Zoe Foods founder and president Tori Stuart tells Entrepreneur magazine readers how she is staying focused on running her business by outsourcing the fund raising process as she seeks $3 million to fuel the growth of her $2 million natural foods company. "As a small company owner, I find raising capital is a big time-sink," Stuart says. "And nobody's going to do my job if I'm raising money." Patrick Vaughan of
Triarch Capital Partners concurs with Stuart: "It's a significant distraction to raise money yourself. Once you publish your numbers to a prospective investor, they'll start tracking how you do. That's the wrong time to stub your toe." An investment banking advisor can help a small business owner complete or polish a "deal book", create a "data room", help decide whether the money raised should be equity or debt, and help price the deal.