The art of keeping investors happy is one often sought by startup entrepreneurs who need help navigating the world of business and growth.
However, the investor-entrepreneur bond only strengthens as your business scales and requires constant revision as the number of parts, stakeholders and consumers rise.
That means making sure your investors are aligned to your goals and vice versa; especially as many of them may act as advisors or even mentors to their company’s.
The key to keeping investors happy is communication and results, according the chairman of Shazam, Andrew Fisher.
“The first thing to deliver on is your promises: when someone invests in you they’re buying into you and your team, the opportunities you’re pursuing, and your vision.”
It’s well known that for many investors, talent is the key indicator to whether they believe a business will succeed, and your team will drive and curate a vision which an investor will want to see realized.
“There are many milestones along the way of course: annual budgets; KPIs, such as number of users; and other metrics that would indicate to the investor whether you’re succeeding or failing.”
Don’t be put off by that dualistic conclusion; whether you may, or may not be hitting your targets isn’t a deal breaker. Keeping investors happy also requires updates and strong communication levels.
“Investors are comfortable as long as you can articulate how you measure success and how you can evidence to them how you’re doing that, making progress and capturing the opportunity – if you’re not achieving that there are 2 avenues to take…”
It’s worth noting here that success is actually quite subjective, and needs discerning early on in an investor-entrepreneur relationship.
“…you can pivot and think about adopting different strategies or, secondarily, actually be mindful and explain what hasn’t happened and why, and if you take the time to tell your investors what’s happening you’re keeping investors happy and so they’ll usually be very supportive.”
Hot Topics sat down with the Chairman of Shazam, Andrew Fisher, at the UKTI GREAT Global Investment Conference. The event showcased the best of British business and innovation and included presentations from British Prime Minister, David Cameron, his Chancellor George Osborne and the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
