a major city and start selling them online. Often such a scheme is also called "Business with China" - a very profitable and promising direction in Runet.

The team of our site is personally acquainted with a successful entrepreneur in this topic. Zhenya not only has been running her business for a long time and effectively, but also teaches others about it.

If you want to launch your own startup in the near future and start earning 100-200 or even 500 thousand rubles in a few months - contact Evgeny and he will guide you by the hand on all issues of creating successful business selling Chinese goods.

Be sure to check out the testimonial of the wife's students to be inspired by their success stories:

Stay up to date with new ideas, technologies and initiatives. Visit up-to-date resources, use technical and information novelties and everything that did not exist yesterday. Be at the forefront, think about products for the next generation.

To make our world the way it is (meaning its best features) was helped by those who did not cling to the past, but looked to the future. Our future includes portable gadgets, nanotechnologies, and machines that run on fundamentally different types of fuel.

Try to think in terms of the future. Do not think that these are empty dreams and fantasies: tie innovative ideas to real problems. Original and creative thoughts rarely arise on their own - they need to be stimulated by daily practice.

Tip 2: Become a pro at something

In the modern civilized world, there are many special areas where it is impossible for a person to get from the street. Nuclear energy, medicine, customs, professional sports.

Creating your own business in highly specialized areas is possible only after gaining experience in an employee of a company of this profile.

Become an insider - a person who studies a certain industry from the inside - and you can break into profitable markets with the necessary knowledge base. The main thing is perseverance and a sincere desire to understand how everything works in a particular business area.

Example

Michael Bloomberg worked as an IT guy at Salomon Brothers. In the early 80s, he was fired, given a compensation of $ 10 million.

With this amount, he created his own firm, Bloomberg L.P., which provides commercial information to interested organizations and individuals. Now the company is the leader in its niche, and Bloomberg himself is 13th on the Forbes list and concurrently the mayor of New York.

Becoming an expert in some field or a master of some powerful tool is not so difficult. Just spend time on it - make a personal investment that will bring you profit for the rest of your life.

A well-known entrepreneur and specialist in the field of personal development and business says that best investment It is an increase in one's own value and ability to earn.

Meet different people, talk to them, offer your help. Let as many people as possible know about your skills.

It's great if you become cool in several areas at once - for example, in medicine and trading, in stock markets and IT technologies. At the intersection of two different spheres, a lot of perspectives open up.

Tip 3: Find a Problem You Can Solve

Look around and fix what prevents you from living, working or relaxing. Pay attention to such problems for which you cannot find a ready-made solution, since one (the solution) may not exist.

It often happens like this: you have a company that is facing certain difficulties. Another company is created that eliminates such difficulties. Successful activity leads to the fact that the second company becomes more profitable and larger than the first.

Example

Flickr, the world-famous image storage resource, was born when it needed a convenient way to host user-generated images online to run an online game.

Now the system has millions of clients, and no one remembers the game itself.

Tip 4. Strive for continuous service improvement in different areas

Try to improve everything that surrounds you, because there are no limits to perfection. You pay special attention to those things that cause hostility or hatred in people: finding housing and parking, obtaining documents, transportation, visiting doctors. Think about how you can solve these problems more efficiently.

Might be worth getting the latest technology to improve existing algorithms for daily activities.

Consider, for example, how smartphones can help workers in large enterprises perform their jobs rather than hinder them. Or how in the digital age it is possible to solve the problem of queues in public institutions.

Remember that monopolists and large state structures have no incentive to develop. Challenging established systems is difficult, but not hopeless. Some world-famous corporations appeared precisely due to the desire to make the service more comfortable than that of competitors.

A significant part of today's successful companies were at one time derivatives (and some practically clones) of other successful undertakings. The most famous examples are Amazon and Ozon, Facebook and VKontakte. Even credit systems(cards) - the domestic version of the foreign analogue of Capital One.

Consider what can be added to existing commercial projects to improve them. Maybe you should find new, cheaper ways to implement or radically improve the service. Such innovations are often much more profitable and more promising than buying ready-made franchises. About that, we already wrote earlier.

Tip 5. Find a product for new markets

New markets appear all the time, but not everyone has time to track them. Mass products from large corporations are constantly creating many promising directions for developing their own business.

The most illustrative example is the creation of Microsoft by Bill Gates. The company was founded to sell home computer software released in 1975 by MITS. The mass product has become the starting point for the promotion of one of the most successful business projects in the world.

4. Invest in a startup and find funding for your business

Everything large investors aware that maximum income promise "dark horses" - unknown startups from young and talented, but penniless entrepreneurs.

In the Russian Federation, as elsewhere in the world, startups are financed by venture capital organizations and so-called “business angels”.

