Venture capital attorney Jennifer Hill took a few minutes with me to talk about business owners who are raising capital – and what they need to know so that they avoid making big, costly mistakes.

Jennifer and I spoke about working with traditional venture capital and private equity firms and the changing landscape of crowd-funding, which allows many people to become investors in small businesses.

She tells me that a lot of small businesses are going after the wrong resources – and how to turn that around. Listen to Jennifer tell us the first thing you need when you’re thinking about getting capital:


For more small business advice from the New York Times Small Business Summit, watch our other small business success videos!