How a corporate finance advisor could help you get funding

A corporate finance advisor could help you get funding for an idea or business.

Corporate finance advisors can help you:

• write a business plan
• plan your finances (financial projections)
• find suitable funders
• agree terms and conditions with funders
• with due diligence - where funders check if you're suitable for funding
• with any legal documents you need to review

Before choosing a corporate finance advisor, think about the following things:

1. Meeting your advisor

Getting funding can take time and will involve a lot of work with your advisor. This means it's important they're someone you can have a good working relationship with.

Meeting your advisor will help you make sure they're someone you can work with.

2. Checking they understand your business

Your corporate finance advisor should have a good understanding of your business. This will include:

• what your idea or business is about
• what you're aiming to do
• what you need funding for
• when you need the funding

This means it's important you also have a clear idea of what you need funding for.

If they have a good understanding of your business, they'll be able to give you better advice and support. This will also be important if they're going to help you write a business plan.

3. What experience they can offer

It's important your advisor can offer the skills and experience you need to get funding. Or that they work as part of a wider team that has these skills or experience within it.

Check if your advisors have had previous success working with businesses like yours.

They should know lots of funders and the kind of businesses they give money to. They will also know what information funders will need from you.

It could also help if your advisor has specialist experience of your business sector. Or if they can give you specialist advice, for example on tax.

4. Fees

Before working with your advisor, make sure you know what they're going to do and how much they will charge. You should also check how they need this fee to be paid.

Most corporate finance advisors will need their fee to be paid in two parts. A 'fixed fee' and a 'success fee'.

A fixed fee will need to be paid in stages, as your advisor works on raising your funding. They will expect to be paid this, whether they are successful in getting funding or not.

A success fee will only need to be paid if your advisor is successful in getting you funding. It's usually a percentage of the funding they raise.

Help and advice

If you need help to find a corporate finance advisor contact Scottish Enterprise or your local Chamber of Commerce.

You can find a lawyer on the Law Society of Scotland website.

You can find an accountant on the Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland website.

You can also find general help and advice for businesses on the:

• Find Business Support website
• British Business Bank website