The first minute of your (investor) meeting…
The first minute of your meeting with a potential investor, partner or mentor is all you have to make him/her decide if they want to continue listening to you. Make it count.
Just like you, your startup has many facets, qualities and attractive sides. Unfortunately, in our attempt to sell, we tend to go overboard with stating all of them, actually, rambling on and on about them. But that’s not how you get anyone’s attention.
Here’s my list of things you need to say and not say in your introduction to someone you want to get into business with, whether you are in a crowded room or in a face-to-face meeting. And this is just for the introduction, the first 30–60 seconds of your conversation. The rest is a different ball game.
- Pick 1–3 facets of your business idea that you think are amazing. No more. But, if explaining three facets is going to take more than 30 seconds, reduce the count until you can introduce yourself in that little time.
- Don’t show-off and be subtle about it. No one likes a show-off.
- Don’t use superlatives unless they are justified. I personally don’t like using superlatives like, ‘best’, ‘first’, ‘biggest’, ‘fastest’, ‘coolest’, etc. Because 99.999999% of the times, the people and companies who use them are not any of it.
- Don’t use words like ‘revolutionize’, ‘disrupt’, ‘transform’, ‘change the game’. We all know that these mean nothing. You may perhaps, one day, do such things but it’s not today and most likely not in the next 6–12 months.
- Use words like ‘attempt’, if you must make a grand statement. Like, ‘we are attempting to transform the experience people have while using a toothbrush.’
- Don’t be desperate. It will show.
- Be dressed for the occasion. The first impression matters. Please get into the habit of grooming yourself, if you don’t do it already.
- There’s a lot that goes into your introduction. It’s just not the words, but also your tone, your style and your mannerisms while you speak. Practice all of them. At least seven times, before you approach the person.
- Smile, you goddamn freak! Smile as you say ‘hello’! And make eye contact as you say ‘hello’ and shake people’s hands. Don’t look at any other body part (no matter how attractive or distracting it may be) or other parts of the room as you shake hands. (You can’t imagine the number of times, I have noticed people stare or look at the wrong things while introducing themselves.)
- Remember, 30 seconds is all you’ve got. So, don’t talk about the weather for 10. Platitudes can also wait. Just be courteous in your hello and get to the point.
- If you’ve been given time and a slot, make sure you are ready to start on time. DO NOT EVER COME LATE TO A MEETING. Arriving early to the meeting allows you to wipe your sweaty brow, take a few breaths, have a glass of water and even brush that hat-hair caused by your motorcycle helmet. Not to mention, it allows you to double check your presentation, documents and compose your speech.
- DO NOT, open up your laptop and fire up your presentation in the first few seconds. You just do not have the time and the other person, the patience. If you have a presentation to show, if the other person(s) is interested, ask if they would like to see your presentation or artifacts. If they say yes, then do so quickly. Make sure your laptop/device is on sleep (so that it wakes up faster), the presentation already open and ready to go at a push of a button — this is what you do when you come ten minutes early. Keep the presentation ‘red button’ ready…
- Do not sit, unless, asked to. This seems like a stupid thing, but there are a few psychological sub-conscious elements that come into play. The first: it placates the other person’s ego by making them feel they are in-charge and second, by asking you to sit, they are doing something nice, which releases feel-good chemicals in the brain that get them in a better mood.
- If you the types, who loves wasting money and doling out your business card, hold on to doing so till the end of the meeting. Keep your business cards on the table, but don’t distribute them. This way, you’ll know if its worth wasting your money of the person and if they have mentally made up their mind that this is worth pursuing (by the end of the meeting), giving them a card then kind of re-affirms their need to contact you. And if you just take your cards and put them back in your pocket, you can subtly hint that you did not think the meeting was worth your time, without showing it on your face or saying the words.
Bottomline
If you want to have a relationship with this person, you have to put in effort to impress and attract the other person(s). The first minute or two are crucial as that’s when people decide and judge if they want to speak to you some more and meet you again. Be prepared and follow the tips above and you should be fine. And, get rid of that spinach piece stuck to your front tooth!
