Raising Finance through Smarter Communication
It’s A Jungle Out There
The emergence of the silicon roundabout, the Government’s focus on tech start-ups, the aggressive growth of crowd funding and the meteoric rise of tablets and mobile devices have all ensured that whilst technology start-ups in the UK continue to attract investment, there is more and more competition than ever going after seed and growth capital. Unlike any other time in your companies growth, your competition is not necessarily the companies that compete against you on a daily basis, but they are more likely other early stage companies that may be in a sexier space, driving innovation with experienced start-up teams and established non-execs. Is your idea and aggressive growth forecast enough to secure the right finance with the right investor?
Standing Out From the Crowd
Having set up and raised significant finance for a number of start-ups, as well as holding current Director roles in existing start-ups, we at TKM, inherently understand what can set you apart from your competition when pitching to an investor. Clearly you need a concise, well structured business plan covering the hot topics. A slick, elegant, easily digestible investor prospectus is critical to success. A website and marketing plan generating early awareness and interest will also add to your credibility and gravitas, but your competition will have many of these elements already developed. Going that extra mile, by incorporating professional video or animation will bring your proposition to life. Along with the investor prospectus, clicking through to your website or social media platform and watching an animation will help not only simplify the overall business proposition, it will engage the viewer, allow them to visualise the opportunity and, most importantly, be memorable.
It’s Happening
The Technology Strategy Board’s “Tech City Launch Pad” last year, was an early indication of the importance of video in fund raising. A £1M pot was made available to early stage initiatives, but all submissions had to be done via a short video or animation – show casing the companies and ideas in this way, ensured facts were captured quickly, the business personality shone through and the companies that showed promise were quickly separated from the dreamers and amateurs.
Advertising
Raising finance from an investor and selling your products to a customer, are similar processes. You need to advertise and engage effectively before driving home the close, so why not use the same techniques that are proving so successful in general advertising? Video has surpassed all other forms of advertising in term of it’s growth. 84.5% of the US internet audience watched online video last year. On average, online viewers consumed 21.9 hours of video, up from 15.9 hours a year earlier (a 38% year-on-year increase) – this is without doubt the medium of choice, we are after all, all consumers at the end of the day, even investors.
Story Telling & Great Production
Our partners at Permission Ventures can help you tell your story more effectively. We’ll help you develop the script, language and tone of voice, we’ll source the right voiceover experts and use our fantastic video production and animation teams to bring your ideas to life in both a memorable and engaging way. Our video production teams also have broadcast experience and will give your brand a professionalism usually associated with the larger brands. Using rich media in this way and ensuring consistency across all your investor collateral will ultimately help drive the next stage of development in your business growth.