If you own a business, then you will meet many investors who will provide you with the decent funding so that you can easily carry out different processes in feasible manners like marketing, productivity, hiring, development, communication and R&D and many other things related to your business. Communicating correctly with the investor is very important because you need to impress them and at the same time, you will have to convince them by providing enough proof regarding why we should invest in your business. It is essential to learn How to communicate with investors.
Several businessmen are lacking solid understanding related to convincing the investors. Investors are very important for a business as they will provide you with financial stability so that you can work with passion and build your own legacy. If you want to initiate an effective communication with your investor, then you should be following certain tips that are elaborated in the further part of this topic.
Scheduling meetings
Scheduling meetings is one of the first things that are not negotiable. It is very important to schedule your time and make enough days vacant so that you can meet with your investors. You can definitely opt for the quarterly meetings if your business already has a strong foothold, but if you are an entrepreneur, then you will have to schedule more meetings. You must hold meetings every 6 weeks in order to provide proper information to the investor and get feedback from them. Ensure that you are scheduling in person and virtual meetings as well. Do not think that you are over-communicating because communicating is very important because investors are going to provide you with their money and they are going to trust you with that, so they will be expecting transparency from your side. You should have a clear idea on How to communicate with investors.
Answer all the queries
It is quite expected that the investors will be having several queries in their mind. It is very important to answer all of them thoroughly and completely without providing improper information related to any question. If they are asking questions to you, then it indicates that they are interested in investing in your company. Moreover, by analyzing their questions, you will be able to pick out the perfect points where you will have to focus. It is crucial to be transparent with your investors and make them aware of every bit related to your business.
Ask the question
The series of question is not a one-way thing because communication is very important. It is also important for you to ask your investors several questions to make them understand that you are eagerly trying to learn about them and in this way, you will also be getting some mentoring and counselling from your investor. All the investors will be having a different type of approaching manner. Even if an investor is interested to help, but still you will have to provide them with enough reasons to do so apart from the profit that they are going to earn. By asking them questions, you will be developing enough knowledge on How to communicate with investors.
Conference calls
If your company is going through any issues then you should definitely aware the investors related to it. Not everyone will be considering the conference call to be convenient, but it is quite optimal because you will be able to talk to everyone properly over a phone call. Ensure that the conference call is not ending into any jumbled conversation. Always try to make a script before you are starting the conference call.
Sending reports
Different investors will have different approaches. Some of them will be looking into the numbers and see how much profit they are earning whereas other investors won’t even care to look at it. So always try to send reports every month to those investors who want to know the numbers. In this way, they will be able to get clarity regarding the money which they are investing and whether it is getting invested in the right way or not.
Social media
In the world of digitalization how can we forget the social media? You can use social media to get investors who are interested in investing in your company. Not everyone will appreciate the concept of communication-related to investment on the social media but many investors are definitely having some positive attitude towards the social media, and that is why they are using it for finding a proper place to invest their money. Utilize different ways to approach them and learn How to communicate with investors.
Calls
Apart from all those meetings and quarterly reports you can also call your investor and talk to each of them to learn about their personal feedback. You can just make a call and talk to them related to the numbers that the business is making every month and provide them with a brief update. You can also ask for some advice. In this way, you will also be able to learn whether they are having any queries related to their investment. So, know How to communicate with investors.
Mutual connections
If you want to find more trusted investor then you can use the mutual connections through friends or social media. Moreover, when another person is recommending you then chances of convincing the investor to invest in your company and receiving positive response increases.
Staying brief
Communication is important but do not waste the time of yours by providing them with unnecessary information. Do your homework properly. The investor will have proper knowledge regarding the niche market where he wants to invest. Always try to focus on the topic of what you are trying to do and the types of opportunities that you are going to provide to the investor.
If you are an entrepreneur, then you may find talking to your investors quite daunting, but even if it is daunting, still you will have to do it efficiently. Investors will have several businesses where they can invest so if you want a particular investor to invest in your company then you will need to input more effectively. The entire article is focusing on How to communicate with investors.
The food-delivery industry in India is bursting with investments. As more and more entrepreneurs venture into the food delivery business, if you want to make a mark you will have to go the extra mile to sustain in the long run.
