Infallible Investor

So last week I was reading this article. I could connect with the trials and tribulations that the lady was put through, only to come out with nothing much of substance at the end of the process. It may sound funny, when you read the article but the truth of the matter is that the fault lies completely with the entrepreneur.

One thing that every entrepreneur has to understand is that every "Investor is human” and fundamentally every "Human makes mistakes”. Investors are not infallible, they are just as much capable of making mistakes.

Most seasoned investors, even if they have been entrepreneurs at some point in time, are usually dealing with legal papers and excel sheets. They have an extremely good top level view, which pertains to, if a sector is interesting or not. They also might be able to tell, if a channel is worth pursuing or not; simply because of the number of businesses that they have seen and the amount of experience that they have accumulated. No investor is dealing with customers on a day to day basis and hence they may not have a clear idea about the customer behaviour and the exact strategy that may work for the business. If they did, the entrepreneur would not be required.

The key to all entrepreneurial success is: Conviction and belief in the ideas. Conviction leads to perseverance and execution and that, at the end of the day is a key ingredient to business success.

As a person with conviction and belief, the entrepreneur is the person meeting potential customer and dealing with day to day running of the business. This means that the entrepreneur is obviously going to have better understanding of the market and the niche that he/she is appealing to. The entrepreneur will also have some idea about the steps that need to be taken to move past this niche and appeal to the larger market. If you have conviction and belief as an entrepreneur, stand up for it. Tell the investor, look this is how it is going to work. This is my business plan.

"If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything"

An investor is seeking confidence. Nobody wants to invest in a person that is going to fall for anything. This just means that the person is willing to sacrifice their judgement in order to appease the investor. What if the investor is wrong?

Always keep in mind, nobody is infallible.

As an entrepreneur:

Know your business.

Take a stand.

You may be wrong, if you are you will have to clean up your own mess.

The investor may be wrong, if he/she is you will be left cleaning a mess that you did not create.

The investor is only motivated by growth and your confidence in that growth.