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  Every day we read on social media, online magazines, and blogs about how startup founders receive huge funding from investors. And we kind of wonder how these founders are doing this, raising these huge amounts of money. We kind of wonder quite wonder what their secrets are. It is only in rare cases founders have the opportunity to meet investors on a one-on-one basis. The secret to these funding success stories is the perfect investor email pitch.
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It is not enough to email a potential investor. It all boils down to crafting the right email that can make any investor throw their money into your startup, or in popular parlance “back you.”  In this article, you shall learn how to craft the perfect investor email pitch and get that million-dollar backing you are looking for.  The first secret is to know the key ingredients. Every month, investors receive tons of emails. An investor is someone with money, fame, and success; hence, a lot of people are competing for his attention. This is why emailing an investor is not like your regular emailing to just anybody. There are key ingredients you must add to your email pitch. Let’s look at them below:

  • Use The Right Subject Line

A good email pitch must have a Subject Line. The Subject Line poses a lot of questions to the investor. When an investor sees your Subject Line what comes to his mind is “Should I open this?” There are bad examples of Subject Line. A lot of founders make the huge mistake of using a bad Subject Line. 

Some bad examples include:

  • “Investment Opportunity”: This Subject Line is meaningless, it looks like spam, hence you potential investor might ignore it.
  • “Your Company Name”: Except your brand is popular, this Subject Line is not helpful. 
  • “Earn a 5,000% Return!”: Any entrepreneur selling a “return” will only irritate an investor. Investing is more than returns. This Subject Line will turn off your potential investor.
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Several good examples can earn investors’ backing. 

Some examples of good Subject Line include:

    • “Friend of Iyin Aboyeji, Flutterwave Inc.”: This is why this tagline is better: You are making a personal connection. This will get the attention of the potential investor rather than going anonymous. 
  • “Flutterwave Inc. growing at 500% per month”: This Subject Line is good because it carries Traction. This sound like good news but you have to be careful, unless the traction is something the investor will understand. 
  • “Flutterwave Inc.: Africa’s Biggest International Payment Platform:” This Subject Line combines who you are and what you do. This might interest the investor if he is interested in FinTech and might lure him into opening the email. 
  • “Flutterwave Inc., Founded by ex-Access Bank CMO”: The investor may have no idea about Flutterwave, but he will certainly know Access Bank and would love to connect with the former Chief Marketing Officer of YouTube. 

  • Make Personal Connection

Making a personal connection will give the investor every reason to listen to you. A good introduction will make all the difference. Therefore, you should learn to send an email pitch with a thought-out connection. Sending a generic introduction can be counterproductive.  The best format to use is as follows: Use Their First Name, Reference a Friend, and Cite Their Background. 

A bad example of connection is seen below:

  • “Dear Mr. Investor, I have a business opportunity that you may be interested in…”
This is a very bad way to go. It is cold, boring, and impersonal. It looks like spam. And by reading this, any sensible investor will simply delete your mail. 

A good example of personal connection is seen below:

  • “Emeka, I noticed that we’re both friends with Charles Prince from the University of Lagos. 
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I’m in the process of launching a company called Flutterwave Inc. that provides inter-state payment services for businesses and individuals and saw that you were an early investor in Opay.”

  • Put Out Your Elevator Pitch

Your elevator pitch comes next. Your elevator pitch is the crux of your mail. It is the soul and heart of your email. After making a warm introduction, presenting your elevator pitch next is very ideal. Don’t spend time beating around the bush. Your elevation pitch must carry three points – the problem you solve, the solution you have created, and the market size your potential customers represent. 

A bad example of elevation pitch is seen below:

  • “My company is a big financial company where we meet the services of millions of customers.”
This copy is poor, bland, and will be very ineffective.

A bad example of elevation pitch is seen below:

  • “Flutterwave Inc. helps over 90 million African businesses avoid driving to traditional banks to carry out international financial transactions by directly offering international payment service through our software application.”
By using this type of pitch, the investor knows what you do; he also sees your social proof and as well knows that only a strong team can pull such a company that serves 90 million businesses Featured Image Source: FindThatLead Blog
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This article was first published on 29th June 2022

nnaemeka-emmanuel

Nnaemeka is an academic scholar with a degree in History and International Studies from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He is also a creative writer, content creator, storyteller, and social analyst.

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