I talk to a lot of startup business leaders. Most of them are excited about building and operating their businesses. They are much less excited about raising the funding they need to get the business off the ground or to take it to the next level. Because their main focus isn’t to be great at fund raising, they don’t even know what it takes to be successful.
This article is intended to simply explain what it takes for your business to be attractive to potential investors.
Of course, raising funding isn’t simple. The specific requirements will depend very much on the maturity of the business, the types of investors you are approaching, the amount of funding you need, the industry you are operating in, and the current status of capital markets, among other factors. That being said, I do think there are three things that have to be true before an investor will write you a check:
- The investor must care about the concept.
- They must believe in the business model.
- They must trust the team.
In the article linked below I briefly explain what each of these three tests means to an investor, then consider what you need to do to truly be “investor ready.”