There has been a slump period, but the food delivery startups in India have revived with new vigor, and there have been quite a few mergers significant mergers and acquisitions in this space.
The flavor of the season in the food delivery startups in India market is the “food technology,” but it has nothing to do with IT. On the contrary, it has a lot to do with satiating your taste buds and enhancing your food experience. It is not just related to convenience apps, but it also about introducing new food products and ensuring a kind experiences for the consumer.
In 2018 we saw more and more online food ordering websites in India, and this has given a new shape to the entire market. This trend is likely to continue in 2019 as well.
However, it is not easy to sustain in this market. While there might be a new company coming up every day but not all can sustain in this market. A common reason for this is that most of them are clones of the other and therefore there is a shortage of differentiation.
Best food delivery startups in India
Some of the best food delivery startups in India who have been on the to pin the food delievery market for quite some time are:
Foodpanda
Partnered with some of the top restaurants, Foodpanda has experience in the smallest of the smallest town of India. Their service is quick, and they also have great discounts to offer.
Zomato
It has approximately 42k restaurants listed across most of the major cities, and it also has a presence in over 23 countries. Zomato’s approach has always been content driven with minimum expenses on capturing market or acquiring a customer, and the majority of its revenue comes from their smart promotional techniques.
Swiggy
Swiggy’s customers get on time food, and its customers can track their delivery using the real-time tracking app with no extra cost on delivery. Excellent service of Swiggy is that it does not have any minimum order policy and it accepts online payments.
Key Factors to Success
Some key factors that food delivery startups in India must keep in mind to be a winner in this food delivery market are:
Focus more on quality food
There are many food delivery startups in India, and the competition is too severe. In most of the cases since there is nothing much different to offer, as a start-up, you will have to keep in mind that you cannot compromise on quality. The quality of your food is the crux to your success.
Since the food delivery market has been changing over time, you will have to stay updated.
Customers do not have time, and they want to get the best of the flavors delivered to them at home. So, investing in websites, applications or joining hands with food techies are becoming the need of the hour.
But, one thing for sure is if your food tastes good, you can afford to invest less on the technology part, but it can never be the other way round.
Use the food ordering platforms carefully
Most of the food ordering platforms charge a commission on the food that they deliver, and it is also an integral sector of the food industry of India. These platforms play a critical role in increasing your sale, but you should evaluate and see if you can afford to lose the margin on profit.
You will have to analyze the increase in the volume of order as compared to their commission.
Initially, you can take the help of these platforms, reach out to more customers, and create a base of loyal customers. Once you enter the market with your quality food and have created a pool of loyal customers, you can move out of the platforms.
Focus on retaining old customers than gaining new customers
If the quality of your food is up to the mark, prices are reasonable, and service is prompt, you can expect a good repeat rate with customers, and confirm your sustainability in the food delivery business. Food is a daily necessity, so if you can gain the trust of a customer, you will not have to invest much in marketing. Your existing customers will do this task for you and help you to gain new customers.
So, your focus should be more on retaining old customers than chasing new customers.
The value proposition of “Home-cooked.”
Due to studies, work, and various other need people mostly have to move out the comfort of their home. And, what most of them miss desperately is “home cooked food.” So, if you can keep it as your value proposition, you will undoubtedly succeed.
There is a list of food startups, but not all offer this value preposition. So, serve hygienic, simple and tasty food to your customers and let them reminiscent through your food platter.
What do customers dislike the most when it comes to ordering food?
Customer reviews had revealed that when ordering food, customers mostly dislike the following:
Bad quality food
Topping the list is the quality of food, and no customer likes to order from a restaurant which does not cater to this perspective. Unhygienic and poor quality food cannot be substituted with anything. Even if you offer a massive discount and have umpteen option of dishes, you will lose on customers if you cannot serve them top quality (and healthy) food.
Waiting time
Customers are busy, and they cannot afford to waste time waiting for their food, and there is a growing tendency to order food online. This is why big sharks like “Dominos” have 30-minutes delivery free. If you can ensure that you can mitigate the hunger prangs of your customers on priority, you will surely be on their preference list.
