Elusive investors?

A tough market can make investors even harder to access but I wonder how many early stage entrepreneurs recognise the value of investment or business plan competitions for opening doors, expanding your network and refining your business proposition?

If you are an entrepreneur raising funds for the first time, you would be well advised to consider submitting your company to a competition with a community of investors and advisors attached to it.  Doing this can achieve two big wins – firstly it will get you in front of investors with whom you can follow up at a later stage and secondly, it will give your pitch an invaluable dry run.  Of course, there’s the chance that one or more of the investors on the panel will take a serious liking to you and/or your business but you should be realistic about your expectations.  After all, a tiny 1% (or thereabouts) of business plans hit the sweet spot with equity investors.  All the more reason to refine your proposition to within an inch of its life before you target your dream ticket.

Obviously  you can’t assume you’ll get the chance to pitch just because you enter.  Any credible competition will put you through some kind of selection process to ensure that companies pitching are either investment ready or developing highly disruptive, albeit unproven technology.  If you make the cut, it depends on the competition but you might also benefit from in-kind advice of sponsors – accountants, lawyers etc.  But in our experience of observing pitches, the greatest value comes from the Q & A session with the investors.  You may not like everything they have to say but if they’re coming up with suggestions for a different approach to the market or a change to the business model, it’s at least worth listening.

If this strikes a chord, check out www.seedcamp.com, Greenbackers at http://www.eco-connect.org/1062_1062.html, and www.thebusinessfactory.co.uk/pitch-2010 which are all variations on a theme.  Just a few to consider.  I guess it depends what you’re looking for as an entrepreneur but in general, the well run competitions with credible, active investors round the table, some good networking opportunities and a few timely interventions from advisors, can be worth the time and effort.

Know of any other competitions?  We have run and marketed a number of investment competitions and much of our client work sees us involved with a wide range of entrepreneurs and investors so we’re always interested to hear about other competitions out there that we can signpost people to.

Marcie Bell

Marcie has spent over 20 years in a combination of agency and in-house PR/marketing roles. Her broad experience (consumer, B2B, and corporate) across the marketing communications mix has given her a rare combination of skills which is augmented by her extensive network of highly skilled associates. A firm advocate of the role of communications in driving and supporting business growth, Marcie excels in spotting opportunities to accelerate business growth by taking a helicopter view across a business.

Marcie began her career in financial PR with Lowe Bell Financial, working with a wide range of Footsie 100 companies. She later moved to Scotland and worked in-house, handling PR for a high profile portfolio of whisky brands including Famous Grouse.  In the last 10 years her work – both agency and in-house – has focused on delivering integrated marketing communications, drawing on a plethora of channels to deliver cost-effective, joined up plans.

Marcie has worked in a wide range of sectors including banking, hotels/leisure, aviation, drinks, healthcare, lighting, business support and the public sector.  She is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and a former board member of the MIT Enterprise Forum UK.  For more about Marcie see LinkedIn