Investor Relations

I attended some Initial Coin Offering (ICO) conferences recently and found that there are many interesting projects and brilliant ideas out there. But meanwhile, some projects and ideas are really similar or identical to others. You might feel that specific fields are too crowded. In that case, how do we know A company will outshine B, C, and D company in the end if they all provide us with the same or similar products and services?

We should put ourselves in the users’, investors’ and business owners’ shoes!

If I were a business owner and wanted to get funding for my company from investors, I may ask myself:

1. What are the three top things I should highlight to investors?
2. Besides the product, what else about the business will make it a good investment for investors?
3. What are the things that investors may be conscious of?

If I were an investor and want to find a company to invest in, I may want to understand is it a:

1. Good business model, management team(team dynamics, founders EQ and ability to execute on the business strategy) and low stock price.
2. Good intangible assets-brand, technology, management skills and relationship with government, etc.
3. Good industry trend, competitors and the market for the start-up’s products.

If I were a user and there are many similar products and services in the market. I may care about:

1. Product quality
2. Price
3. Brand

These are three basic factors that influence consumer behaviors.

Therefore, we need to deeply understand the relationship between users, founders, and shareholders. How do they influence each other? In order to buy a blue chip, investors should predict how the market predicts the real/intrinsic value of the company, and at the same time forecast how the real/intrinsic value of the company affects the market.

Nowadays, many people just buy stocks or tokens because of the low price and future appreciation. They don’t care about the business and if the ideas are feasible or not. They are more like speculators instead of investors. A good investor will pay more attention to the business itself and understand if users are willing and wanting to use the product or not. Let’s take an example, if we had a grain farm, how do we irrigate it and grow it before reaping a harvest? Will people truly eat grain in that region? What is the estimated annual grain consumption? There are lots of scenarios we need to go through and it’s all about customer retention and product optimization.