Pitching for investment

I am always delighted to interview amazing people for the Superstar Communicator podcast. I was utterly inspired by the wonderful Shashank Sripada, who is the CEO of Bubblo App. Shashank has had an amazing career, from star student in the USA, who moved to the UK to complete his degree at the LSE. He then worked within a hedge fund before becoming an entrepreneur.

Shashank needed significant investment for the Bubblo App. So he started to pitch for investment. Of course he had a major advantage because he had worked in a hedge fund where entrepreneurs regularly pitched. He knew what worked from being behind the investors’ desk.

In the podcast Shashank shares his tips for pitching for investment. Shashank advises the following:

• Do as much research about the people you are pitching to as possible. See how much money is available; the particular areas where they tend to pitch; the people you are pitching to.
• Essentially this is a conversation, so ensure you are engaging with the investors.
• Have your facts right; if you don’t know your basic finances, target markets, growth predictions, you aren’t going to come across well.
• Have passion and enthusiasm for your product or service.
• Remember that the investors need to trust you! If you come across in a ‘shifty’ way, or lacking confidence in your product, they won’t invest.
• Investors invest in people so put yourself across in the most positive way.

Listen to the podcast  here. There are plenty of gems in the podcast that I haven’t summarised.

We often consider pitching to be for entrepreneur’s investment, but this principle can be used to ask for a salary increase; asking for more responsibility within an organisation or project. This principle is always useful to think of when pitching for business; whether you are submitting a written quotation or pitching face to face / on the phone.

Listen to the podcast here.

We often consider that pitching for investment is like ‘The Dragons Den’ which, I admit looks intimidating. Of course when you are passionate about your product or idea, you are going to be more compelling to investors or people making the decisions!

Good luck.

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