| My thought is that it doesn't hurt to start the conversation, especially given that you already have a business plan and a product. But whether you take investment depends on the valuation you can get and the amount of equity you'll be asked to give up. You need to determine three things: (1) How much is your company worth? Basically, the assets you have in the present, plus present value of expected future profit. (2) How much you're willing to give up? Figure out whether you want to maintain a majority of the business, and how much margin you want to leave for future equity grants (later funding or stock-based compensation incentives) (3) What's your exit strategy? If you're planning on staying with this business for a long time, then you can probably get better returns, and have a freer hand with strategy, if you avoid taking lots of investment. Staying in a niche and generating $100k a year in profit to live a reasonable lifestyle and support a family with minimal work (once you're past the startup stage) can be considered success if you're 100% owner, but an investor might not be happy unless you get acquired for $1M - $10M, and might try to pressure or even force you to pursue that outcome. OTOH, if you're looking to eventually hand the reins over to someone else and cash out a nice golden parachute down the road, I'd start the ball rolling with investors early on. |