Hilt Tatum IV founded iPoint Capital Partners in 2006. Guiding the firm as partner and president, Hilt Tatum IV oversees the firm’s diverse array of interests, which include investment portfolios, private equity, and venture capital services.

Entrepreneurs overflow with ideas but often come up short on the capital needed to get their ideas off the ground. Venture capital is a form of financing that covers some or all of the funding needed by entrepreneurs. Typically, start-up businesses turn to venture capitalists when they cannot secure funding through traditional channels, which tend to service established individuals and companies.

Indeed, venture capital differs from traditional funding channels in virtually every way. Rather than covering debt, safe bets, and established companies, venture capitalists help new companies with the potential for growth by providing equity capital and taking greater risks in exchange for greater potential. Venture capital is an active rather than passive source of funding because capitalists grant capital in an effort to add to or create value in a new company.

New entrepreneurs interested in venture capital should expect to go through more or less the same process each time they meet with an investor. Submit a business plan that addresses critical areas such as the target industry and the demographics of the potential customer base. Next, prepare for the capitalist to perform due diligence, which entails researching the company’s management team and business plan in greater detail.                             

An entrepreneur, Hilt Tatum IV earned a postgraduate degree from the University of Oxford’s Said Business School. Hilt Tatum IV is the president of and a partner in iPoint Capital Partners, a firm focused on providing services ranging from venture capital to alternative investment portfolios.

Like the weather, the market can fluctuate without warning, adding large degrees of risk and uncertainty to most traditional investments. Alternative investments attempt to mitigate risk in the traditional market. Markets have a tendency to fluctuate without warning, causing investors to panic and sell off stock, which only causes the market to decline even further.

However, alternative investments such as private equity do not necessarily correlate to market fluctuations. Furthermore, many alternative investments come with long lock-up periods during which investors cannot jettison them. This forces investors to ride out storms.

Certain tax benefits derive from some long-term alternative investments. One of the most attractive is that long-term capital gains taxes are lower than taxes earned on short-term investments, again speaking to the advantage of waiting rather than turning over several short-term opportunities in rapid succession and incurring larger transaction costs.