Ali Hasan
So you want to fund your startup but you don’t know how to approach investors and pitch them your idea for millions of dollars. Well never fear when we are here.
That was quite a cheesy line but we are actually here to give you some sound advice about how you can professionally approach investors who are raising your chances of successfully securing funding.
The ways to secure funding are as follows:-
1. Search for the Investors
Before you approach an investor, you need to search for them. You need contact information that will allow you to approach them.
If you don’t have the necessary information, then you can search for them on Google or on social media sites like LinkedIn where they are usually active.
You can ask some of your industry friends who have some sort of insider information, contacts, or connections that might help you to get one step closer to your desired investor.
2. You must email them
Before you call them or meet in person you must email them. A lot of investors are active on social media and they will also reply to your email if it’s professionally written and your idea has some edge.
You don’t need to write a long and lengthy mail where you explain every minor ins and out of your business. You can sum up the entire mail briefly where you tell about yourself and your business idea.
If possible you must write something that’s personal to that. People remember things that they are emotionally attached to. Then you can request them for a short meeting at the desired venue in the future whenever they are free.
3. Have a Reference
If you’re serious about raising funds, then it’s better to have a reference that can introduce you to them.
You’ll have a much better chance of securing funding when a person from their inner circle introduces you. Hence, if you have a certain investor in your mind, then try to find out who can help you to get to the desired investor.
4. Go to Events
Emailing investors and gathering references will take some time. Until that happens, you must try to attend as many events and conferences as possible.
You should go to these events with an aim of networking and growing your circle with influential people who can help you to have a meeting with investors. But don’t appear too desperate and be presentable.
Approach an investor gracefully, introduce yourself and ask permission before you pitch them your idea. Don’t pitch them your idea when you’re standing in front of them while they are talking to someone else. If possible, ask them when can you call them or meet them in person.
5. Make sure to Research your Investors
If you finally have an appointment with an investor or a couple of investors, then try to know them as much as possible.
Research about them and try to collect as much information as possible. Become a secret FBI agent or like James Bond. Try to know everything that they like or about the things that they dislike. It will help you during the pitch.
6. Perfect you Pitch
After months of speculation and waiting, you finally get to meet the investors and pitch them your idea. Practice public speaking and speak confidently.
Make sure to create a near-flawless pitch that’s completely perfect and has all the answers that an investor might look for. If you don’t have the answers to their questions, you might be in trouble. To ensure that you have done the math and you’re prepared with almost everything.
7. Also prepare an Elevator Pitch
No matter how prepared you’re, shit happens. Hence, you need to be prepared for that as well. While you’re preparing a pitch, also create a short elevator pitch that can be delivered in 1 minute.
If things go wrong during the day you were supposed to pitch to the investors, then you can simply opt for the smaller version and describe to them your business model and idea in under 1 minute. This will also help you in explaining what’s important and shedding what’s unimportant.
8. Be Professional
While working on your pitch is extremely important but you must never forget that the idea or the pitch is half the part of a successful pitch. The other half is the entrepreneur who’s pitching the idea.
Hence, you need to be extremely professional, confident and presentable while you’re pitching your idea. This doesn’t mean that you should brag about yourself or about your business idea.
Be bold but be a bit realistic. Don’t appear as too desperate for funding and don’t be a pushover like a car salesman who just wants to sell his car irrespective of the customer’s needs and demands.
9. Deal with Rejection
While you prepare your pitch, you need to keep in mind that the success rate of raising funding isn’t very promising. Train your brain to deal with rejection.
If you fail to secure funding, then be mentally prepared that this will happen. If you prepare yourself mentally about how to deal with rejection, then you’ll fare a lot better than other entrepreneurs who are also trying to raise funds for their business.
10. Follow Up
While you might have perfectly pitched your idea, investors might take their own sweet time in responding to your emails or approve funding for your business.
Hence, it’s better to follow up every once in a while in a professional manner as they might have done some thinking to their idea and they might change their mind after you have pitched your idea to them. Consistent follow-up will prove that you have both consistencies as well as persistence.
Attract Investors
If you get rejected even after doing everything, then you shouldn’t lose hope. The world of entrepreneurship is tough but it rewards the ones who rise about everything. Whenever you feel down, simply look at Elon Musk. Both Tesla and SpaceX were on the verge of bankruptcy but he persisted and today he’s one of the most successful entrepreneur’s of all time.
Pro Tip – Be like Elon Musk. When things go hard, don’t quit, persist. He’s the perfect example of how an entrepreneur should be.
The best thing to do when you aren’t getting your hands on an investor’s money is to be patient. But don’t simply be patient where you’re waiting for things to happen. Be aggressively patient where you’re doing anything and everything in your power to raise funding and then you’re waiting for things to fall in the right place.
The Best way to raise money is to “Create a lot of Value”. If you really want that investors should be willing to invest in your business then:-
- Build a real business,
- Use your own money in the beginning
- Don’t beg for investor’s money
- Attract investors to invest in your business.
Let the money come to you because you have created something so valuable that the whole world wants it. This is the best way to raise funds. Hope you like our content.
Make sure to checkout our other blogs on Funding which are as follows:-
