What you MUST KNOW!

Find what your investors search in your business before they invest!

How you can make your company lucrative to your investors!

How you can protect your million dollar idea!

From all those factors, here are the top 23 tips to get investment ready for your next startup pitch.

The guide has been prepared with the light of Seedstars, Founder Institute & YCombinator resources & our working experiences with the startups.

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Tip 16: Track KPIs and take data driven decisions from day 1

If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it! It’s also a huge win with investors to be able to show them historical data, trends, etc… rather than just one or two numbers on a slide deck.
Start somewhere (even just recording your One Metric That Matters) and make your decisions based on data. Manual data entry never lasts long (time-consuming, prone to errors, etc…) so invest early to automate analytics and data collection

Tip 13: Know the different acquisition channels and find yours

Poor marketing is the #7 reason startups fail. Marketing is just the “top of funnel” elements of awareness and acquisition, but it is the starting point of the startup’s growth and indispensable.
Some acquisition channels scale, some don’t. Generally, you start with things that don’t scale well. Try both inbound (longer setup but longer payback) and outbound (instant.)

Tip 17: Manage cash flow and your receivables (B2B)

Many B2B Business suffer from cash flow problems and get stuck in a vicious cycle
of delayed payments.
Our key advice on this topic is to pay attention to:

• Runway (cash in bank / Current monthly expenses): remember fundraising takes 6-12 months in most cases. If possible, have some cash reserves for unexpected shocks (tech, market, natural).
• Accounts Receivable Management, if payments are done by bank transfer, you need to be on top of them (automate reminders, call, WhatsApp, incentivise). Consider invoice discounting if you have significant receivables to manage.

Remember that running out of cash is the #2 reason startups fail. Sometimes it’s justified (i.e. no market need), other times it’s simply bad cash management.

Tip 18: Consider the exit before you enter

It will be a huge hypothesis (like the whole business at the start) but it can add a lot of confidence to investors if you show them you have the exit in mind. It is also good to know who’s actively acquiring and give prior exit examples from the industry.

Tip 19: Don’t let legal and structure get in the way

In the long-term, the company’s legal structure will be used to make your business more efficient (for purposes like sales, taxes, hiring etc). In the short-term, the structure should just be clean, simple and, “regular” to facilitate investment. Do not let the structure block investors! Go with the usual entity type and jurisdiction for your country or region

Also organise your data room from day 1. It’s just good housekeeping! Most common and basic data room items include:

• Certificate or articles of incorporation
• Trademark(s), intellectual property agreements
• Cap Table
• Investment Agreements for all shareholders, and note holders
• Balance sheet or income statement since inception
• Bank account statements, and export since inception
• Tax returns since inception

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