How Seeking Startup Investment Sets you up for Sales Success

To start-up founders who say they have no sales experience, I say this: if you’re seeking investment, you’re already learning how to build a sales process.

Getting investment is a sport that requires purposeful outreach to investor prospects with a clear, differentiated offering. Whether you’re meeting investors at events, doing cold outreach, or asking for warm introductions, you are generating leads for your pipeline.

After your initial round of investor connections, you may find that only some investors you meet are a fit for your business and only some are actively engaged. You’re qualifying these investors as much as they are qualifying you. Knowing this, you become more purposeful in defining who your ideal investor is. While you refine your outreach and targeted lists to increase the probability of a qualified investor response, you gain the ability to mirror this process for the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) for your sales pipeline.

Your investor pitches result in feedback on what matters most: product-market fit, unique differentiators, financial projections, competitor landscape, the “why,” and the “why now.” Your investors are looking for scalability and a business model showing a clear path to revenue. They want your plan to get your product into paid users’ hands in the first year, then push it Canada-wide, and then sell it all over North America. While you build your optimal business model and value proposition to dominate your market, you justify your product’s value by addressing changing requirements for highest Return on Investment (ROI).

Interested investors are ready for more information on your business. The due diligence process allows you to examine your business model while weighing investor suggestions and concerns. As you handle objections, you refine your business model, further outlining where your product will succeed in the market.

Contract negotiations follow. Though you’ve recruited the help of experts (e.g. lawyers and salespeople), you are ultimately the one making a series of business decisions throughout investor contract negotiations. While you come to an agreement, you are sharpening your skills and knowledge for future sales negotiations.

You close out your funding round, receive funds, and hire a sales team! While getting your start-up off the ground, you’ve learned everything you need to sell your product. As a founder, your involvement in building a sales pipeline and closing your first 10-50 deals is possible because of the skills you gained during the investment phase. You are the expert. You are in the best position to close deals.

All start-ups have limited time and resources but a big need to drive sales quickly. Follow along the upcoming sales series to learn more about sales pitfalls to avoid, and tips and tactics to build your sales process, and ultimately drive revenue.

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