Image: Clive Butkow, CEO at Kalon VP
You’re not ready to pitch or even create a pitch deck unless you know the type of investor you really want for your start-up.
Capital is still plentiful right now. Raising money from angels and VCs is far more about what they can do for you besides the money. The money is just a tool that ties you together and gets them invested in your success.
The more time you take defining the investors you really want for this round, the better. This can change by round two. You’ll likely need a very different set of investors at your Series B than a Seed Series round.
What do you want them to do for you? If it’s to break into a new market, then maybe you want a VC fund based in Asia, not Silicon Valley. If you want to get to mass through a specific retail channel, it may be a corporate investor or accelerator you need.
If this is a venture you deeply care about, then ensuring alignment in mission, vision and business philosophy and ethics is critical. Or you may quickly see your start-up turning into exactly the problem you wanted to disrupt and change in the first place.
And how much are you willing to give up? How much control are you willing to give up? Because, when you bring in investors and new board members, they have a say in how you run the company. It is important to understand that accepting funding means you are trading a piece of your company and its ownership for money.
by Clive Butkow, CEO at Kalon VP
Originally published on Ecommerce.co.za.
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