If you have a startup or are thinking about beginning a startup, chances are you’re not going to be able to fund your business all by yourself. In order to get the capital you need to make your business idea into an actual successful company, you’re going to need to reach out to investors and try to get them to invest some of their money into your ideas. Now while this doesn’t really sound easy to begin with, this whole process is often harder than many startups even imagined it would be. So to help give you the best chance of having your startup get invested in, here are three tips for enticing investors to do business with you.
Tell A Story Within Your Pitch
Big investors spend the majority of their day listening to pitch after pitch about how they should take their money and invest it into a particular business. Knowing this, you’ve got to find some way to make your pitch stand out from the other pitches they hear day in and day out. To do this, John Boitnott, a contributor to Inc.com, recommends relaying a story within your pitch. Not only will telling a story about yourself or your business give the investors a break from all the technical talk about businesses and finance, but it will also allow the investors to get to know you better as an entrepreneur and see if they feel they would mesh well with you. Especially if the story makes you or your business seem more likeable, this could be a very successful tactic to get investors.
Network Before You Need Money
The last thing people want is to feel like they’re only being sought after for their money. However, this is a reality that many investors have to live with. However, Jodi Goldstein, a contributor to Entrepreneur.com, shares that if you begin networking with potential investors before the time comes that you’re in need of money, you may have built relationships that could make the acquisition of funding much easier. Even when your startup is still in its fledgling stage, take any chance you can to rub shoulders with investors and get to know them on a more personal level.
Be Honest and Vulnerable
One trait that entices investors more than many people realize is their honesty about their business and its future. The Young Entrepreneur Council shares with Forbes.com that many investors find that those startups who are aware of their vulnerabilities and can be honest about their growth projects, even if they may seem small, are more likely to draw in investors because of their honesty. Knowing this, try to make your goal for speaking to investors be to under-promise and over-deliver on your projections for the future of your startup.
If you have plans to speak to investors about working with your business, use the tips mentioned above to make these conversations as successful as possible.