“I’m really trying to get this business off the ground, but I just need to meet the right investor or rich person that will fund it.” You’re better off playing the lottery.
Morgan Taylor Jones said ‘You will find that people will offer help, when they see you helping yourself.’
I have been there before. We heard the stories of the guy with a business idea who meets a rich dude, or someone’s buddy and the rich dude takes a chance on him. He sells his business for millions of dollars, now he’s a rich dude. That fairy tale feels good, but we also know the other side of the journey. We listen to podcasts, we watch Shark Tank. There are real people betting it all on themselves. We also know the amount of ‘NOs’ an entrepreneur has to face to reach “success.”
It’s not that we are waiting for an investor to help our business...it’s that we really do not to face our first “No” by ourselves. The most inspirational entrepreneurs will tell you that you are going to have to take a couple on the chin. Investors are not looking to rescue a business, they just want to see if you can swim on your own first. So prove it.
Now What?
Pitch/Business Plan competitions are opportunities for free money, similar to applying for a scholarship. Every step needed to apply are the same steps needed to present to an investor. There are thousands of pitch competitions that offer cash, access to investors, and the opportunity to compete.
The truth is that most small businesses do not have business plans. Understandably so, why start a business plan when my business is still changing? If that’s the case, then why would someone invest? The truth of the matter is that the business plan is a living document and it evolves with the business.
Check this out...once you apply to one competition, the application process becomes easier because most competitions request the same information: Product or Service? What problem does your concept solve? How much revenue generated? How many years in business?
The opportunities are out there! These competitions are ways of refining your business concept. The submission process will make you create a business plan, before an investor asks for it. The question you need to ask yourself is ‘will these competitions will increase my probability to attract an investor?’