Extra Fees
No one likes to pay extra for food. While they understand that good food comes at a price, and they willing to pay extra money for it but no one is eager to spend extra on delivery and other such factors.
There are many food delivery startups in India, and with little effort, you can surely earn good profit in this market.
Having a great business idea is not enough. It requires enough capital to fund that idea and explore every side to it. Startup funding for small business or, seed funding for startups is often a challenge for new business owners and those with great ideas might be forced to limit their reach, due to the lack of resources. A great business idea will never thrive in the way it should without the right business startup funding. How then can this idea be a reality? How to get funding for a startup? Or, how to raise startup capital?
Every new business owner will, at some point, for example during business expansion, have to experience the huge challenge of raising funds to start a business. They get to face even more accompanying challenges like dealing with rejections from prospective investors and being turned down for business loans.
However, the great news is that there are many creative options, sources, and tips to explore in business startup funding that will help business owners speed up things with funding and get their business running.
Here are some tips every new business owner should know as regards funding:
1. Make a Financial Plan
You need a concrete financial plan not just for your business startup funding but also to help you manage your income more effectively, increase cash flows and help you have a better understanding of finances. Regardless of the lack of capital, you can work with your available credit and funds to create a financial plan. You wouldn’t know how effective it would be unless you create the plan and see how best you can manage your cash flow. A plan in place will eventually help you manage your debts and not get stuck over time.
2. Show your Business Model
What is your business model? You can’t go out looking for a capital when you don’t have a viable business model to show potential investors. Investors look at your model to be certain that there is hope for your business and they want to secure that future revenue, but that won’t be possible if you don’t have a proven business model to present.
3. Know Your Audience
Investment from people who want to commit to your vision is one of the ways which your business startup funding could thrive. However, you need to know these people you are pitching your great business ideasto, to stand a greater chance. Do your research and design your pitch in a way that your audience connects personally with it and will be convinced to invest in it. For example, if your business idea could cater for old people and from your research, you find out that your potential investors have older parents or people at home, you could design your pitch and sell it to them in a very relatable way. Emotional marketing is one of the ways businesses thrive in the world today; humans want to feel and connect with your ideas, and this will win you funding opportunities.
4. Have a Detailed Record of Your Business
A detailed record of your business will be one of the credible assets needed for business startup funding. If you are selling your ideas to investors, you also need to show them more convincing reasons why they should invest in your business. They need to see how profitable it is and if it is worth the risk. The record of your business should cover the history of your expenses, and you need to be as transparent as possible, as no investor will want to risk investing in something without a clear picture.
5. DIY Crowdfunding is an Option
Crowdfunding is a common tool for fundraising today, and you could try that to fund your business. There are different ways to go about this in the noblest way, depending on the kind of business. You could sell your ideas to potential clients and ask them to preorder for your product or service, and you get to have a substantial amount before launching your business. An added benefit of doing this is that it shows you how people view your product and what you need to change to get better and increase sales.
6. Start Working on Improving
It is easy to get carried away with chasing investors and hoping they come around while you unconsciously ignore ways to improve the business. Sometimes, all it takes is getting ready for the opportunity. Focus on improving yourself, and your business and, eventually, investors might contact you themselves. And even if they do not, you would have done yourself a great service by improving massively. By improving, you give yourself a greater chance at pitches, and if you ever have the chance to speak about your business on any platform, you would be speaking from a more knowledgeable and experienced view.
7. Network Meaningfully
Networking is one of the keys to a successful business, and while it is encouraged for new business owners, it is also advisable that you do it meaningfully. Don’t bug or spam your potential investors with messages and long notes about your business. You can rather work on growing your network organically, especially on platforms like LinkedIn that will connect you with businessmen in your field. Also, when you are in social gatherings, try to connect with people like every other person would and with time, you can bring your company into the conversation.
8. Be Humble
Humility opens many doors, and this includes getting valuable investors in your business. Many investors look out for your character; they want someone who is willing to listen and learn, not one who is arrogant. Your investor is most likely more experienced than you are in the field and if they mention something, they need you to consider that.It is because they have probably been in that shoe before and they need to be convinced. Rather than being boastful of what you have to offer, learn to be humble and listen carefully to know how best to answer a critical question from an investor.
