How to Attract Investors to Finance Your Business
Many people have great business ideas that can potentially change the world, but they lack proper funding. This makes it difficult to develop those ideas into useful undertakings.
An effective way to overcome this challenge, which can help anyone with a big business idea get funding, is the pitch. With a pitch, you can attract investors, partners, and co-founders to invest their money in your business.
If you have a great business idea and you’re looking for financing to get it off the ground, then pitch it to investors the right way.
Note that a pitch can be an email, letter, video call, or even an impromptu face-to-face conversation.
Best Startup Pitch Ideas to Land Financing
Here’re great ideas how to pitch your business or startup idea successfully to investors and get the financing you need to establish the business.
1. Structure the pitch as a narrative
Telling a story is one of the most effective ways to attract people’s attention. A narration not only captures attention, but also helps listeners easily recollect everything that you narrated. Tell a story to make your pitch more vivid. It’s all about hooking your audience.
When pitching through storytelling, tell interesting narratives relevant and related to your business so potential investors can get every detail that they require in the most impactful and memorable way possible. This way, your business pitch will stay top of mind.
2. Pick a relevant audience
Find out more about potential investors beforehand, obviously. Do not reveal business ideas to people without first researching what their interests and passions are. If you pitch ideas to people who have no interest in your industry, you could just be wasting your time.
Upon identifying potential investors and determining their interests, it’s time to prepare an exhibition of your business in an effective format, such as a pitch deck PowerPoint presentation. Determine your aims and showcase your business’s value proposition clearly therein.
3. Be inclusive and straightforward
A crucial aspect of pitching is the presentation. And yet many people mess up here during their business presentation. Entrepreneurs and creative individuals that want to start a business assume that using flowery language will work best, but that is usually a mistake.
The main aim for your pitch is to showcase your key business goals and demonstrate how getting funding will enable the business to expand. Don’t bore investors by rambling on and on. You need to describe your business using as few words as possible. So, employ simple, easy to understand language that deliver a strong punch when pitching to investors.
Design the pitch in a manner that it is inclusive of the interests of the investor. What’s in it for them? Make it straight to the point; not too long, ensuring you include all crucial details of your business model and projects. Ideally, pitch your entire idea and business plan in less than 20 minutes.
4. Mention timelines
Every business needs to operate within certain timelines. Highlight carefully considered timelines for production, launch, and maybe even when you’d hope to get the funds. Specify timelines based on market research, customer needs and the competition. This can demonstrate to investors that you are on top of your game and focused about how funds will be utilized.
The more highly focused, precise and committed you are to your business venture, the more satisfied your prospective investors will feel, making them more ready to provide support.
5. Talk about key metrics
Describe your key metrics and their timeframe. If it is your first time in business and you have just begun to record sales, reveal that to potential investors. Mention that in twenty weeks your business generated one hundred thousand dollars in revenue, for example. Demonstrate your business’ potential and how financing it can profit the investors as well.
Talk about other key metrics such as active users, marketing data, and growth metrics. Be sure to mention your growth and financial projection if they invest in your business. Then, prepare to answer investors' questions like, “How will you sustain production.”
Prepare ahead of time to answer these and other questions about how you will increase sales once funds are injected and the business expands.
6. Be forthcoming and honest
Many entrepreneurs fail to get people to fund their businesses because they are sneaky and refuse to reveal the most crucial aspects of their business. To build trust and ensure all the ideas you pitch to investors are seen as credible, be honest and transparent. Tell them about every section of the business they need to know, even where it has not been conclusively analyzed. Transparency really is key.
Don’t try to weasel your way out of difficult question or assume you are smarter and can outwit investors. Rather, be forthcoming and make them aware that if shortcomings exist, you have plans and or are willing to remedy them. Convince potential lenders you understand their support can improve and enrich your company—not just in terms of financing, but also in terms of providing top-notch expertise and winning business ideas and networks.
Conclusion
Always imagine you’re telling a 5-year-old what your business is about so your pitch leaves no room for misunderstanding and is absolutely clear. And cover the capital deployment of the lenders when pitching. This is necessary because lenders desire that the amount they provide will bring those profits.
