Part 2 - Building a Business - Getting Buy-in

At the end of Part 1 I indicated that this article would be focusing on how to land a business partner/investor for your great idea. I’m going to use myself as a case study but understand that every investor will have different motivations for wanting to spend their time in a new venture.

Like any good business, it usually begins with something drawn on the back of an envelope. That spark of an idea that seems to ignite the very ether with potential and every time you think about it your heart skips a beat.

What am I looking for? In one word, passion. I’m sitting at the bar at NamesCon and you’ve come to me with your idea (I’m not going to steal it) and during your story telling about how you came up with the idea I’m looking for how much you want it. Are you going to crawl across broken glass, traverse a desert or swing across a chasm to see your idea flourish?

So many potential entrepreneurs pitch their ideas in such a boring manner that causes me to look for someone else to share a drink with. If your unexcited when your baby is about to be born, then what are you going to be like in six months when you’ve been up all night because it’s been crying? Get animated and make the story interesting!

For example, it could be like….I was having a shower the other day and it suddenly hit me. People having been trying to do “X” for so long and if I just did “Y” I could solve all of their problems. It was like a shining light from heaven! I couldn’t get out of the shower fast enough to write it all down. Have you ever had one of those moments where a whole lot of things just seem to click into place?

At this point I’m thinking this is a cool story and an interesting person that’s causing me to reflect on the times I've had my own epiphanies! Very importantly I instantly know how this new business is going to solve a problem for the target market.

At this point in our discussion, you pull out of your pocket a sheet of wrinkled paper and say, “Here’s the idea when I first came up with it while dripping wet from the shower.” I take a look at it an instantly notice that some of the writing is a little blurry from where the ink mixed with the water from your dripping hand.

I now know you’re either crazy or so passionate you don’t want to let your idea out of your sight! Let’s face it, most entrepreneurs are a little nuts as we have this inner burning desire to break new ground and build things where others have said it would be impossible.

If I believe you’re passionate then I’m next going to weigh up whether you’ve done anything since the idea first came to you. In other words, are you capable of getting the big boulder moving up the hill.

I’ve had so many people tell me that they can’t start because they need a whole pile of cash. As soon as I hear this then my mind has exited the conversation. What they’ve just proved is they can’t do anything unless someone else helps them. What am I? Your nanny?

Get a prototype together. I don’t care if it’s been made out of bits of string, lego or a picture on a power point slide. Sell me the dream! Get your phone out and show me what your wrinkled-up piece of paper is all about. I want to see you’ve begun thinking about the problems and how to overcome them.

Get off your backside and begin researching everything you need to make your dream come true. When you think you’ve done everything you can then look again. So many people are dreamers and very few are doers. I’ve even had some people try to convince me that they haven’t taken the idea forward because they were waiting for an investment so they could be paid to develop it further……now I know their nuts!

What you need to appreciate is that I'm time poor because I have no shortage of ideas to develop and projects already on the go. When you’re trying to attract me to your business what you’re saying is your business is so incredible that the returns will far surpass anything else that I’m currently working on

I know this is a really tough to understand, any successful entrepeneur will be in a very similar position to me. Remember the axiom.....if you want something done give it to a busy person. People with lots of time on their hands won't ever get around to what you asked them to do....a busy person knows how to manage their time.

If I end up making the decision to get involved with your venture then I can guarantee that I will put everything I can to get behind it. I have a lot of resources and I want anything I'm involved in to be successful.

In the next article I’m going to go through what you need to do for me after I’m convinced you are passionate and willing to do whatever it will take to get your business going.