The minimum you should have in place before speaking to investors

Do not start raising investment if you are not ready. You will waste your time and investor’s time which will lead to missed opportunities.

As a minimum, you should have:

• The ability to convey your business in a clear and concise manner in just a few minutes.

• Something you can send across to an investor that conveys the business, the opportunity, and your vision: a pitch deck.

• A well-thought-out plan for how you will get to your next milestone

• How much capital you need and how you will spend it.

And these things will help too:

• Advance assurance for SEIS/EIS tax relief* (if applicable to your business)

• A financial forecast for the next 3-5 years

*These are government schemes that provide tax relief for UK investors and therefore make your investment opportunity more attractive. You can find more information on the SEIS or EIS schemes via the gov.uk website.

Data room
As your conversations with investors get more serious, it’s a good idea to create a ‘virtual data room’ i.e a secure Google drive or Dropbox folder with all of these documents and others you create/ investors ask you for all in one place for easy sharing.