Securing funding is crucial to founding a business. It's the first step toward turning your dream into reality. Without capital, you've got no office space (except maybe your living room), no supplies, no employees, no products, and no business. Conversely, if you launch your business with ample cash reserves, you set yourself up for the best chance of success, regardless of any inevitable costly surprises that await you on the path to profitability.

Here are the three methods I've used to secure serious investment capital for every venture I've pursued, including dozens of commercial retail websites in my early days as an entrepreneur, a fast-casual sushi restaurant featured on ABC's Shark Tank that received the highest investment offer in the history of the show, and the multifamily real estate private equity firm I currently oversee as CEO. Apply these methods to your own venture capital fundraising efforts to supercharge your results.  

1. Get in front of your audience.

For the most part, investors are risk averse. They want to put their money toward a venture they believe is likely to bring in a sizeable return on their investment. In order to secure an investor, you have to convince them to believe in your idea, and see the same potential in it that you see.

Belief requires trust, which is established through familiarity and repeated positive exposure to a concept and the person championing it. To that end, make yourself a known entity in your chosen field. Sit on boards, attend and speak at conferences, submit contributed articles for major publications and industry-specific blogs to get the word out about what you’re trying to do.

If that sounds like a lot of extra effort, it's because it is. But if you lay this groundwork upfront, when you reach out to potential investors via cold calling, Google AdWords, email campaigns, or webinars, they will have either heard of you, or will be able to familiarize themselves with what you're about with a quick Google search. And that's key to getting your foot in the door.

2. Be polite — but be persistent.

When you score a meeting with an investor, after your victory dance be sure to create a grade A presentation outlining your business plan in the best light possible. If they bite right away, great! But don't be discouraged if that's not the case.

You'll get a lot of "not nows" in the consideration stage. Think of those as "maybe laters." And "maybe later" lives in the same neighborhood as "yes, let's do it" — you only need to turn the right corner to drive the deal home.

Once you're on an investor's radar, make it a priority to remain top-of-mind. Set alerts to check back in periodically with exciting news about your venture as it gets closer to launch, which will also serve as a reminder of their opportunity to get in on the ground floor. Make the cadence something akin to once a month to avoid burning a bridge with too many email blasts.

3. Track your results, and refine, refine, refine.

Make no mistake, data is your most valuable friend throughout this process. Don't be afraid of data. Data wants to help you win over more investors.

Create a designated formula, or cookbook, outlining your sales process and goals. Carefully track successes and failures, and learn from both. If you need to close 10 deals, how many calls does it typically take to set the number of appointments necessary to hit that goal? With enough accurate data tracking and observation, you'll be able to accurately gauge this metric, which will ultimately empower you to set more realistic goals — and enjoy more positive results.

Founders, go forth and conquer.

Founding a new business is impossibly difficult — and that's why we do it. As entrepreneurs, we laugh in the face of impossible. Impossible is just a lack of imagination, an unhelpful glass-half-empty attitude, a stick in the mud. I hope these tools for enticing investors to back your project help you bypass that pesky wet blanket “impossible,” and succeed in bringing your dream to life.

Written by: Yuen Yuen, Founders Firm Advisor / CEO at Casoro Capital