Funding your new business doesn’t come easy, at least not at first glance. It may seem complicated to the inexperienced eye, but most of the time, finding investors is just a matter of following a plan over and over again.
It takes patience and diligence to know how to get yourself out there.
Let us tell you all about where to find investors.
#1 Narrow down your choices
The first step is to know precisely what you are looking for. You will want to look for a specific type of investor that best suits your startups.
We recommend you some essential tips:
- Look for investors with experience, immensely successful entrepreneurial experience.
- The investor should be willing to advise you and offer you his support and his time.
- The investor should have a history of investing - and here you should do in-depth research on their way of investing and their excitement about the whole endeavours.
After you prepared your startup pitch (by the way, if you don’t know how to prepare your startup pitch, we have an article just about it, here), take a closer look at these tips and start looking for investors that meet these criteria.
#2 Networking is the key
Networking is the best way to find investors, get to talk to them, and give you an example of how these kinds of relationships work.
There are special events tailored to young entrepreneurs starting their business journey to meet investors.
One of these events is Wolves Summit, a hybrid event mixing up face to face events with online meetings that bring together angel investors, VC funds, tech talent, and corporations with the most promising businesses in the CEE region to help ambitious founders scale and foster international economic growth.
Wolves Summit will take place on 24-26 March, so there is still time to purchase a ticket and the prices are very accessible. Go here for more information.
Another important fact is to go to these kinds of events all year round. Of course, given the current pandemic situation, many events will be held in a virtual format, but it is essential to get out there: events such as Wolves Summit, online conferences, fundraising events, webinars and so on.
Mark your calendars and start the networking as soon as possible. Don’t waste any more time.
#3 Build a great business and get it ready
We mean by this: get a great team, invest in them, and bond with them to align your visions.
Your team will help you with your pitch, while also providing you with good examples of development through their work and that is what an investor wants to see.
It’s not enough to have a great idea. You need to have a passion for implementing it too, and you need passionate people that will help you implement it.
Getting a business ready for investments is always about getting a good and dedicated team to prove to your investors that success is possible.
#4 Seek out investors and get to know them
We mention it in our first point. You should have a list of criteria and seek out investors based on it.
But let’s say you find investors. What’s next?
Get to know them. Forge a professional relationship with them. Be curious about their interests in investing: why are they investing in? What do they invest in? What are their preferred industries? What is their approach?
This research will help you better understand what they want because not all of them want to see a good profit from their investments. Some investors are interested in progress rather than money.
#5 Use social media to reach out to investors
Last but not least, 2020 has shown us that we can really find connections through social media. More than ever, social media has become so prevalent in our daily life that it is hard to imagine life in a pandemic without it.
Guess what? Investors use social media, too. Especially in these trying times, where businesses are facing tough moments.
Get your LinkedIn in order, get your Twitter and your Facebook (and even Instagram) up and running and reach out.
We recommend LinkedIn, because the network has a business-oriented style and form of communication.
Use Crunchbase and Google to find the investors, connect with them on LinkedIn and start communicating with them (yes, virtually). Social media can be your best asset in finding events
#6 Pitch on stage and let them find you
Taking part in pitching competitions is another way to net an investor. You can make yourself seen by the investors who are actually interested in working with startups at the moment. The pandemic has restricted most of the in-person pitching contests but hey, there are still the online ones and you can book your spot in the Great Pitching Contest during Wolves Summit 13 on 24-26th March 2021 and let the investors know you, learn about your idea and eventually - reach out to you by themselves.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of ways and paths on where to find investors.
Some of these tips can be time-consuming, others can be expensive (especially if you are thinking about getting to every event regarding investments). Simultaneously, some can also be frustrating (an investor can’t meet all of the criteria mentioned), but the trick is that you need to get out there and connect.
That’s the only way your startup will end up going global.
