David Macrae is a serial entrepreneur. After successfully
growing three technology companies, he's at it again with
Atlanta-based Bulletin.net. With this new company, Macrae hopes to
capitalize on the need for expanded services from wireless
carriers. Bulletin.net's software products enable a range of
wireless devices to provide users with messaging, wireless
applications, e-mail and wireless Internet access, and help
integrate future technologies as they emerge. "The large
telecoms are not equipped to develop and deploy these services to
mobile professionals," says Macrae. "But a nimble company
such as ours can." Like McDonald's, Macrae sees billions
and billions to be served.
But, as Macrae is the first to admit, "No matter how many
times you start a business, you almost always get to a point where
it needs an infusion of equity capital from outside
investors." That also means you'll have to face one of the
greatest entrepreneurial quandaries: Should I try to raise the
money myself, or should I hire a consultant to help me find the
capital my business needs?
Macrae, 49, who has been down both routes before and has learned
the ropes, is going it alone for his new company's $3 million
raise. But he cautions, "Entrepreneurs should seriously
consider outside help when it comes to raising money."
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Russell Robb, managing director of Atlantic Capital Management
and president of the Association for Corporate Growth, a trade
group for deal-makers, is less ambivalent on this point. "If
you are raising capital for an emerging-growth business," he
says, "in most instances, an outside advisor is the safest,
smartest way to go."
Originally published in the November 2001 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine
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