Venture funds manage other people's money - shares investment funds(mutual funds), assets of insurance companies or pension funds.

“Business angels” are representatives of private capital who independently choose the objects of financing and invest in promising undertakings.

It is in these two directions that novice startups should move in search of investments. You can also invite relatives, friends, state funds. Oddly enough, in Russia the help of relatives is the second category in terms of investment in promising business ideas.

Another productive method of finding investors is participation in forums, conferences, competitions held by venture capital companies and other commercial structures.

5. Examples of successful projects - TOP-5 startup ideas

There are many examples of successful startups. Every year the direction of commercial thought changes. Today, coworking and Internet applications are relevant, tomorrow they will talk about private kindergartens or private recruitment agencies.

The following startups are the most popular today:

1. Organization of a cargo transportation agency working with the active involvement of Internet technologies. A very promising direction, given the fact that more and more people are shopping in online stores.
2. Organization of sales or intermediary activities through Avito (the most popular free classifieds service in the Russian Federation). Many people want to sell some thing, but do not have time for this: an intermediary can take over the organization of sales for a certain percentage of the proceeds.
3. Organization of private kindergarten. Many parents do not want to use the services municipal institutions for fear of lack of attention from the staff. IN private company children are given more time, besides, there is an opportunity to regulate the length of the child's stay in the garden.
4. Creation of convenient systems for converting electronic currency into cash.
5. Creation of effective applications for quickly hosting and launching online stores for sales through social networks.

This is just an approximate list that can be supplemented ad infinitum. You can find a more profitable and interesting option for yourself: you just have to get creative and make some effort.

The catalog contains the most relevant startups in Russia in 2019. Investing in them can bring real profit! We have created an investment platform with announcements of start-up projects so that you do not suffer from the question of where you can invest your money. Here you can find a startup suitable for investment and increase your capital.

Our new Startup Exchange service is designed for:

• Search for promising Russian or foreign startups
• Getting to know their idea, business plan, financial model, development map, conditions for attracting investments and everything else that affects the decision to invest money
• Receive advice and assistance on investment issues

Catalog startups are described in expanded ad format. For each investment project, we indicate not only the main characteristics, but also the details:

• Current income if the project is already profitable
• Differences from competitors
• Sources to increase income
• Project profitability
• Market prospects

And much more.

In addition, opening startups are accompanied by media files, videos, presentations, graphs and calculations. If you find it difficult to make a decision on investing due to the lack of some information, just request it using a special form.

Why is it profitable to invest in a startup

The main thing in a startup is an idea. If a project has an original product and a professional team, it can quickly take off, and the money invested in the business will quickly pay off. Funding for such projects can be profitable way passive income.

Now the most promising startups are projects in the field of IT and innovative technologies. They are in demand not only by small businesses, but also big companies. The volume of business demand for technological and intellectual products will never decline! Also, a great future awaits companies starting in the field of production and social services.

The ratings of the best startups in Russia regularly include companies that create breakthrough products in the field of medicine and software. In the global startup market, the situation is similar: projects that are needed to improve a person’s daily life achieve the greatest success.

But this does not mean that startups from other fields cannot grow into successful businesses. Even a small store with a unique assortment and a fresh idea can grow into a network and bring investors millions of dollars in profit.

Two formats of investing in startups

If you are ready to invest a significant amount of funds in a growing company, then you can qualify for a part of the capital of the property - to become a co-owner of a potentially successful business. Financing of such startups is offered on the basis of the rights to purchase their shares.

A more traditional option is a loan. An investor or fund is invited to invest in a startup for a certain period, after which he will receive a fixed income or a large percentage from profit.

Important! Don't forget about the risks of investing. To learn more about them, get free consultation business broker responsible for the investment project - his contacts can be found in the announcement describing the startup.

I want to invest in a startup - what should I do?

Choose the area you are interested in and determine how much you want to invest in a start-up. It will be easy to set these settings using the filter.

Check out the ad list. Open the one you are interested in, get the necessary information and evaluate its attractiveness. Packages with investment conditions are attached to each ad.

If you find a startup where you are ready to invest money to make a profit, contact its leader. Contact details are indicated in the cards of each object.

The Altera Invest Startup Exchange brings together the best new businesses of 2019 in Russia. It makes it easy to find a startup to invest in one of many categories: from the Internet to Agriculture. All projects are real.

Role of Altera Invest

We not only provide investors with a large catalog of startups to invest in. We also suggest where exactly it will be more profitable to invest money, how to dispose of it.

Altera Invest has a professional team of business brokers in charge of startups. Therefore, only really profitable investment projects get to our exchange.

Invest in a promising business and earn on it! We wish you success!