Having a Startup
This article is written by Clinton James, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.
Eamonn Carey shares his insights about looking for investors especially for startups. He divided them into two categories which are things to think about and things to remember when doing so. Normally when people start a company, the expectation is that it will rake in profits or revenue immediately and have a growth curve that is steadily moving upwards.
The reality is that it is more complicated than that because a business will experience a lot of ups and downs on their growth curve as a result of many different factors that surround it. Talking about things to think about, startups or business owners need to take notes when in conversations with other people so as to remember interesting things that they may hear and could help them in the future.
In addition to this, they need to learn to read more books and other articles in order to increase their knowledge on certain topics that could affect their business in one way or another because as we all know, knowledge is power. They also need to talk to people openly by sharing ideas so as to get different perspectives and to listen as well. When pitching to investors, an entrepreneur should be able to scratch their itch.
This means that you are offering them a solution to a problem that many people are facing. Figure out your competitive advantage and be clear on what separates you from the other startups in the same field. Moreover, entrepreneurs need to lose their shame when having to pitch because you have to put yourself out there and tell people about the idea in order to get validation. On the other hand, things to remember when pitching include, where you as a startup can get noticed.
There are many social media platforms that link investors to startups, therefore, search for the best way in which you will be noticed. To get investors, target the right people, be smart and if you are raising money, don’t talk about your valuation until you have to really talk about it. All in all, when pitching, make it easy for investors to say yes and on a lighter note “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, then you have launched too late.”
Eamonn Carey is the Managing Director at Techstars London. He was previously MD at Techstars Connection in partnership with AB InBev in New York, and has been a long term mentor, advisor and angel investor in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the US. In the past, Eamonn started, succeeded and failed with several startups in Europe and the Middle East including Farmvillain - an app which some described as the 'South Park of Facebook'. He unsuccessfully first started building games to impress girls in the late 1980s but his love for games lived on despite. Since then, he has worked with Kiip, helping them establish their footprint and offices in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
https://vimeo.com/141908922