Raising capital for your start up is overwhelming and could turn into a full time job taking your focus away from growing your business and attracting new clients. Here are some tips on how to raise capital for your start up:
- Be The First Investor: A number of investors are pessimistic about investing in your idea when you don’t invest in it. Show confidence in your idea by investing some of your savings into it and showing that you are fully committed.
- Research, Research, Research: It is essential to research an industry, market, potential investors and their investment trends and appetites. This saves you time, effort and the frustration from pitching the wrong investors.
- Presentation: A clear, concise and consistent story with facts and figures to back it up is essential when presenting a pitch to potential investors. Many times entrepreneurs change their story as they go along and this sets them up because investors talk to investors and if your story varies from one to the other your reputation as an entrepreneur worth investing in is at risk.
- Involve Mentors: Some grey hair along with years of experience in a particular field instills a sense of confidence among potential investors. It is a good idea to involve a mentor when you are trying to raise capital for your start up from investors.
Some of these services like research and developing presentations can be outsourced from firms so you can focus on developing your business idea further. Remember, as a CEO you can’t wear all the important hats in your organization, so to really succeed you must focus on what you do best.