Why We Built This

Like many innovations, the Business Catapult was born of frustration...

For most businesses, capital formation is an incredibly important step in the business development process. Using other people's money to build your business requires that you learn and apply a new language. This language can seem arcane, but since the benefits of its mastery are high, learning it is generally worth the challenge.

To get this done, you as an entrepreneur have historically had two options: learn this language yourself, or hire someone that already knew it to act as an interpreter. The folk you'd hire are generally pretty expensive and look like CFO's, lawyers and accountants. Sometimes what they'd do for you would work, sometimes it wouldn't. If you didn't know the language yourself, you'd rarely know why in either case. Regardless of the result, you'd plow forward, as that's what entrepreneur's do.

Over time, you'd maybe absorb some 'investor speak' that was useful in the moment, or maybe buy a book that you'd put on your desk and page through when you had some free time. You'd stick to what you know - building and selling stuff, taking care of customers - and you'd let your financial strategy be managed by others as you're just too busy. And on occasion you'd find yourself thinking: "I wish there was a quick, simple, cheap, step-by-step process that I could go through that - when I was done with it - I knew that I was on the same page as the investors I want to talk to and that they could find me."

Welcome to the Business Catapult.

We learned this language the hard way. The group of people that have helped pull the Business Catapult together are all entrepreneurs and investors. All of us have failed and all of us have succeeded. All of us have put money into deals and sweated for equity. All of us have sat in your chair. All of us are now well experienced and have reputations for getting things done.

As entrepreneurs, and as investors, we saw an inefficient market between capital and talent, both close-up, and from a distance. We know web 2.0, social networking and systems theory. We know that most decisions about investing are made using anecdotals, not statistics. So we put our heads together, and created a standard framework through which to view a business. This begat the Entrepreneurial Standards Forum's (http://es2f.org) Benchmark Survey and the resulting Benchmark Report. (Editor's note: Yes, Kevin founded that, too ...)

The Benchmark Report views a business' performance based on key criteria, and compares that performance against the performance of other companies who have achieved critical milestones: raised capital, generated revenue, reached positive cash-flow and retired the debt or otherwise returned the capital.

We don't obviate the need for financial talent in your business. (Like it or not, you need that.) Through the use of standards and standardized processes we help make it more useful faster. Step by step. Through the use of matching algorithms and 'Web 2.0' social networking tools we help you connect; investors with like-minded investors, entrepreneurs with investors, and also introducing investment advisors and subject-matter experts who can provide quick 'swarm' analysis of businesses, financials and market prospects.

We also don't obviate the need for due diligence. This is a matching service, not a vetting service. But we do provide both investors and entrepreneurs a skeleton to hang questions upon. We provide a way to compare opportunities on a standard scale. We help you frame the discussion, but ultimately, the decisions, the valuations, the negotiations, and the investments are up to you.

We help you find more of what you're looking for faster.

And we hope you'll find that valuable.