If you need to attract investors to your startup, your financial projections have to be attractive as well as the idea. The problem is these business financials are future projections, while the idea is “now,” so you believe the idea can do most of the selling.
Your challenge is that investors recognize a good business, and they judge your idea by how you translate it into financial projections.
For example, every investor I know can tell you about meeting a passionate entrepreneur who is pitching a great technology innovation, but he or she has not done the financial homework on making it a good business.
If the investor can’t visualize any return on investment (ROI), you get no money, and a good opportunity is lost to all.
Even if you are bootstrapping the business and not looking for outside investors, the rules of thumb that smart investors look for should be the same ones you use to assess your own risks and set reasonable expectations for progress and success.
In that context, I offer the following strategies for producing financial projections from my own experience:
1. Forecast a business that has plenty of room to grow quickly
Find some credible opportunity statistics that can support your own revenue expectations of between $20 million and $100 million in the fifth year. A larger number exceeds most investors’ rational growth expectations, and a smaller one implies a limited return potential.
2. Demonstrate an understanding of business operation realities
No matter what the potential, every business is constrained in growth by the time and effort required to hire people, spread the message, and deliver and support solutions.
If you insist on projecting $100 million in sales the first year, smart investors will likely run for the nearest exit.
3. Assume margins that are realistic in your target market
As an investor, when I see projected margins below 50 percent, I see low resources for scaling the business, high risk, and likely no return on investment. Even if you work harder than everyone else, you probably won’t stay ahead of rising costs and new competitors.
4. Choose market penetration targets consistent with size
Five-year projections should show at least a 10 percent penetration of the market segment you target, but not more than 50 percent. Don’t assume that you can dominate the market in a few years, or that the potential is so large that even a trivial entry will mean success.
5. Project growth consistent with current premium startups
Companies that get investor attention usually double their revenue or more every year. Lower targets indicate a very conservative team, or challenges that have not been disclosed. Investors want to bet on someone with aggressive targets, and a demonstrated track record, if possible.
6. Clearly outline the breakeven point in your financial projections
Investors today are not interested in startups that don’t even plan to cover their own expenses for the first five years.
A reasonable breakeven point is two or three years out, which indicates an ability to manage your own show, and allows for investors to collect their own good return.
7. Split up funding requests so they kick in when milestones are met
Rather than ask for a million-dollar investment now to forestall future requests, it’s much more credible to ask only for what you need in the next year. That may translate to $200,000 now, with increments of $400,000 to follow every 18 months, based on specific milestones.
8. Prepare a detailed list of how you plan to spend investor dollars
Highest on your list of fund usage categories should be business scaling requirements, such as marketing, inventory building, and staffing.
Unattractive uses, from an investor standpoint, would include research and development, buying a building, or large salaries.
9. Define an exit strategy for investors
Investors have learned that simple buyouts of their share by owners often become major squeeze plays. They prefer an exit strategy, such as an IPO or an acquisition by an existing large industry player, with a valuation at that time of five multiples or more of your projected revenue.
10. Back up your financial projections with a simple financial model
No matter how good your projections appear, you should anticipate being asked questions by investors, such as what happens if your costs go up, growth slows, or the market explodes. With a simple Excel spreadsheet, you can answer these questions quickly and totally impress everyone.
Of course, financial projections don’t make reality, but they do force you to prepare. Don’t create a fairy tale for investors and hope that fast talk will protect you from probing and knowledgeable investors.
You have only one chance for a good first impression with investors, so do your homework first and put together a plan that would get all of us excited and optimistic.
Martin is a prolific writer and I’m a super fan of his. Every post has at least one new nugget of information that you can use. I recommend that you check it regularly. The preceding post appeared on his blog on March 13th, 2019 and was published originally on Inc.com.
