{"id":36811,"date":"2023-10-20T14:46:21","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:46:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/six-tips-for-pitching-to-investors-from-a-startup-founder-that-just-scored-more-than-300000-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T14:46:21","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T14:46:21","slug":"six-tips-for-pitching-to-investors-from-a-startup-founder-that-just-scored-more-than-300000-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/six-tips-for-pitching-to-investors-from-a-startup-founder-that-just-scored-more-than-300000-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Six tips for pitching to investors from a startup founder that just scored more than $300,000 – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Founders need to excite investors and show they can take them on a memorable journey to secure funding, Grapple founder Christopher O\u2019Halloran says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Brisbane startup, offering a tool to help business managers<\/a> automate project documentation, has just secured a seed round of $315,000 from angel investors in Brisbane, Melbourne and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re doing it for a bit of excitement,\u201d O\u2019Halloran tells StartupSmart. <\/i><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt opens up a bigger network in the second round.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their main goal now is to bring Grapple closer to its real vision by executing key marketing and business development aims.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

They also plan to approach more investors in Asia and the US.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a tough market to crack for Australian startups,\u201d O\u2019Halloran says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The journey to securing funding has been a long learning curve so O\u2019Halloran shares a bit of advice for fellow startups raising capital.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

1. Be proactive <\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Halloran says securing their first major round of investment came from being proactive.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pitched at every event we could,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

When pitching recently to Brisbane Angels, many were familiar faces from RiverPitch<\/a> where they presented back in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

2. Network with investors <\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestors can put you in touch with other investors,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Actively meeting and connecting within the industry led to a chance meeting with a Hong Kong investor in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of pitch practice, O\u2019Halloran was well prepared to sell Grapple.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave him a three minute pitch and he basically invested on the spot,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

3. Think about what each investor will ask <\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery investor has their own questions,\u201d O\u2019Halloran says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

If your investor is familiar with your industry, they\u2019ll want to see how your idea can work for them, he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their Hong Kong investor, an events company, was able to clearly see the problem Grapple was solving.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe knew first-hand the pain of good project documentation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

With investor events, O\u2019Halloran says questions were focused on whether they could deliver on their promises and sell their idea.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe proved we could by bringing on key customers in our beta program,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Getting a realistic valuation<\/a> was also critical.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

4. Show progression at every pitch <\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Halloran says they pitched to Brisbane investors three times before success.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Every round, they implemented feedback so they could demonstrate momentum.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe showed progression with what we\u2019d done since we last saw them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This included steps like brining in key customers and signing agreements with industry associations. <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe de-risked a lot of things and kept on moving forward,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

5. Be genuine <\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our first pitch, we practiced for 30 hours straight in front of a video,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though commended on a strong delivery, the scripted approach caused investors to be wary.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, \u2018we thought you guys were actors and we didn\u2019t know if you were the real deal\u2019,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Investors want to see rawness and genuine hunger to grow your idea, says O\u2019Halloran.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t do that if you\u2019re reading off of a script.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

6. Get investors excited about you<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t raise money on a pitch, you raise money when you\u2019ve built a relationship,\u201d O\u2019Halloran says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He says investors want to work with people that will take them on an exciting journey.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Though, at times it can feel like you\u2019re on Shark Tank<\/i>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a confident presenter with things I know but pitching to a room full of investors that don\u2019t laugh at your jokes can be quite intimidating,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

O\u2019Halloran recalls one of the best tips he received from an investor.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInvestors see pitches all the time,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat you want to be is the startup they want to talk about at a barbecue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Follow <\/i>StartupSmart on <\/i>Facebook<\/i><\/a>, <\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a>, and <\/i>LinkedIn<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Tune into <\/i>SoundCloud<\/i><\/a> for more tips on getting investor-ready. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Founders need to excite investors and show they can take them on a memorable journey to secure funding, Grapple<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36811"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36811\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}