3 tips to prepare for investment pitches

Many entrepreneurs see raising funds as one of the most important worries about their business. Although finding the right employees, keeping them happy, and acquiring new customers are also seen as major pain points, raising outside funds is routinely mentioned. This is not surprising, as fundraising is a job in itself. With the preparations that you have to do, meetings and calls that you have to take, events you have to attend, and considerations that you have to make, it can feel like you are being drawn away from the original goal: building your business into a successful venture.

However, that does not mean that fundraising exercises are not important. On the contrary, finding the right investors for your business can accelerate your growth through their expertise, guidance and network connections. You can, however, prepare the most important things beforehand, which helps you spend less time figuring things out along the way and instead focus during your fundraising journey. Consequently, you will have more time to focus on your core business as well. Hence, preparing properly is an incredibly important part of actual fundraising. Below are three tips that will help you cut the time that you have to fundraise, without actually losing out on quality. It is all about focus and preparedness.

1. Identify the right investors

While identifying the right investors might seem like a logical thing to do, there are many entrepreneurs that follow the wrong leads for too long. This results in a lot of wasted time, especially considering the chances were not very much to begin with. Finding the right investors to target, on the other hand, keeps you focused and confident that you are on the right path.

An investor’s investment mandate is one of the most important criteria to look at. Find out if they invest at your stage of development. It makes little sense to approach an investor that focuses on late-stage startups while you are a very early-stage startup – this is most likely a dead end. The same goes for industry and geography. Does the investor even invest in your industry and country? A good way to approach this is by looking at their website and other portfolio companies. If you see that they have invested in many FinTech startups before, it makes it more likely that they will be open to investing in other FinTech startups.

2. Cater to your audience

On top of knowing your audience, it is important to cater to them as well. While you might be talking to the right investor, who invests in companies at your stage, industry and country, you still need to convince them that your business is worth investing in.

Looking at it from their point of view, rather than from your own, makes a world of difference. While you are looking for investment to grow your company, what are they looking for? Well, many investors look for product-market fit, a great founding team, and a scalable product. While your presentation and pitch might implicitly include these items, it is best to bring them to the front, since that shows that you know what your investor is looking for as well. When you talk the same language, it becomes a lot easier to tell your story and pitch successfully.

3. Prepare documents and be mindful of timelines

After having successfully identified investors and clarified your approach to get in contact with them, it is important to keep in mind what happens during the pitching process and the year. First of all, the summer season in the Middle East is notoriously quiet when it comes to fundraising. Entrepreneurs that aim to raise just before the summer often have a hard time closing out their funding round, as investors are away during the summer and previous commitment might not be there afterwards. Hence, starting your fundraising process just after the summer allows you for plenty of time to do so.

Moreover, it is important to keep certain documents – like a pitch deck, your passport copy, company registration documents, and other legal documents – ready in an easy-to-access drive. Then, when investors ask for them, you can simply grant them access, without having to scramble and put them together last minute. This will save you a lot of hassle along the way.

These three tips are very important before even going out and fundraising. Doing your due diligence and preparations upfront will save you plenty of time and stress along the way, and will impress the investors by showing your preparedness. That, along with a compelling story on how your startup is going to change the world, is a strong start to your fundraising process.