How to use LinkedIn to prospect investors and raise capital for your startup business
Monday, July 6, 2009 at 11:51AM A question posted by a member of one of the venture capital groups I belong to on LinkedIn inspired this post.
1. Have a well-written, 1-2 page executive summary that a high school student could easily comprehend. Include a tight, high impact 1-3 sentence "blurb" at beginning of the summary that will grab the reader's attention immediately.
2. Have your business plan in presentation form ready to go just in case you get a hot lead.
Learn how to "fix your pitch" using the outline and tips in this great article on Guy Kawasaki's blog written by his colleague Bill Reichert from Garage Technlogy Ventures.
3. Then, use LinkedIn's advanced search feature to filter out investors or firms that may already be investing in what you're pitching, and are likely to offer the type of financing you're seeking.
(Nothing would annoy me more as an investor than being contacted by someone with a pitch that is of no interest to me...especially if had that someone done their homework, would have known better.)
4. BEFORE you make contact, visit each prospective investor's website(s) if available and learn as much as you can about what kind of deals they invest in and how they prefer to be contacted.
5. Direct connections are tough and take an elegant approach. Referrals from a trusted source are always preferable for contacting prospective investors cold. Their attorneys and the founders of companies the prospective investor has invested in previously make excellent referring parties. Take the time to do the appropriate research and you will be rewarded with positive results.
6. Always follow up with potential leads as many times as necessary and be courteous and gracious to whomever helps you with additional information along the way.
7. Finally, if you're dealing with professional investors make sure you don't make any rookie mistakes like asking for an NDA. These folks quite possibly are reviewing tens if not hundreds of business plans each week and can not possibly assume the liability caused by signing an NDA.


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