Unless you were born wealthy or are the rare entrepreneur whose first idea is so good millions of dollars fly into your account instantly, you’ll need to find funding – either partners, investors or lenders.
Last week, Thinker Ventures ventured to Chicago for the FUND Conference, which bills itself as the Midwest’s biggest deal conference. Indeed, there were investors from all over the Midwest and as far away as Dallas and Silicon Valley. It was interesting to us how many of the more than 130 people pitching their products, ideas or services weren’t really ready. Our three biggest takeaways:
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Knowing your value and being able to succinctly communicate it to a target audience is critically important. A terrible product clearly communicated can sell while a great product poorly communicated won’t. Putting time into your sales pitch is important. The same goes for keynote speakers. Rambling, not being polished or covering topics not relevant to the target audience can be avoided with a bit of preparation.
Everyone is a salesperson. Whether you’re networking or you’re selling your wares, you’re selling yourself or your stuff. In a group of energized and motivated people, it’s fun to meet strangers even for an introvert. Overheard was a pleasant young woman say, “I’m not a salesperson.” Yet, she’s there to make connections with other interesting people. Don’t back down from the challenge of sales. Bring yourself and a little bit of energy to a conversation and see where it goes. Oh, and it doesn’t hurt to prepare!
Know what you want. We asked a number of people at the expo (while they were demonstrating their thing), “why are you here?” Many of them paused because they had no clear idea of what they wanted. After preparing and pitching many still had no clear idea of what was next (ie “I want $150k to do a marketing push”). They were focused on communicating what their idea did or how it functioned but didn’t have a clear explanation of what was next. A little rehearsal in front of someone who knows what to ask could have resolved this.
In a crowd of well-prepared people, clearly communicating not only the value their idea brings but what’s next, guess who gets a further conversation? Are you prepared?
Jason Todd