Investors play the role of pillars for a business startup and there are many investors available in the startup business market. All startup investors have different terms, policies, and investment criteria.
Before dealing with any investor, you must know about all their capital rules and expectations they have for your business.
Here are five ways you can find an investor for your business startup:
- Venture Capitalists
- Online Platforms
- Social Media
- Business Plan
- Equity Financing
To find out which of these methods will suit your skill-set and your business model specifically, let’s take a closer look below.
1. Venture Capitalists
Venture capitalists are investors who provide private money to grow a business and are not part of any investment organization nor do they provide investment through a partnership. They have their own money to invest in the start-up business, and in-return get a profit, according to the predefined rules set.
One of the biggest advantages to approaching venture capitalists, especially if you’re early in your startup journey, is that they are easy to contact. Some websites provide the facility to ask for investment from these investors, alternatively you can track down and contact potential VCs on LinkedIn.
If the CV considers your business to be profitable and they feel they can add value to your business, they will likely invest.
2. Online platforms
There are many online fundraising platforms from which you can find investment. These platforms offer loans for businesses, crowdfunding or donations and are designed to be incredibly user-friendly and accessible to a wide range of audiences.
Some of the most popular fundraising platforms include:
My recommendation is to focus on one or two platforms, populating them with as much data, branding and activity as possible rather than trying to cover as many platforms as possible. This is how you get noticed.
3. Social Media
Social media is a fantastic source of business advertisement both in generating sales and in generating brand awareness. Both of which a potential investor will want to see.
In similar fashion to fundraising platforms, if your goal is to raise investment, focus on fewer social media channels than trying to cover every single one.
Using Instagram to attract investment
In similar fashion to raising your series A, an investor will be browsing your Instagram to see traction. They will want to see some evidence of people caring about your product and your brand. If they don’t, this may well be the first and final place they consider your business for investment.
Traction can be best demonstrated through a number of ways:
- User generated content – images and videos of customers using and advocating your product.
- Reel content – Investors will be as aware as you are, reels generate more exposure than any other type of Instagram post, so get in-front of the camera and represent your brand.
- Followers – investors are time-poor so demonstrating traction through one figure will always bode well, just ensure your following is high quality as well as quantity.
Using LinkedIn to attract investment
Don’t hold back and allow your LinkedIn feed to be a timeline of your startup’s achievements. Transparency is key here, and potential investors will be looking for success statistics and engagement from stakeholders. These can be posted on your personal and business LinkedIn profile.
Posting the following on your LinkedIn feed will bode well with investors:
- New team members and their credentials – e.g new marketing staff
- Growth statistics
- Investment gained from other VCs
4. Business plan
Before investing in a new business, investors check the business plan. If investors find your business plan shows a clear value offering and traction metrics, then they will surely invest in your business.
Your business plan should be strong enough financially and offer realistic exit points so that investors do not doubt the loss of their investment.
Tip: Investors like to invest in businesses that have high chances of profit, therefore it is vital that your business can demonstrate market demand and show early revenue generation.
5. Equity Financing
Equity financing is an investment method, where a person invests in your business for a share in the business. You can easily access equity investors online or from your friends and family. This investment method can be an effective way to enhance your business.
Choose investors and an investment method carefully, because if you want to enter into a partnership with any investor, there are different rules to be followed and they will get profits according to the shares they have in your business.
However, if you want to be the only owner of the business, then avoid investors who look for a partnership, i.e, venture capitalization and equity financing are not suitable.
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At Velocity Capital, we invest in digital-first direct to consumer companies with unstoppable founders. Does this sound like you? Get in contact with us to find how we can provide early stage capital funding to your business, and view our current investments to see who we’ve worked with so far.
