I was reading the CONDÉ NAST PORTFOLIO magazine and one story caught my attention.

It was an article about an up-and-coming British cellist named Jamie Walton who wanted to get his hands on a $1.7 million, 300-year-old Guarneri cello. Unfortunately, he couldn’t afford the cello with his $50,000 a year salary. So what he did was to find investors willing to give him money, and then pooled their money together to raise the funds to buy the cello. He could either buy off the investors later, or if he chooses not to, the investors could agree to sell the cello in the open market.

The article lists the investors who gave Walton the capital he needs. I find the list very instructive in terms of who you need to approach first if you are looking for an investor for your own business. Walton’s investors include:

• A fellow student of his cello teacher
• An anonymous investor who heard about his story in a magazine — showcasing the power of media in bringing you to the attention of would-be investors
• A person he met at a concert
• A person he had lunch at a music festival
• A fan
• Introduced by a father in law
• A colleague
• His students
• Professional investors

The main lesson for me of the article is that sometimes you don’t have to go far to find investors. If you have a good product or service, people around you may be willing to fund your venture. In fact, some of these folks close to you will not primarily consider the prospects of your business; rather, they are giving you money because they believe in YOU.

One smart approach he used was to enlist the help of an investment banker as it gave gravitas to his offering. By having a plan in place on how the investors can get their money back, he showed these investors that he is serious and that he wants to give them assurance that they will have a way to recoup their investment.

Then there’s the power of networking. Walton found investors from among those he had lunch with, met at a concert, and upon introduction of friends. You just never know how the people you meet at networking events and meetings can help you!

Note also the power of media. He’s got a great backstory, and he used that to his advantage. Media wrote about him, which allowed him to reach possible investors who are interested to support him. In fact, this is a fairly common way of getting into the radar screen of investors who may not give you the time of day if you approach them directly. Being written about by the media tells these investors that there’s something special and different about you and your product; hence they are willing to get in the game with you.

You can read the article at the Portfolio.com