Conveying equity to investors

When investors give you their hard-earned money, they expect part of their security to be part of your company.

The greater the risk for the investor, the more equity they will demand. If you want to minimize how much equity they get, reduce their risk by either the deal structure or by making your company stronger.

Even if you have to give up some of your equity, you can structure the deal so that when certain performance milestones are reached, meaning they get money back, they relenquish some of the equity you gave them in the beginning. If structured properly, you can get all of your equity back, after you've returned their capital and a fat return.