Something you hear a lot in tech is that ‘VCs invest in people’.
But while a positive working relationship and the ability to lead a startup through choppy waters is undoubtedly critical, you have to remember that funders are primarily looking to make money, not friends.
“This is where people go wrong a lot of the time – especially when they’re pitching for money!” Elizabeth Clark, co-founder and CEO of Dream Agility, tells TechBlast.
“They don’t get their point in properly because they spend too long talking about themselves. They’ve got to get to the money shot fairly quickly.
“If you can get the money shot in there and leave a little bit of time for a bit of rapport as well, that’s where you want to be.”
Ramsbottom-based Dream Agility, which featured on our sister publication BusinessCloud’s MarTech 50 ranking, has created AI to manage Google Shopping and Search, Facebook, Instagram and Microsoft Ads.
Clark, who believes that entrepreneurs should speak out more about their failures, presented to pro-manchester’s Trailblazing Tech conference recently and said you have to tailor your content and presenting style to your audience.
“Think about something that will resonate with them,” she advises. “I have a tendency to be a little bit too technical sometimes! You have to use case studies to make it more interesting.
“Try to highlight things that people can understand like how much money you’re spending, how much profit you’re making… refer to numbers.
“Also, if you’re speaking for 15 minutes, for example, you can actually calculate how many words you have to say and work back from there: you speak between two and three words per second.
“You don’t want to have too much… I try and undershoot if I can.”