Are you a woman small-business owner who doesn’t know where to begin with finding funding and investors for her company? This week on our Live, we hosted Juliana Uto who shared her expertise on how to build your pitch and find investors for women-owned startups.
How can small businesses start with seeking investors in their company?
-
Start and build your professional network:
As a small business owner, you might not know how to seek investors which might prevent you from finding great opportunities. One of the greatest ways to get started is to get yourself close proximity to these investors by joining programs and seeking resources. Juliana suggests reaching out to angel investing accelerator programs such as OnDeck that can get you in the door of networking with investors and potentially closing an investment deal as they provide you resources and tools that expose you to the investing world and investors. To get into these accelerator programs you most likely will need to send an application and pitch your business, which is similar to applying to any other business or funding program.
In addition to On Deck, The Council is another network of women investors that pitch investing deals to startups in council meetings. Founders can pitch their business and talk to investors about investment opportunities and secure deals that can significantly scale your business.
-
Your network is your net worth
After seeking resources to find investors, you should network with each investor to find more investing circles that might provide bigger opportunities. Networking with investors is essential for you to meet with more investors and investor circles. As you join investing programs and network with investors, you also extend your chances of finding funding for your business.
If you are a women business owner, you are crucial to building the economy. The research shows that women investors as women tend to hire women more compared to men. Women face increased barriers to accessing funding as compared to businesses led by men.
What steps can women take to be more successful in finding investors?
-
Ask for funding and overcome your fear of negative feedback:
One of the biggest barriers to women’s success is their lack of confidence and their reluctance to ask for funding for their business. If you are thinking your business isn’t ready to launch yet when it is due to a lack of confidence, you might miss out on opportunities to grow your business from individuals who might be interested in investing.
Another internal barrier women business owners face is the fear of rejection. Founders might often feel too sensitive about their business idea get criticized, however, feedback in any form is always a way to improve your business to be better. Founders might often feel too sensitive about having their business idea criticized, however, feedback in any form is always a way to improve your business to be better. If you are a business owner that is preventing pitching your idea to investors to avoid hearing feedback you might not like, this mindset may be getting in the way of greater success for your business.
-
Find mentors and advisors:
If you want to prepare your pitching and your business idea for investors, you can find mentors and advisors who have experience in building a business. You can seek other business owners who have received funding, professional business advisors or programs that provide resources such as business incubator programs.
-
Know your numbers:
If you are pitching your business to investors, you have to know your numbers to provide important information to your potential investors. If you are pitching your business to investors, you must know your numbers to provide valuable information to your potential investors. In addition to letting the investors know what to expect, this can also help you to understand if your business is profitable, what your projections are and how much you need from investors to reach specific goals.
-
Form a pitch deck:
If you are doing your startup as a side hustle, you may have neglected to identify key steps to take for your business to succeed. If you are doing your Startup as a side hustle, you may have neglected to identify key steps to take for your business to succeed. While preparing your business pitch, make sure to cover essential information investors will want to know such as acquisition costs, profitability and more. By working on this vital information, you can also understand the path of success for the benefit of your business. If you are finding gaps in your business plan, get feedback from your mentors and business advisors.
-
Be aware of biases:
Women are still a minority onin investor boards which can lead to blind spots on the part of the investor boards in deciding to invest. This leads to further obstacles in obtaining fundingform some bias for female businesses that createoffer products and services geared to the female market.to solve women-focused problems. Also, some male-dominated industries like tech might also be favoured by investors compared to product and services female business owners may be pitching for.others most women might not be pitching for.
Takeaway:
If you are a female start-up owner looking for investors: Find investor groups, network to find greater opportunities, and build your pitch to close your next investing pitch. If you are looking to get started with investor groups, here are some organizations you can check out:
We hope you enjoyed reading our blog! Check the full live chat here. You can find our live chats and more of the latest financial news on our News Blog. Stay tuned to learn more tips on a new topic each week on our Instagram Live at 5 on Instagram! Aside from our live chats, we post daily financial updates on social media! Follow us on Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook and Instagram.
More Financial News & Events
Planning a Vacation Post Covid
Jul
Dealing with spending pressures
Jun
Behind the Scenes – Working with Lawyers on a Financial Plan
Jun
Positive Experience with Financial Planning – A conversation with Erin Leslie
May
What Are the Process of Putting Together a Financial Plan? – A conversation between Jackie and Jin
May
Creating Financial Transformations
May
Building A Brand Effectively in Second Quarter – A Conversation with Cassie Drake
May
How to boost your business mojo – A conversation with Valeri Hall Little
Apr
How to make a financial fresh start second quarter? 5 principles from Jackie Porter
Apr
The #1 Challenge that Leaders Face, from the Founder of Green Apple Consulting – Lisa Mitchell
Apr
What is entrepreneur resilience? A conversation with Karen Dean
Mar
Barriers that Women Face to Access Healthcare – A conversation with Sara Byrnell
Mar
Six Action Steps You Can Take To Build Your Financial Confidence
Mar
How do we build lasting relationships and what leads to the honeymoon being over? A conversation with Gary Direnfeld
Mar
Re-visiting the Wedding Ritual in 2022
Feb
What Does a Private Investigator Know About Love, Money & Relationships
Feb
Myth-Busters: Everything Small Businesses Should Know About Funding
Jan
Slay Your Impostor Syndome
Jan
How to Form A High Performing Team for Your Business
Jan
2021 Holiday Shopping Trends and Tips to Help Your Wallet
Nov
How to Financially Start Your Divorce Journey
Nov
Divorce Planning in the Pandemic
Nov
How to Deal With Financial Trauma
Oct
Lessons for Small Business Owners in 2021
Oct
Small Business Resources for Start-ups
Oct
Top 6 Real Estate Trends and Strategies
Oct
The Importance of A Mid-Year Tax Check-Up With Your Accountant
Sep
Top 8 Business Finance Tips for Business Owners
Sep
Pricing Strategy: How to Charge and Manage Your Clients
Sep
Everyone should have multiple income sources
Sep
How to Manage Back to School Season in 2021
Aug
How to Start a Small Business at Home
Aug
How to Become an Empowered Leader
Aug
How to Tame Your Spending Dragon Post COVID
Aug
What does financial planning look like at different life stages?
Aug
5 Factors to Consider When Moving Out After Divorce
Jul
Service-Based Businesses Post-Lockdown
Jul
Financial Planner vs. Advisor
Jul
Estate Planning: How to be Proactive Around Your Will
Jul
Women’s Health Initiatives in Canada
Jul
How to win with higher investment risk
Jul
Celebrating Pride 2021 and Identifying the Challenges of the LGBTQIA2S+ Community
Jun
Travel Restrictions between Provinces and Countries This Summer 2021
Jun
How to Support Small Businesses during the Ontario Reopening Plan
Jun
Treat Cash Flow Like Royalty
Jun
Financial Planning for Lawyers: Working with Lawyer’s Financial
May
2021 Federal Budget Programs to Help Childcare
May
Investing Tips For Empowering Women’s Confidence
How to Find Investors for Women Owned Startups
May
Top Work Benefits for Executives