A part of being humble is also learning to ask for help where necessary. Ask friends and family for support, and you would realize that what you are searching for might not be as far-fetched as you thought.
A business startup funding has its ups and downs, but you need it to thrive. These creative funding tips, if maximized, could help you get the necessary funding needed for your startup business to succeed.
There are some specific characteristics that define an individual as a successful entrepreneur. It can be further interpreted as one has to include some specific entrepreneurial traits when he or she desires to be on the top of the lists of successful business entrepreneurs.
It’s all about your attitude, your vision and your modes and methods that you use and implement to make your business successful. However, in order to make your business reach new heights, the team of Evolvers can help you at every step. As a matter of fact, you can get in touch with numerous mentors, investors, small or medium business entrepreneurs or else, you can also grab a lot of things that you can learn from successful business tycoons.
By the way, in this article, I’m going to mention some of the qualities of business entrepreneurs that can give a direction to all the budding business starters and make it successful and sustainable too.
For becoming a successful entrepreneur, one has to be highly motivated towards his goal. He needs to be incredibly motivated to grab the trophy of success. This is one of the most crucial factors, as this can only help him to keep his teammates enthusiastic. Furthermore, motivation can help him to achieve his target in the business in a short span of time.
2. Creativity:
Until or unless a person is creative, he can never succeed in his business startup. An out-of-the-box thought is a key to reach the unbelievable pulpit of success. Plus, you have to be very creative at implementing various tactics to attract your target customers. Sometimes, there are simple strategies but in an enormously creative manner can win the hearts of your target customers. Apart from this, it also enhances the productivity of all those who work along with you towards a single goal.
3. Persuasiveness:
A persuasive attitude of yours can help your business startup reach up to that level which will prove out to be unmatched. As a matter of fact, your persuasive nature can assist you in being a better negotiator. You need to be persuasive when you want a particular task to be done properly whether it is from the ends of a co-worker or employee or to convince clients or boss.
4. Vision:
A successful entrepreneur always keeps his eyes over the big picture or over the perfect picture that your efforts can form in the future. In other words, a vision is all about the strategic planning for your business startups. Henceforth, it is one of the most important tasks for an entrepreneur to begin their business startup with a crystal clear vision in their minds.
5. Risk Tolerance:
The one who desires for a successful business startup should always be ready for a negative part which is always attached to it. And this none other than anything else but the risk tolerance. In case if you face a negative phase of your business startup, then it should be tackled with patience and a cool, calm and composed head. It should be considered as a bad phase of your business and not the ultimate result of all your efforts. It’s just a part of the business and so, an entrepreneur should be really good at risk tolerance.
I hope you will surely include some of the entrepreneurial traits within yourself once you are completely determined of becoming a successful business entrepreneur. However, in your aim, the team of Evolvers can efficiently help you out as you will be able to get in touch with the investors, mentors, small business starters and even various successful business tycoons. And at last but not least, get ready for your business and good luck.
Before you reach out to investors and pitch them up, you need to know certain important things to be a successful entrepreneur. It’s a part of building pitch that will make your investors go wow for your financial planning. It needs to be absolutely practical and should narrate the exact story of business and it needs to be relative in terms of operational needs. What is the secret sauce behind your successful financial planning for startups is a five-star team and considerations of important investors.
However, in case you are looking forward to catching up and share your business ideas with the right investor, then Evolvers is one such platform which can fulfill your needs. Evolvers help you get in touch with the mentors, small business starters, business tycoons, investors and many more like you. It is exactly the place where you meet your right investor.
When the matter comes for the presentation of your business idea in the most convincing forms, then financial planning comes at the top of the list. Here, in this article, I’m about to share all the relevant details are included in the list of financial planning that you need to know for your startup. You might be thinking that what exactly investors and audiences are looking for. Plus, this also becomes crucial to put together all the information on the operational platform according to the priorities as your startup evolves after funding.
What Wows Investors?
