Day after London terror attack and before Brexit Article 50 not one single company in Singapore that my fabulous wife Aekta and I met for the High Commission was even the slightest bit less keen to invest and establish and go global from the UK. Not one. Victory. Now the hard work behind the scenes begins for us of getting them here; the investor agreements, the dealmaking.
And it will be a joy to have the best in Britain. Nothing stops Britain. Nothing. No one. The world is looking to see how we would react. And we will never ever be found wanting regardless how difficult the times. Ever. What may make others flinch, merely increases our resolve.
I write to you from Singapore, having launched for the UK’s Department of International Trade, as Dealmaker for them, the first ever StartUp Games in ASEAN. Through this we find the best entrepreneurs to set up in the UK.
My wife, Aekta, who is Head of the Department’s Venture Capital Unit, brings in the capital and my role was to bring in to the UK the entrepreneurs and talent.
I get asked each week to raise money for companies. Maybe 200 requests annually. Here are some ways you can help yourself:
1. Friends and Family (yours not mine)
There are three groups of people who will invest in an idea which has no revenues and doesn’t have $1m already invested in it, or at least 1m users.
These three groups are, in no particular order: a. Friends (you’ll soon discover you don’t have as many as you thought; b. Family (your mother loves you, and thinks you are the next Warren Buffett); c. Fools (God bless them – but rich fools are pretty rare, because someone got to them before you did genius)
2. Get Revenues?
Right, so you have some revenues – let’s talk. But before my connections will invest, they need a proposal. Don’t just send me a whole load of emails and expect me to do it for you. Don’t know how to make a proposal, a pitch? Wouldn’t it be great if there was some amazing thing on your computer which could answer questions for you in an instant, even show you examples, videos, templates? If only such thing existed. If Google didn’t exist, there would be no point inventing it, because you don’t use it.
3. Revenues, Great Pitch
Great, now I’ll work for free for you. What’s that, my friends you want me to introduce you to. Cool – LinkedIn – they’re all on there, and better still LinkedIn is meant for introductions. Hmmm…you didn’t know that about LinkedIn? Well I’m starting to question your IQ again. Maybe it’s a bad idea you’re in charge of any company.
Angel groups, venture capital firms, startup loans – an introduction is a great way to get you ahead of the queue and make sure you get money before all those cold callers – I’m only kidding. An introduction works when it’s an amazing offer – and an amazing offer gets through their cold calls anyway.
4. Why You Are Being Rejected
So why are you being rejected? The pitch is not great, there is no interest except in your imagination (your mother’s fault again – ever watched Britain’s Got Talent or X-Factor, and thought ‘what made that person think they could sing’, well that’s you. Now you see why Simon Cowell is so pissed off. He hates mothers who make their little Dick or Kitty think they have got it, when they clearly don’t.).
The reason is never, ever, ever, that one magical person has not seen your offering. Great offerings, brilliant offerings are so good, so amazing, that people borrow money to invest in them – but you first. If you don’t, well, the rest of us won’t.
5. Most People Should Give Up
You see most pitches I see, are actually only going to work as donations, as a grant, as a gift of money. They’re not compelling. So in those cases you come to me, and are actually asking me to find donors in the guise of a great business model.
My greatest hits have come from propositions where the entrepreneurs were so hard working, so focussed, so well researched, I barely had to do anything. Most people don’t do that. They waste their time with second rate propositions they wished worked, thinking some fool will come along, and are in denial. Worst still, they are wasting my time too.
So am I a pessimist – heck no. You keep going chipper, and one day, like the little ant that could, you too will make it. Keep reading the self-help books in the meanwhile. (Actually seriously, don’t give up, but do do do do learn, research, learn some more first).
I look forward to meeting some of the best from around the world in the UK!
