Growth Company Angels
Growth Company Angels

How to pitch for angel investment?

12 Apr 2016

All investors are different and will have their own reasons for making investments that will shape their portfolio.  But a lot of what the investors in our GC Angels syndicates and VCs generally are looking for in a pitch from start up businesses will be the same.

Momentum: investors dream of finding the next big consumer product and without momentum driving your sales, getting an Angel interested will be hard. If you can demonstrate evidence of customer adoption –number of users, channel partners, sales at events, social media response – that illustrate how you can drive revenue scales, investors will be keen to know more.

Management: a critical part of any pitch to Angels is that they buy into and have faith in your management team. You don't have to become best friends with your investors during the pitch - there may even be friction - but you need to really prove to them that you and your team have the experience and the expertise to make this business a success.

Market: there has to be an audience to buy your product; or there will be no successful product. Your Angels need to know just how you will be able to penetrate a potentially crowded market with your product or service. Angels are looking for fast moving and large markets which is why tech and digital start-ups are so attractive; because they offer the potential to grow much faster and bigger than say an FMCG product. Think global rather than national too; online markets now open this up to more start-ups than ever. 

Money: most Angels will be looking to own a significant stake in your company and if you start doing well they may want to buy more. Increasingly investors are spreading their funds across a range of companies, something that Co enables them to do by matching them with other Angels in syndicates that share the risk and the reward.  It is human nature that an investor will be more interested in you the more he has invested but it is up to you to make your business worth their time and money.