Giving investors more than numbers

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Hello reader,

In the past few years, as the tech sector has become more profit-driven rather than growth-driven, I feel like a lot of the conversation has focused on sustainable fundamentals over crazy figures that get huge publicity.

This is a point that seems to be shared by many VCs when talking about how to survive the funding winter: have a solid business model and focus on actually generating revenue. All of this sounds logical, but it’s also very focused on the numbers game.

While that’s definitely important, there’s another side to the conversation that I don’t always hear about – appealing to investors from a more personal perspective. Today’s story explores how founders can do that and, in turn, pull themselves through the funding winter.

Today we look at:

• How a founder can get their foot in an investor’s door
• Carsome’s partnership with Google Cloud
• Other newsy highlights such as Foxconn’s latest investments in two Asian markets and Tesla’s falling sales in China.

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Hear it from the horse’s mouth

Image credit: Timmy Loen

Today’s story is written by Jed Ng, who runs an angel syndicate with more than 1,400 investors. He’s often helped founders with fundraising within the syndicate once due diligence is done, giving him a perspective as someone who both invests in startups and seeks funding for them. Here’s some advice he has for fund-seeking founders.

• First impressions: Because investors get dozens of messages each day, it’s crucial to ensure that founders’ first touchpoint with them is as perfect as can be. That means researching the right investors to target, and personalizing the outreach and messaging.
• Keep it relevant: Personalizing that first message can make a difference too, and mentioning the investor’s investment thesis or the firms they’ve invested in can go a long way.
• More than money: Yes, numbers are important, but investors are driven by non-financial factors too – like their egos. Keeping this in mind can help founders understand how to better appeal to investors.

Read more: A super angel’s guide to being on the better side of fundraising

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