Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

• 1

  Prepare all of your marketing materials. Do not approach anyone empty-handed when proposing an investment deal. An elevator speech, teaser email, completed business plan and investor slide presentation should all be in place first.

• 2

  Put your networks to work giving you warm introductions to angel investors they may know. Most angel investors are retired, not aligned with any angel-investor association, and worth between $500,000 and $1 million.

• 3

  Visit the websites of the Angel Capital Association and the Angel Capital Education Foundation. "Entrepreneur" magazine cites these as the two most prominent angel organizations. Both list about 200 angel groups each. Search for angel groups by region; most angels prefer to invest in business startups within 100 miles of their home or office.

• 4

  Send "teaser emails" to angel investors and potential angels. A teaser email contains a description of what your company does, some reasons why your business is in a special position to see high growth in a short time and a call to action. That is, the teaser email must ask the potential investor for the opportunity to present your slide presentation.

• 5

  Create a profile at one of the major crowdfunding platforms, such as RocketHub or KickStarter. Crowdfunding is an alternative business startup funding source based on "donations with rewards." Most new businesses do not do well in crowdfunding, but those who do have raised hundreds, thousands or, in one case, over $200,000 in business startup capital.

 

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Global buy sell B2B trade marketplace

Hi BYTrade,

Another great post as usual.  Quick question.  Where do you think the best places are to get feedback on your business ideas and presentations before you actually submit them to the Angel investors.  I would also be curious to hear your thoughts on the Peer to Peer lending marketplace and if you think there is any investor potential there.  Great to see you still around.  Look forward to more of you posts.

 

Some good points.

Some additional rules-of-thumb:

• Structure an investor presentation to last no more than ten minutes (and be sure to emphasize this when trying to schedule a presentation).  Many angels dread facing a two presentation on the first meeting.  There are templates out there - find them and use them.
• Be sure to have your management team present at the presentation.  Professional investors are evaluating your idea and your team equally.
• Rehearse your presentation in front of a neutral group of people (to get it ten minutes exactly and to get their feedback)

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Market-driven Business Coach, Start-up Funding Specialist, Business Planner, and Sales Lead Generation Strategist