P | P | P – Advice on Gaining Investment Pt. 2

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As part of article series ‘Product | People | Potential’ we have interviewed many fantastic UK start-ups and scale-ups, all with a wealth of knowledge and experience to share.

Here, we’ve rounded-up some of the best ‘Investment Wisdom’ advice from the series to date, that we hope will be helpful and inspiring.

Jenny @ Monument Therapeutics: It started working for me when I found a good mentor who had time to hold my hand through the first steps. There is not a lot of magic to fundraising, but it is definitely helpful to have guidance from someone who has done it a lot before, who is interested in the business and who has contacts. The difference between pitching to someone who knows nothing about you, versus pitching to someone who respects the person who introduced you is huge. Having a mentor, and a network, really helped me gain that initial interest.
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Özgür @ Stablepharma: Investment is a really interesting, challenging and can be frustrating area for start-ups and scale-ups.  From my experience in the field, the two areas I believe are most important when going through investment rounds are meeting and achieving your milestones.  This is key and must be clearly evidenced with data. The second is the ability to craft and communicate your story, from concept to commercialisation, so that it appeals to your target audience, in this case your investors. Again, this must be supported by data and a robust business plan.

My advice is to work backwards, for example, think about what you want to achieve by your next fundraise and what story you want to tell your investors? This will help you visualise what you need to achieve between now and then.
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Piers Kotting @ RareCan Limited: I came from the public sector, where I was continually bogged down focusing on the areas I wasn’t quite sure about, or felt I didn’t know enough about. When my focus shifted to higher level and I simplified the idea I had more success. So, the advice would be to not let the areas you are not sure about get in the way of the big picture, focus on the issue you are addressing and who you are to inspire belief from investors. There will always be uncertainty and risk involved in start-ups, which is precisely why we look to the types of investors we do.

Linked to that is the advice to not be scared! Be confident in what you are doing. Explain it simply to make it accessible and understandable.

Additionally, something that we found really helpful was regional support – having a home – we raised a proportion of our money through North Invest, look for local people to support you.
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Science & Innovation Product | People | Potential features the UK’s most inspirational start-up and scale-up stories about growth and success within Science & Innovation. View all interviews