Most investors are successful business leaders and professionals who make significant investments in other companies; this usually happens during early stage start-ups. These investors will normally invest their money and time into businesses within their particular area of experience or expertise.

The most important role of an investor is to infuse cash into a business start-up; however investors differ greatly from other types of financing. Investors make up what is known as equity finance. Equity finance is money that is invested into a business in return for a share of your business, so how is this different from financing such as bank loans or credit cards? Investors not only invest their money into businesses they also invest their time and experience into aspects of running the business. Investors often take a hand on approach, which involves playing an advisory or consulting role in the company. They expect to turn a profit by owning a part of your company. As an investor you are expected to bring in profit to the business and due to this fact you should have a plan in place for providing the business with a reasonable return on their money. A cash return within five to seven years is considered reasonable.

The term investor has taken on a specific meaning in finance. It describes the particular types of people or companies that regularly purchase equity or debt securities for financial gain in exchange for funding an expanding company. The term is however less frequently applied to parties who purchase real estate, currency, commodity derivatives, personal property, or other assets.

When an investor invests their time and money as well as their skills and experience into a business they are making a very high-risk investment, which is why they look for companies that have a reasonable expectation of returning about ten times their investment. Also some investors often seek companies that might return as much as 20 to 30 times their original investment. Investors only offer about 20 to 30% profit on advanced capital but this profit is still considerable.

An investor will extract the most money or ownership of portions of the company for their investment. Many people see this as the most expensive way of gaining start-up money for a company; however it is often the only way to get necessary funding to begin a company, since venture capitalists may not be willing to invest and few banks are willing to risk lending money to newly founded businesses.

In the world we live in today more and more people are now deciding to become investors. There are many reasons why people choose to become investors, the main one being for financial reasons in order to get a return on investments. Other reasons include the want to be an active part of the entrepreneurial process as well as the enjoyment of being part of a successful investment process.

If you are hoping to become an investor or if you are hoping to gain the help of an investor it is important that you look at all of your options and gain the help that is best for you.