Partner Post: How to Get and Keep an Investor’s Attention

GrowthX is a Workbox Capital Partner and one of the leaders in the investment and business acceleration ecosystem. The following article is written by GrowthX’s founding partner, Andrew Goldner. Goldner is a thought leader in this space who we are excited to showcase via the Workbox blog.

Introduction

Like most venture investors, GrowthX receives countless emails from founders asking them to review their pitch deck in the hopes of securing a meeting and an investment.

Before drafting any email to an investor, first review their website to confirm whether or not they are a good fit for your company. Do they invest in your model (e.g., SaaS vs hardware), do they invest at your stage (pre-revenue, pre-seed, seed, etc.) and do they invest in your geography (i.e., outside of their local community)? Those are three examples of details you should confirm before spending any of your valuable time trying to get their attention.

Presuming they appear to be a good fit and you’re ready to reach out, it’s important to know that your email and pitch deck are not being used by an investor to decide to invest. Rather, merely to determine whether they want to schedule an initial meeting.

So, how do you get and keep an investor’s attention?

Put People Before Tech

Communicate to the investor that you are aware of the enormous execution risk of any startup.

Execution risk is simply the risk that you will fail because your team was not able to execute your pitch deck plans. Address this up front by introducing your team before you introduce your product.

It’s okay to list your professional experiences and education if you’ve worked at a well-known and venture-backed startup and/or attended a top university. But, to properly introduce your team as a way to minimize the potential execution risk, also include details of why you are all best suited to solve the specific problem and build your specific technology solution.

Be Problem (not Product) Focused

Traction speaks louder than words! A large total addressable market can grab an investor’s attention. But, you’ll quickly lose their attention before securing a meeting without also sharing a clear go-to-market strategy that communicates how you’re going to use their capital to systematically acquire a large share of that TAM.

Increase your chances of grabbing and keeping an investor’s attention by leading with your market traction and how you plan to use their capital to identify and execute a reliable revenue strategy.

Conclusion

Don’t waste your runway trying to get the attention of investors who are not a fit for your startup. Investor websites are more transparent than ever. Spend a few minutes and confirm that you’re a good fit before leveraging your relationships and crafting an email campaign to secure a meeting.

Earn more investor meetings – and funding – by leading with why your team is the right team for the market and product challenges ahead. Investor-readiness is the name of the game, and nothing signals that you’re investor-ready more than your current, stage-relevant traction and your go-to-market plan to systematically scale your revenue.

In an effort to earn the attention of founders and the opportunity to invest, GrowthX provides a suite of resources for founders. For example, check out their our Pitch Deck Starter Toolkit. It’s everything you need to build a great pitch deck, including a Storyboard Template and a Workshop Video where theywalk you through each step in the process.