This is a collaborative post.
Since gracing UK screens back in 2005, Dragons’ Den and the sometimes outlandish products that it unveils has been gracing screens across the world, with spin-offs now airing in Australia, America, and more. Even all these years later, we just can’t get enough of those crazy ideas, investment gridlocks, and pleas for a new start in life.
However, underneath all that undeniable television gold, Dragons’ Den holds a more pressing lesson for anyone looking to earn investment for their side hustle – your pitch is everything. Think about it; the woman who stands in the corner and presents a haphazard, poorly-planned business is never going to win the Dragons over or come close to the investment she’s after. You, too, will struggle to enjoy investment from any area if you don’t consider these fundamentals first.
Find in-points with your best investment prospects
The pitchers who often have the highest Dragons’ Den success rates tend to be those who appeal to a Dragon they know will find some value in their product. And, by taking the time to do the same on a wider investment scale, you drastically increase the chances of your success.
Most beneficial would be to work with capital raising services like those offered by EverBlu that ensure you’re paired with the best investment prospects without your even having to search for them. You can find EverBlu on Twitter if you want to know more but, ultimately, this professional oversight offers an in-point you’d struggle to find elsewhere.
You may also want to take the helm yourself to create personal connections which, quite often, are more than enough here. For this, you’ll want to turn again to social media, but search out those investors yourself. Get an idea of past products, mutual acquaintances, and generally what they’re looking for. This way, you can write a pitch that provides plenty of in-points each proving precisely why your products are worth their while.
Let your margins speak for yourselves
Without fail, the Dragons’ always ask what a pitcher’s profit margins look like moving forward and, an astoundingly large amount of the time, those poor things look like rabbits in the headlights. But, as you’ll know if you’ve watched the show even just once, mumbled figures that don’t add up are the biggest investment turnoff.
The simple fact is that, whether they like you and your product or not, an investor is looking to make their money back. With that in mind, you could create the best personal connections in the world and still struggle to land a deal without this consideration.
The good news is that reliable, solid profit margin figures speak for themselves, and they aren’t difficult to arrive at. All you need to do is to divide your existing gross profit by your revenue, and then multiply by 100 to make the figure into a percentage. Don’t stress out if the number you arrive at doesn’t look impressive to you. Growth is growth, and smaller growth than you might expect can indicate significant future success.
Fast-track to the future
Along the same lines, it’s vital to note that even successful businesses won’t gain funding if they’re on the road towards stagnation. After all, investment is a long-term prospect, and real worth is only possible if investors can keep seeing returns for years to come.
As such, it’s also fundamental that you look to the future. Yes, you may have spent all your energy and resources on creating the products you have, but they alone aren’t enough. Regardless of whether you can see them to reality now, investors will also want to know that you have plans for future projects, ongoing marketing efforts, and the pushes that will ultimately see your products stay relevant.
Differentiate from day one
You can perfect all the above pitch considerations, but you’re unlikely to achieve a ‘yes’ from investors if you don’t also prove why you’re different from any other prospects they’ve seen. After all, there have been thousands of Dragons’ Den contestants by this point, and they’re just a tiny sample of the pitchers you go up against each time you put your product out there.
Points of difference are thus fundamental, whether these be entirely new product ideas, a unique future trajectory, or even just profit potential that others struggle to achieve. An existing audience can also prove invaluable for setting you apart!
Either way, lead with your differences, and you may just find that Dragons’ Den-style investment follows soon after.
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