If an entrepreneur is a gem, then an investor is surely its Smith. Investors have a good eye on how to fund and which to fund, although they don’t always show on the face. When an entrepreneur walks into an investors office to give his proposal, an investor observes even the minute details of the character of the venture and its parent.
Here are the 10 things an investor always looks for in an entrepreneur:
1. Vision
It may sound understandable, but the preeminent notion an investor wants to know is whether the patron has an audible sense of where he’s going, what market his company serves, and what are his future plans for its growth. And, this is exactly where your presentation should begin.
2. Belief
If a founder doesn’t hold in what he’s doing, why should an investor or anybody in that case? Having said that, underdone is the startup that hasn’t had to pivot or that hasn’t availed from the perspicacity of an advisor.
3. Concern
No one distinguishes everything and the one constant an investor knows is that only thing they can figure on as business people is the change. Founders who manifest a prying about the world, about their customers and partners, and about what is befalling next conduce to be most triumphant.
4. Market Fit
You’ll often hear investors mention this catchphrase, but what does it really mean? Basically, they are looking at the sum total of a founder’s life experiences to understand what brought them to this point and qualifies them for this position.
Indisputable that begetting an MBA or having operated in a blue chip troop may be one of your credentials, but does it really temper you as the founder of your startup?
An investor asks questions like- Who is this person? What are their professional experiences and their life experiences that inform the way they do this job or understand this product or market?
5. Discretion of Humility and Confidence
Nobody relishes a blowhard. Get this fact that the investors you hurl are people you’re dreaming to work with over the long-term; they have to require to work with you. That said, don’t gain the opposite mistake of being overly submissive or docile because investors need to see you as an able, proficient leader.
6. Institutionalizations
If investors assemble you at an event and you say you’ll send them your pitch, they (do) notice whether you send it in a timely fashion. If you say you’ll get back to them with an answer to a question, they’re surely waiting for a response. If you offer to make intros, follow through. Don’t commit what you can’t fulfil, because with every intercommunication an investor is getting to know you.
7. Relational Intelligence
This is a big one for an investor. Investors are looking for people who can scan a room, who can discern from their context and experiences, and who can adapt to the social subtleties of a situation. To an investor relational intelligence inflicts a sense that you will be able to expand, learn, accommodate, endure a team and manage customers.
8. Passion
There are a plethora of good ideas out there, but an investor is looking for patrons who are truly tempestuous about what they are doing, people who are implacable in their drive or persistence.
9. Industry Experience
Whether it’s professional experience inside an industry or intense knowledge of an industry that comes from being a customer or having some other personal experience, an entrepreneur needs to really surmise an industry before you can credibly tell an investor that he’s going to intrude it.
10. Crucial Integrity
If an investor is to invest in your business, we’re advancing to be accomplishing together for a long time and uprightness is really cutting to an investor. Be aboveboard with them. And when it comes to negotiations, investors get it, as all of them are trying to get the choicest deal any can, but if you conclude back on your word, or re-open negotiations with an investor after being agreed to terms, that’s a roaring red flag for any investor.