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Attracting venture capital can be crucial to the success of innovative businesses. Here's how you can attract these funds using MBA school training.
The world of business has had start-up fever for years now, with investors eager to throw their resources behind promising companies with big ideas for ventures. For businesses that are starting out or growing fast and need financial backing to get to the next level, being able to attract the attention of investors and take in venture capital can be vital to success.
An MBA program specializing in entrepreneurship and innovation is a great way to develop a number of skills that can help you attract venture capital for a business or project. Want to know what those skills might be? Here are some important examples.
When venture capitalists invest in a company, they want to know that the company—and the value of their investment—will grow over time. This means that in order to gain their support, it's important to be able to demonstrate an attractive and compelling strategic vision, one that clearly outlines how your company intends to improve over time. What new markets are you hoping to enter? What new features or services do you intend to offer? How are you going to beat the competition?
Taking MBA courses in Entrepreneurship and Innovation can help you develop the type of strategic vision that can excite venture capitalists. You can learn to identify promising opportunities for your business, systematically evaluate new ideas and concepts for viability and success, and develop other important skills for long-term innovation and planning. Use these to help paint a picture of the future of your enterprise and you may find yourself weighing multiple offers for funding all at once.
Ambition and vision are hugely important to success in innovative business, but so too is it important for venture capitalists to see that a business' leadership is competent in the fundamentals of actually conducting business. If your business model hinges on producing goods, for example, it will be important that you can demonstrate that you have access to necessary production machinery, and that you have a model for distributing your goods to sellers. Having a proven track record in areas like marketing your company and maintaining healthy finances will likewise be important for most businesses to demonstrate to venture capitalists.
One of the best ways to learn or improve on business fundamentals is to attend a good MBA school. At WU Executive Academy, for instance, you will be able to develop your skills in a wide range of important areas, including operations management, financial mathematics, and strategic marketing. Instructors and lecturers include some of the finest leaders in the academic and private sectors of business. They offer deep insight into everything you'll need to run an effective company. An MBA program can provide you with the skills you’ll need to build the broad business acumen that venture capitalists expect.
Few start-ups have enjoyed quite as much success as Uber, which grew over 8 years to offer on-demand transportation service in more than 600 cities worldwide. However, a series of management scandals resulted in many executives resigning. A loss of confidence in the company among investors and has led to a sharp decrease in Uber's value.
This example is a stark reminder that business culture and public perception are more important than ever in the world of business. Both for initially attracting investors, and for enjoying long-term success, it is therefore vital that entrepreneurial spirits receive specific training in how to conduct themselves as responsible, ethical, and effective leaders.
MBA schools offer the perfect vehicle for this kind of education. Classes help you develop a mastery of effective team dynamics, appropriate feedback structures, the social responsibility of leaders to their teams, and other important management skills. An MBA school education can also help you learn tools and techniques for effective team management and ethical leadership from classmates and alumni. Taking these lessons to heart and striving to be a good leader can position you as a stable executive that venture capitalists can trust.