There are a number of online resources designed to help you find investors and are worth trying. But I've invested in, raised funding, bought and sold a number businesses. In my experience, it works much better if you first try developing interest through off-line contact with friends, family and your current business contacts to get a feel for how your venture is perceived. That way you can see if there is some initial interest in the business from those who know you. Because if it is not of interest to those who know you, it may be difficult to get the interest of someone who does not know you.
About working your own contacts:
If you have your business plan ready, in addition to what I suggested above; your may want to contact locally owned pet shops and veterinarians. When you contact them its a good idea to do the following:
Do not ask if they are interested in investing in your business. Tell them briefly who you are and what type of business (or product) you have or are planning; ask them if they
know of anyone that might have interest in talking with you about opportunities with your company, possibly as an investor or partner. Explain to them how much opportunity there is for your business.
The purpose of the above is to get the word out about your business without putting people on the spot "asking them for money" ... if they do have money and are interested in your business - that gives them an opportunity to tell you about it without feeling pressured. If they are not interested or cannot invest they don't have to comment and at least if they spread the word it may reach someone who will have interest in your business and perhaps they will contact you to discuss.
You can also search online for "angel investors" and you will find a number of resources and websites that will help you find angel investors. Though most Angels that you find that way may be more interested in high growth businesses and larger transactions. Again your best bet may be to network with your own personal/business contacts and check locally for "angel" type investors that may want to put smaller amounts of money into a business of your type.
Again, before you do that you should first have a well-crafted business plan that fully covers the things of interest most to investors. When you have your plan in place, in addition to looking for a financial partner, you may want to explore lending sites like:
http://www.accionusa.org/
http://www.lendingclub.com/
https://us.zopa.com/
http://www.prosper.com/
Here are some other things to think about that might help you.
Getting media interest:
Entrepreneurs and business owners should also consider contributing articles and information of interest on their business niche or interesting business related topics to local papers, online magazines, blogs etc. Getting the word out there on topics of interest to a specific business market or niche can catch the eye of not only customers or client prospects ... but also of investor prospects.
Many angel investor types get "pitched" on a continual basis ... a "frontal" attack if you will. As anyone with military experience will tell you ... you beef up your defenses along the main point where you expect to be "attacked". Investors do the same and have very strong positions on this. That makes many of them hard to get to and harder still to get them to give your business more than cursory consideration.
If you can pinpoint a specific industry investor type; I suggest you consider making it a focus to write articles etc. on that industry and work to get them circulated in ways that make catch investor prospects eyes. I know and work with attorneys who represent investors and investment firms (they are the investors buffer and "line of defense") that do just that ... they look for and spot an interesting business article or news story and then contact the business owners or subject of the story to see if there are any investment opportunities with the business.
See if your local media will do a story about your new pet product or write an article yourself about it to distribute. That is another "oblique" way that I know works from practical experience.
An alternative to having to find funding for your own manufacturing and sales operations:
You might want to contact companies that manufacture and/or distribute pet products ... perhaps you can license your invention to them and earn a royalty instead of having to build out a complete manufacturing and sales organization of your own.
Remember, always present your business in a professional way and have your business plan in good shape to ready to provide to people that are interested in your business.
I hope the above helps you. Good luck and best wishes.
Dennis Lowery
Adducent, Inc.