More than anything else, what allures investors towards an idea is strategic thinking. Now, you might be confused about the term. Let me clarify that. Basically, they expect you to have a thorough knowledge of the operations of your business. In other words, it can also be further explained as you need to be aware of every single working and details of your startup. You should be able to provide a detailed summary of what your business is now and what are your aspirations for the same after three or five years or so.
Investors keep a desire to know that you have already run numerous practical scenarios that are variable and fixed in terms of costs, revenue, and functioning, etc. It is possible that you may not have enough time in your pitching that can every single and small relevant details of your business. However, you need to be always prepared with the backup plans of all the possible consequences with confidence as well as evidence.
Apart from this, you need to be very attentive and able to justify all the core expenses that can say on its own that you have invested some time for the evaluation of appropriate utilization of funds in your business. Whatever be the assumptions can, or should, you should go ahead with the analyzing part for your business based upon the market industry that your business is all set to serve. Also, you should evaluate one of the most important parts of your startup that how it is going to offer you profits in terms of financial perspectives. You should also understand that your startup might need some short-term changes according to the changing scenario of the market industry.
Henceforth, you need to give some spaces accordingly. You will have to do a lot of research and seek the experts’ advice. Make yourself clear that you know and understand everything about your business and can interpret it anywhere where your business sits on the landscapes of investment. This will surely help you as well your investors to grab the position you desire in your startup in a short span of time.
In case you are absolutely new in this field of pitching game, it may be related with the help from the outside. The platform of Evolvers is perfect for all those small business startups where the innovative minds can get in touch with the mentors, investors, business tycoons and many more.
By the way, I guess, I have made you sure of what the investors of today’s generation want from you. Now what all you need is the perfect financial planning to execute your innovative ideas actively. At this stage of business, you will need some financial statements for your startup for pitching your presentation.
Henceforth, some relevant financial statements that you will need for your business are as follows:
Financial projections
Key assumptions worksheet
Departmental expense worksheet
Revenue worksheet (profit & loss)
Sources and uses of funds statements
Sequence Your Financial Statements
The very first step that you need to take on the way of implementing your business idea in your startup is to work on the budget of your startup. Here, you will need to maintain your startup cost worksheet. This job is considered to be one of the toughest jobs because you will have to do a lot of estimating. However, behind the completion of every task, there is a trick and especially when it is a difficult one. Similarly, in this case, too you need a trick which can help you out; making your job easy. So, the trick is you need to underestimate the income whereas overestimate expenses.
Thereafter your next job after this is to work on the profit and loss statement throughout the whole year. An investor is always willing to see this statement of profit and loss; even though they themselves know that it’s really meaningless. However, it helps in managing the balance sheet for the startup.
Apart from these financial statements, the break-even analysis and the cash flow statements- are some of the best ones to have but in case you run out f time, you can give them later. You can also include the break-even analysis if you are selling a product line. However, this is not such an indispensable task for a service business.
Here is a brief description of how you can create a business startup budget plan:
Step 1: Plan For The ‘Day One” Of Your Startup
You need to think in a way that how will be your day one of your startup. Also, you need to plan accordingly by determining things in the right direction. The ‘day one’ budget plan can be further categorized into four categories. They are as follows:
1. Facilities Cost:
Facilities cost generally deals with the business location which can either be rental or the purchase of store, offices or the warehouses. It also includes costs of ease security deposits, tenant improvements, and signage.
Now, here comes the most important section where you need to invest your funds. Materials and supplies like advertising and promotion, you need money for money to invest.
Step 2: Estimate Monthly Fixed And Variable Expenses
Yes, you will need to gather complete information about the monthly expenses which is fixed and the one which is going to vary. This will help you in getting a rough idea of how many funds you need for efficient working of your business.
Some of the common monthly fixed expenditures are mentioned as follows:
Rent
Utilities
Phones (business phones and cell phones
Credit card processing – monthly fees (transaction fees are variable)
Website service fees
Equipment Lease Payments
Office Supplies
Dues/Subscriptions
Advertising, Publicity, and Promotion commitments, like social media, online ads
Business insurance
Professional fees (legal and accounting)
Employee Pay/Benefits
Expenses
Business Loan Payment
Some of the common variable expenses are as follows:
Commissions on sales
Production costs
Raw materials
The wholesale price of goods to be re-sold
Packaging and shipping costs.
