- The Storyteller's Playbook
- Posts
- 5 Mistakes Killing The Vibes
Greetings, Chief Storytelling Officers.
I’m sharing the post I put out on LinkedIn yesterday as today’s newsletter. Why? Because it led to a ridiculous amount of inbound from VCs, PE firms, Investment Bankers, Family Offices, CEOs, and other investors sharing their support of the message. This message is focused on investor meetings but as many people realized, it is true for sales and many other communication situations.
-Robbie
5 Mistakes killing the vibes
5 mistakes that kill the vibes of an investor meeting...and your chances of success.
1. Weak power dynamics
When meeting with an investor they need to feel that you are their peer.
Coming into a meeting with too much deference or awe creates immediate red flags. That's because the founders or fund managers who can deliver results have a sense of confidence and conviction in themselves.
Present to investors like they are lucky to have this chance.
2. Rambling responses
When an investor hears rambling responses, two thoughts occur.
This person doesn't know what they're talking about.
This person isn't a clear thinker.
Which inevitably leads to... "this is a waste of time."
Prepare ahead of time by building your go-to answers and your set pieces to draw on for surprise questions.
3. No clear next steps
When an investor meets a founder or fund manager who takes control of how the process will play out, good things happen.
Why?
It lowers the cognitive load and demonstrates leadership. This type of leadership speaks highly of the ability to run the same type of process when recruiting, building partnerships, and selling to customers.
Plus great investors want to see a great close to show them that fundraising won't be an issue in the future.
4. Dominating the conversation...aka word vomit
When an investor meeting is dominated by the "pitcher" there's a sense of desperation.
Sell, sell, sell. That's what it comes across as and that's not a winning strategy. If you're having to sell, you aren't in demand.
Instead invite questions, ask questions of your own, and challenge the investor to demonstrate their thinking and value if they were to join your company.
5. All numbers and no story
There's no investment if there's no emotion.
Numbers are cold. Stories are warm. That's why the storytelling sets the frame for all the number discussions.
Not only that, but storytelling flows from great leaders.
Jobs
Bezos
Oprah
Blakely
Chesky
Numbers matter in that they support your story.
Fix these 5 mistakes and you will see your success rate massively improve.
I've seen hundreds of investor calls and seen clients raise nearly $700 million now.
Fix these and win big.
Resource of the week
What made the difference in a recent successful $15 million fundraise? It’s all covered in my YT video this week.
Wanting support with your capital raising or storytelling?
If you’re an early stage company looking to nail your fundraising story, check out Potential AI. Our ai will guide you through the exact process and then write your 3 minute founder origin story and 3 minute startup vision story.
If you’re raising at least 8m as a founder or 50m as a fund, apply to work with me here.
If you’re a leader in your company and you think that it’s time to write the perfect vision story (might be a new strategic narrative, might be for a major company wide keynote, might be for a huge product launch you have coming up), or if you want to see how storytelling can generate returns in your talent, marketing, and sales function, you can email me at [email protected].
If you’re looking to have me speak to your organization, leadership team, or at an event, email me at [email protected].