As many of you know I was recently announced as the winner of the #HisCoxCouragetoPitch competition sponsored by Black Enterprise and HisCox. As the winner I was flown out to Silicon Valley for an all expense paid trip to the #TechCnxt summit and also the opportunity of a lifetime to meet with a top investor in Silicon Valley. While I am unable to give out any specific details of my meeting I would like to share 5 lessons that I learned from my first investor meeting.
Relax
I would be lying if I told you that I had no fear when I stepped into my investor meeting. While I wasn’t unbearably nervous, the fear of the unknown had me questioning if I even deserved to be in the seat I was in. Prior to stepping into my meeting I received the best advice I have ever heard as a start up founder and that’s to simply relax and be myself. You see, investors don’t like to be pitched and they most certainly don’t want to feel as if they are getting a second rate version of who you REALLY are. So instead of wasting your energy “trying” to get someone to like you. Just simply be you and those who matter won’t mind.
Don’t Be Afraid to Say You Don’t Know
There is this really weird stigma that exists that has led many entrepreneurs to believe they have to know it all as it relates to their business and their industry. While it is ideal that you know as much as possible, it is nearly impossible to know EVERYTHING. When stepping into your investor meeting if there is something you don’t have an answer for, say that. Lying may not make you look bad immediately but trust me your lies will become evident relatively quickly.
Ask Questions
An investor meeting should be a conversation between you and the investor which means they shouldn’t be the only ones asking you questions. Prior to your meeting with the investor, brainstorm questions you can ask that will help you learn more about their backgrounds and the areas in which they generally invest. Alot of this information can be obtained via a simple Google Search; however, in the case that the information isn’t visible be prepared to ask. The more questions you ask, the more you can learn.
Know Why You Want An Investor
Sure it’s cool to tell your parents you want to be the next Mark Zuckeberg or Jack Dorsey but do you REALLY know why you want an investor? Is it to really create a sustainable and scalable product or is it so you can pay big salaries to yourself and your friends? WARNING: the latter is NEVER the answer :-). Whatever the case may be, be clear on why you want an investor. The clearer you are about what you need for an investor, the better they can assist you in moving forward towards your goals.
Be Open to Advice
As mentioned above whether you know it or not, you don’t know everything. As a startup founder you probably only know the “start up world” and not necessarily the investor world. If your investor offers advice, listen. At the end of the day you need the investment and they need the return. Teamwork ALWAYS makes the dream work.
Have you ever experienced an investor meeting? If so, what things have you learned? Leave your comments below.
If some one wishes to be updated with hottest technologies afterward he must be visit this
web page and be up to date daily.
I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout
in your weblog. Is this a paid topic or did you modify it
yourself? Either way stay up the nice high quality writing,
it is uncommon to peer a great blog like this one these days..
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d definitely donate to this fantastic
blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account.
I look forward to brand new updates and will share this blog
with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
Your web site provided us with valuable info to work on. You have done a formidable job and our whole community will be grateful to you.
I think this is one of the most important information for me.
And i’m glad reading your article. But wanna remark
on few general things, The site style is great, the
articles is really great : D. Good job, cheers
It’s really a nice and useful piece of info. I’m glad that you simply shared this helpful information with us.
Please keep us up to date like this. Thanks for
sharing.
My relatives all the time say that I am killing my time
here at web, except I know I am getting experience daily by reading such nice posts.
Great delivery. Great arguments. Keep up the great effort.
What’s Taking place i’m new to this, I stumbled upon this
I’ve discovered It absolutely helpful and it has aided me out loads.
I hope to contribute & assist other users like its helped me.
Great job.
Hey excellent website! Does running a blog like this take a large amount of work?
I’ve no understanding of coding but I was hoping to start
my own blog in the near future. Anyway, if you have any recommendations or tips for new
blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject however I simply had to ask.
Thanks a lot!
Fine way of explaining, and pleasant paragraph to
get information concerning my presentation topic, which i am going to convey in institution of higher education.
Everything is very open with a precise explanation of the issues.
It was truly informative. Your website is useful. Thank you for
sharing!
855616 491075I got what you mean , saved to bookmarks , extremely decent web site. 952533
970181 146258Yay google is my king aided me to discover this outstanding web site! . 182827
600955 301427That is some inspirational stuff. Never knew that opinions could be this varied. Be confident to maintain writing. 541230
Nice blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere?
A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog jump out.
Please let me know where you got your theme. With thanks
Everyone loves it when people come together and share ideas.
Great website, stick with it!
542292 33715You must get involved in a contest initial with the greatest blogs more than the internet. Ill recommend this page! 416424
naturally like your website but you need to check the spelling on several of your posts.
Many of them are rife with spelling problems and
I in finding it very bothersome to tell the reality nevertheless I’ll surely come again again.
760999 658131 very good post, i certainly enjoy this web site, keep on it 338862
501324 789230As I website possessor I believe the content matter here is rattling magnificent , appreciate it for your efforts. You should keep it up forever! Good Luck. 457319
Hurrah, that’s what I was exploring for, what a information! present here at this
blog, thanks admin of this web site.
490984 512940Cpr KIts quite excellent read you know alot about this subject i see! 145764
I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog
that’s both educative and amusing, and let me
tell you, you have hit the nail on the head.
The problem is an issue that too few people are speaking intelligently
about. I am very happy I found this in my hunt for something regarding this.
I like what you guys tend to be up too. This type of clever work and coverage!
Keep up the good works guys I’ve included you guys to my blogroll.
928068 932476There a couple of fascinating points in time in this post but I dont know if I see these center to heart. There may possibly be some validity but Ill take hold opinion until I explore it further. Outstanding post , thanks and then we want a lot more! Put into FeedBurner too 742360
Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to this site before
but after reading through some of the post I realized
it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be book-marking and checking back often!
I read this post completely concerning the comparison of hottest
and earlier technologies, it’s remarkable article.
If you are going for finest contents like me, just pay a quick visit this website all
the time as it provides quality contents, thanks
hello there and thank you for your info – I’ve certainly picked up anything new from right here.
I did however expertise a few technical points using this site, since I experienced to reload the
website many times previous to I could get it to load properly.
I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I am complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will often affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if
ads and marketing with Adwords. Well I’m adding this RSS to my email
and can look out for a lot more of your respective interesting content.
Make sure you update this again soon.
192673 550477Exceptional post however , I was wanting to know in case you could write a litte more on this subject? Id be really thankful in case you could elaborate a little bit more. Thanks! 819085
16090 958377Nice web site, nice and straightforward on the eyes and great content material too. Do you require numerous drafts to make a post? 885642
530799 161375I cant say that I completely agree, but then once more Ive never really thought of it quite like that before. Thanks for giving me something to consider when Im supposed to have an empty mind even though trying to fall asleep tonight lol.. 297213