My company has obtained exclusive rights to manufacture and market a new patent pending tool for the plumbing and HVAC trades. We have presented the product idea to several local plumbing and HVAC supply houses and all are interested in seeing the finished product and carrying it in their stores.
We have had no success getting a loan from banks. When looking for funding or financial partner online, there have been many attempts from the UK and Nigeria to scam us. Not happening. A few angel and venture groups have looked at the idea and have just left us hanging with no answers and no responses to our e-mails requesting updates.
Our product is nearing the end of the engineering phase, at which point we will need the financial means to have plastics molds made and get the production rolling. The profit potential for the product is very good, projected net income for the first year is $2,000,000.00. Any advice on finding partners for the business?

Thanks,
Michelle Bryant

Hi Michelle,

I'm glad to hear you're not falling for the internet scams. DON'T pay anything up-front to anyone to find funding.

Venture capitalist are tough to deal with, especially if they don't understand your industry.

Start with your industry and a very thorough businessplan. Then start within your industry. Find people that have been very successful, either as manufacturers or distributors. Contact them and ask if they would be interested in making a private investment and quickly tell them how much the investment would be. This rules out the people that think it might be a good idea but have less to invest than you need. Saves a lot of wasted time and effort. There's nothing saying you have to only take in a single investor...sometimes it's easier to get 20 people with $50k than it is one person with a spare million.

I usually find that raising money within the industry is easier than trying to educate people on the industry so they'll invest.
Hope this helps...
Denny

I would have to agree with Michelle. You should really focus on people in the industry since they know more about what the tool could do. What about this. Do you have a protype to put together? If yes, why don't you find out how many they would order first. Put together what cost is going to be, and give the first shot at the product. This way you are generating capital at the same time without borrowing any money.