If you’ve followed the earlier steps (and have a “venture-backable” company), you’ll likely have a number of investors that double opt-in to an initial conversation.
Start to schedule these and push for high density (i.e., bucket meetings together in one week). The density of meetings will create FOMO, drive momentum, and help you close faster.
Target 3–5 investor meetings every single day — which means you need to have a strong pipeline of warm intros.
Throughout these meetings, write down objections from every investor that passes. Update and address these by tweaking your pitch or presentation accordingly.
As mentioned before, be prepared for a string of rejections and be ready to expect 20–30 no’s for every yes.
Once you have interest from a potential lead, aim to communicate via text or WhatsApp instead of email. This will drive velocity and quickly suss out whether the investor is serious.
If you’ve played your cards right, you’ll likely start to do some due diligence with a handful of potential leads.
This is where you should have your data room and metrics handy from your Day 0 preparations.
Continue highlighting how you can be a BIG company (even if your initial product is an initial, smaller wedge) and connect the investor to personal references and customers who will go to bat for you. These references can make or break the investment, so choose them wisely.
Hopefully, by the end of this sequence, you have a term sheet in tow from one of our desired investors. You can then start negotiating terms (a great guide to term sheets here) and looping in follow-up investors to generate velocity for closing.
Good luck and don’t hesitate to reach out if I can be helpful 🙂