looking for an investment

ntg1965

Hi,
I have around 20-30K that I would like to invest in a company, buy a company, or start a new venture. Where are the best places to look?
My preference would be to invest in an already up and running business.

JoeCrystal

Buy shares on stock market then... And as for starting a new venture, only you can do that...

ntg1965

Doesn't really help too much Joe...... I actually want to be involved with the company, so looking for a small company to invest in. As far as starting up a company, I was maybe thinking of a franchise, or purchasing an already established company. Just not sure of a reliable place to look for any of the above options.

dunstonh

With respect, is 20k-30k really enough to be looking at that sort of thing? Is your expertise and experience there in the areas you would want to look at?

Loopgames

ntg1965 wrote: »

Hi,
I have around 20-30K that I would like to invest in a company, buy a company, or start a new venture. Where are the best places to look?
My preference would be to invest in an already up and running business.

Did you go to the recent business startup show last week?

I went and pitched lol! Took some harsh but very useful feedback...talk about a rude awakening. It was great - made a change to the 'your idea is fab', 'i love it'...when real investors come in and give their feedback it is REALLY useful.

Anyway you should research this thoroughly..and test your ideas with strangers and investors to see what they say.

It was funny at the end of my pitch I was given feedback from the 'dragons' and they asked me how much I had to invest personally and I told them £20k which wasn't enough. But after the pitch someone came up to me and said...'do you really have £20k?'..

I looked at him and thought 'oh dear'...and then he went on said 'if you invest in my business I will invest in yours'!!! lol.

So the moral of the story is don't disclose that you have money - I don't doubt you may attract a few pms

Jokes aside I would just say explore any idea you have and test them with minimum investment until you find the best way to enter the market.

Loopgames

dunstonh wrote: »

With respect, is 20k-30k really enough to be looking at that sort of thing? Is your expertise and experience there in the areas you would want to look at?

Could be enough, could be too much, could be not...it depends on the business idea and the market he/she is targetting.

Rollinghome

ntg1965 wrote: »

As far as starting up a company, I was maybe thinking of a franchise, or purchasing an already established company. Just not sure of a reliable place to look for any of the above options.

Well the British Franchise Association lists members at http://www.thebfa.org/members.asp?category=4 .

But beware. There can be huge conflicts of interests between the franchisor and the franchisee; in particular that the franchisor is usually most benefitted by maximising turnover, of which they take a percentage, whereas the franchee wants maximum profits. The two are very different and often conflicting.

You need to be particularly careful of franchisors where most of their profits come from selling franchises rather than building the businesses of franchisees. Beware too of businesses that turn to franchising because their core business isn't profitable as it stands. Sooner or later they go to the wall and there have been a long list of them - most of them once respected members of the BFA.

The question you always have to ask if buying a company is why you should want to buy what someone else wants to sell. The best basis of a small business is to have saleable skills. If you don't have good skills it can be better working for someone else and losing their money than for yourself and losing your own.

Geopulse

ntg1965 wrote: »

Hi,
I have around 20-30K that I would like to invest in a company, buy a company, or start a new venture. Where are the best places to look?
My preference would be to invest in an already up and running business.

Keeping in mind the capital you have,I believe investing in a company would be the better option. This article may be help you in this regard http://www.articlesbase.com/investing-articles/major-issues-with-your-investment-4816975.html