Venture capital funds find investments in different ways. Some passively receive executive summaries from their personal networks and do very little searching. Others actively scour the marketplace for interesting companies.

Those that actively scour the marketplace may contact you directly without warning and without an introduction. The initial contact may be made via email or phone - that's determined by the individual style of the VC.

Typically this initial contact will come after your company has received some publicity, bringing you to the attention of the investor community. The most common types of publicity that attract VC attention are presence at tradeshows or press. As a result, when your company comes out of stealth mode, you should be prepared for inbound VC contact.

When you are contacted by a VC you need to be prepared to explain your business touching on the key topics, answer questions succinctly and send an executive summary.

You unofficially begin your fundraising process when you enter the public consciousness. As a result, when you are preparing to come out of stealth mode, you should know whether or not you want to raise venture capital and you should be prepared to engage investors.