There are several steps that will help an entrepreneur obtain capital for their Company, these include:

Research: 

Including understanding how your Company competes in the marketplace (including both competitive companies and competitive products), what the regulatory environment is, how do outside demographics affect your company and product, and how the product is viewed in the marketplace.

Define:

You will need to clearly define both your Company and its product.  This should be concise and understandable for someone who is not intimately familiar with the business and the industry.  The outcome of this process will take multiple forms, but at the least, you should be able to present a quick spoken overview of your company and product (an elevator speech),  a short overview document of the business, containing no more than five to eight pages, and a full blown business plan and investor presentation for investors.

Determine What an Investor Will Earn:

When a business is young and still small, it is difficult to determine what a Company may be worth in several years and what a potential investor may receive for their share of equity in a company.  Unfortunately, an investor is still going to want to know a few data points.  Some of the places you may be able to examine are what companies in the same space have sold for, what companies in the space have gone public for, and what the future value of the Company would be if you valued it on future expected cash flows.

Reach Out:

Waiting for potential investors to knock on your door will never help you raise financing.  If you are just starting your business, reach out to your friends and family to gauge their interest.  As your Company becomes more established reach out to the angels and angel groups in your area.  Once your Company grows to the point that you are raising significant amounts and are looking at venture capital funds, consider using an advisor, who has a history of successfully working in the space and knows which VC funds typically invest in companies like yours (both in terms of industry and size of investment).