Adam Ferrari Describes How to Win Over Investors as an ...

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Adam Ferrari Describes How to Win Over Investors as an Entrepreneur

Originally published on epiclaunch.com

Making a pitch to investors can be a daunting task for any entrepreneur. The good news is that you don't have to be a superstar presenter to engender confidence from investors if you have a startup idea.

You can increase the odds of getting investors interested in your venture by using confidence hacks and rapport-building research guidance. Here are three tactics from successful entrepreneur Adam Ferrari that will help you close deals with investors as an entrepreneur.

1. Know Your Market Opportunity

People who invest in startup companies hear pitches all the time. They hear the origin stories, the stories of passion, and how a company's products or services will forever change the way consumers do certain things.

At the end of the day, investors really care about how much money they can make by partnering with your startup. But, in most cases, the main factor in a company's potential is the market opportunity.

If you want to win over investors, focus your pitch on how large of an opportunity your company has based on the market demand for your product or services. Investors can only really make money on a startup deal if there is growth potential. And that growth, many times, is dictated by the market opportunities.

2. Anticipate Questions and Prepare for Them

You can spend tons of time preparing your pitch, but if you aren't prepared to answer questions from investors, you could find yourself leaving without a deal. That's why it's so important to over-prepare and anticipate questions investors might have.

It may be hard for you to put yourself in the shoes of an investor. A good tactic to combat this is to hold a mock pitch with friends, family, colleagues, and people who don't know you or your company well.

Having an objective point of view from a relative stranger will give you a sense of what others might think about your pitch. In addition, you can use the feedback you get in these mock sessions to prepare yourself for the real thing.

Many times, success or failure when pitching to investors comes down to how well you're able to respond to investor questions.

3. Be Authentic

Investors can spot a fraud a mile away. But, again, they hear pitches from startup entrepreneurs like you almost every day. 

This is why Adam Ferrari emphasizes that it's so crucial for you to be authentic at all times. Don't be phony.

If you genuinely feel like your product or service can change the world, then let that passion come across in your pitch. If you simply identified a great business opportunity to make money, that's OK, too. There is no wrong answer in why you started your company -- unless that answer isn't genuine and authentic.

Along these same lines, don't be afraid to admit you don't know something. It's perfectly acceptable to tell an investor that you don't know the answer to a question, as long as that question doesn't relate to the basics of your business.

Investors would rather have you be honest than try to cobble together an answer on the spot just so you have one.