How To Make Your Business More Appealing To Investors

Getting outside investment might not be the first goal for every business, but it’s a good idea to think about how your operation looks from the outside anyway. The clearer things are, the more trust you build, and even if you’re not trying to raise funding right now, the work you do to get investor-ready usually helps keep the business cleaner and easier to manage long term. Doing this with bluster and bravado, especially when you’re not 100% secure in your own brand (due to your relatively new stature or funding strategy), is a tough needle to thread, but you can do it.

It’s reasonable that investors want to see that you’re not making decisions on impulse, you’re tracking what matters closely, and you’re not hiding things or pretending everything’s fine when it isn’t. They know things don’t always go right, but they want to see how you respond when that happens, and if your business feels like something they can understand, they’re more likely to stay interested.

Let’s consider how to ensure this kind of capital is most interested in you.

Clean Up The Financial Records So Nothing Feels Hidden

If the numbers don’t seem transparent, or they’re saved in five different formats across three devices, nobody’s going to trust what you’re doing with money, so it’s helpful going back through and making sure the records line up, even if you’re sure of the bookkeeping.

Make certain the costs make sense, and everything has a clear paper trail. If someone asks to see how much was spent last quarter, your labor bill and tax contributions, you should be able to show them without needing a week to get it together.

Have A Clear Story About Your Vision & Path

Investors don’t solely look at what the business is doing now, they try to picture where it’s going and whether the plan sounds like something that inspires them to put money in, so it helps to talk through the direction without trying too hard to impress. 

This isn’t direct advice of course, but just be aware that billion-dollar funds have given unbelievable amounts of money just because they bought the pitch given from the company. You can’t misrepresent yourself though, so be honest about what’s been working, what still needs time, and where you see things going next, and if the story holds together, if it sounds steady and not like it changes every few weeks but you have the utmost exciting confidence and can sell that, you’ll gain an investor’s ear.

Make Consistency Your Hallmark

If your website says one thing, your investor pamphlet says another, and your answers in the meeting say something else entirely, it won’t matter how solid the business is, people stop trusting the picture you’re trying to show. You need to be very clear what you’re going to do with the investment and why, and also showcase your moves to pivot in that direction. Using advice from professionals who spot and maximize opportunities such as Andrew Feldstein Blue Mountain Capital will give you those tools.

This way, you showcase a sense of real possibility without giving the impression that you’re promising the world because it’s what the investors want to hear. Ironically, that’s what investors want to hear.

With this advice, you’ll be sure to make your business more appealing to investors going forward.