Business, like life, is a story of yin and yang. This tale has two dominant players, who are interdependent in the raising of capital needed to get a start-up started, writes Alan Manly, best selling author and CEO of The Universal Business School.

Firstly is, quite obviously, the entrepreneur. By definition, a “person who sets up a business or businesses, taking on financial risks in the hope of profit”.

The second is the investor: “a person or organisation that puts money into financial schemes, property, etc. with the expectation of achieving a profit”.

These two players could be called the yin and yang of any start up, reflecting the ancient Chinese philosophy’s “concept of dualism, describing how obviously opposite or contrary forces may actually be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they may give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another”.