Through our most recent investment in RISE, we were approached by global fitech firm, Virtuagym, to take part in their FitNation podcast series. Not specifically about our recent partnership with them in RISE, but to talk about one of the tough tasks that some businesses face - how to secure investment.
FitNation - Specialising in Fitness Businesses
The FitNation podcast spreads industry knowledge for fitness entrepreneurs across the globe. All types of topics are covered by a mix of expert speakers from co-founders to coaches. It means you get to hear from the horse’s mouth about the joys and pains of running a fitness business.
The series is sponsored by Virtuagym and GoCardless. Virtuagym is a leading provider of software and GoCardless is on a mission to take the pain out of getting paid for businesses with recurring revenue. To coin two phrases that have been through the marketing department a couple of times ;)
The One About Securing Investment
For our podcast, called Securing Investment for your Business, FitNation wanted to cover off some key points for this process:
- How to secure investment for your business
- An overview of what to expect during an investment evaluation process
- Fitness industry valuations, what that means for the industry – and YOUR business
From our point of view, we knew we had battles scars from every angle in this process. Our sequence through business (after years of soaking up learning in employment) was creating, building and selling a self-funded start-up followed by securing a £3m investment (rising to £15m) for a for a punt on high street fitness. After all that blood, sweat and tears, we are now on the other side of the table investing in great people with great ideas.
It’s Mainly About People
This is one thing that many investors come back to time after time. You can have a great idea but if either the chemistry isn’t there with the investor, or the investee has a skewed idea of how much effort they need to put in, then essentially it’s a non-starter. The investor will not move forward as ideas are not generally the problem, people are.
Ideas, as Pret A Manger re-inventing the sandwich shop shows, do not have to be ground-breaking or original to work. They do, however, have to be good so it should solve an identifiable problem or be very enjoyable for consumers.
Don’t BS
This is a very common issue. You need to really know your stuff and do not, under any circumstances, lie. You will get found out for sure. Keep things simple and don't try and blind people with jargon and complicated stats. Basically, keep to what are you doing/producing, who is going to buy it and for how much?
If you stick to these principals you will emerge in a better place. That doesn’t mean you will get investment but it does mean that you will leave a good impression and that might matter next time…
Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash
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