7 tips on securing funding for your business

Here are 7 tips on securing funding for your business:

1. Be clear on the problem that your business is trying to solve. No pain, no gain.
2. Being first in your marketplace is not always an advantage. It is expensive to educate a market on your offering. How do you know the pain point really exists (see point 1)? Better to enter a market that has a handful of competitors, provided you can solve the problem in a better or more efficient way.
3. Explain your business proposition in lay-mans' terms - no jargon or technicalities. Don't try to blind investors with science. Refer to point 1.
4. Less is more. Especially when it comes to pitch-decks. Just give me a couple of pages or ideally a single page. If you can't attract an investor within this page-space, sending a tomb is unlikely to help.
5. Be able to articulate your route to market. How are you going to attract customers? Do you have key contacts that can open doors? Do you know where your ideal customers can be accessed/marketed to?
6. Know your numbers. It doesn't matter if you're "more creative" or the "ideas person" within the business. As a founder or co-founder, you are asking for people's money so you'd better give comfort that you will spend it wisely.
7. Understand the relevant tax breaks that could help attract more investors. Be clued-up on your space and typical business-angel and VC funding requirements.