hi I’m Evan Carmichael and welcome to a
special edition of ask Evan normally I
shoot these videos in my hometown of
Toronto Ontario but today we’re in seat
John New Brunswick for a special edition
this video is brought to you by American
Express they’ve just launched a new
Facebook page called timex mrs. canada
you guys have like the videos I’ve done
in the past please go check out their
site I’m gonna include the link below
today I’m going to answer question from
one of our readers minutes who is asking
about how to raise capital how to write
a business plan and how to convince
investors to put money into your
business so vintage specific question
was D reven the problem for me is that
I’m an undergraduate and my total
experience is approximately 24 months
the biggest problem for me is to make a
business plan for investors and then
convince them about my capability have a
great day and thanks again for the
information regards vinit so thanks that
much and VIN it here are my thoughts for
you
number one get some sales before I
started on my car Michael calm I was in
the venture capital business and looked
up more business plans than I can
remember most business plans get
rejected right on the spot and you don’t
get a chance to even come in and present
your case these plans might have been
fully written the idea might have been
interesting enough but we had serious
doubts about the entrepreneurs
capability of being able to make this a
success one of the best ways to stand
out from everyone else is to achieve
sales just get one person to buy from
you and show investors that people are
willing to actually pay you for what you
do and you’ll separate yourself from
ninety percent of the other
entrepreneurs who are pitching their
ideas you don’t have to be making a lot
of money but proof that someone is
willing to buy your products or services
is a great first step to establishing
credibility with potential investors
number to build an advisory board after
the executive summary one of the first
places and investor will turn to in your
business plan is your management team
they want to know who they are
potentially investing in and what kind
of experience you have the less
experienced you and your team have the
harder it will be to convince investors
to give you money one way around this is
to build an advisory board talk to
people who do have experience and ask
them if they’d be willing to be your
advisors they’re not liable like they
would be if they were on your board of
directors and the compensation for their
advice is up to you often advisers are
willing to join because they are excited
about the future of your company and
they don’t ask for any immediate
compensation being able to show that you
have a solid team advisors will go a
long way to boost in your credibility
and increase the chances of you getting
the money you’re looking for
number three pass the grandmother test
there’s an expression within the venture
capital industry around if your
executive summary and business plan
passes the grandmother test in other
words would your grandmother understand
the opportunity if you gave your
business plan to her remember that most
inventors are generalists they’ll know a
little bit about your industry but they
won’t know it as well as you do too many
entrepreneurs fill their business plans
with jargon complex industry terms and
text speak so much so that investors
have a hard time understanding what
their companies are all about if an
investor can’t read your executive
summary once and immediately understand
what the opportunity is then your
business plan is going straight into the
garbage and they’re moving on to the
next opportunity make sure you show your
plan the people who do not know your
market and see if they can understand it
before you start Christian investors
pass the grandmother test I hope that
helps VIN it remember if you want to
improve the chances of investors putting
money into your business and improve
your credibility with them go get some
sales build the advisory board and pass
the grandmother tests if you guys liked
the video please remember what’s brought
to you by i’m extra business canada’s
facebook page check it out include a
link below I’d also love to hear your
thoughts and feedback if you want to
leave a comment below the video and stay
tuned to the next episode
Please follow and like us:
Be First to Comment