Step 3: Estimate Monthly Sales
Estimation of monthly sales is one of the most difficult tasks. This is because; you can’t get an exact idea on how much profit you can gain from a new business startup. You can go through these three varying sales projections. These are as follows:
The best case scenario is when you show more positive results of sales in a month.
The worst case scenario is when you show the least results of your sale in a month.
Likely scenario is such a situation when you show your results somewhere in between the estimated and the exact ones’ sales in a month.
So, this is the whole procedure on how you can create your business budget plan for your startup.
A business budget plan is something like that projects the flow of cash but its efficient working depends on the efforts that we make in the beginning with the help of some extra guesswork. You can also go ahead for the budget even if you don’t need the funds for your startup.
The basic reason behind the business startup budget is that the investors at Evolvers want to know that what exactly your budget is, what you expect from them and how much you are expecting them to spend every month. Lenders need thorough information of your business startup which also includes a commitment that you will follow the budget and won’t spend extraordinarily.
Apart from this, they wish to see how much you will be efficient in paying your bills when it starts welcoming your target audiences. You can also term it as working capital in the financial terminology. Apart from this, an investor is always curious to know that how much time you need for a positive flow of cash or you can consider it as bringing more money than your spending. There are many times when this budget is called as ‘cash flow’ statement. In order to manage your budget, you will need to maintain a worksheet till three years which will further help the investor to analyze how you generate cash flow to make monthly loan payments.
Startup Costs Worksheet
In this worksheet, you will get the answers to the questions like, “What do you need money for?”. In other words, it can be said that cost worksheet shows complete purchase on how much money you need to make in order to kick-start your business. You may also consider it as a statement for the preparation for the ‘day one’ of your business startup. This is because you are surely going to need all these kinds of stuff on the very first day of your business. What is important is to keep a check that you have included all the relevant things that are required for kick-starting your business. Henceforth, it is sometimes advisable to over-estimate of all the things that you will need. This is because it won’t let you face the shortages of even smallest thing.
Break-Even Analysis
Understanding it in the simplest terminologies, your break-even analysis allows your investors and mentors at Evolvers to know that point of your business when you will begin to make a profit. However, basically a break-even analysis is considered useful for those businesses who are selling products but this analysis has proved out to be equally useful of the service-type startups. Apart from this, make sure that you also include a graph of the break-even analysis as it is an effective tool at depicting your growth clearly.
Beginning Balance Sheet
Beginning things with the balance sheets in your business startup is considered to be one of the most complicated processes of your business. You might need mentors present at Evolvers for the completion of this job. The main purpose of going with the balance sheets is important because it helps in adding values to your assets that you have purchased for your startup. It portrays a clear image of the amount of funds that you owe to the investors and various creditors. Apart from this, it also gives you an exact idea of the investments that you have made for gearing up in your startup. Consider your day of using a spreadsheet for your business as a day one of your business.
Profit And Loss Statement
Once you are all done with the completion of the monthly budgets and collecting information on various kinds of stuff that relate to your startup, then you should be able to perform the most crucial analysis of your business. Here, I’m talking about the completion of the profit and loss statements of your business. You may also consider this statement as an Income statement as it will directly flashlight on the success rate of your business. You need to maintain a monthly sheet of profit and losses till the end of the first year of your business and later on, you can go ahead with the annual gains or losses’ spreadsheet. This statement also helps you analyze the estimated amount of tax that you will have to pay.
Sources And Uses Of Funds Statements
Various business tycoons do include the Sources and Uses of Funds Statements in their annual reports. You too can create yours which can be slightly different from theirs to portray in front of your investors or other creditors of the exact amount that you need for your startup and working capital. Apart from this, your statement of sources and uses of funds also interprets that how much collateral you can bring about in your business and how many funds you need to borrow for your startup. In other words, it can be said that the sources and uses of funds statements clearly states the amount and purpose of utilizing the funds are included.
