How to attract investors

[Ghazi]

Hi Guys,

I've just started up and have a prototype and now I need someone to buy into my dream and help me along the journey.

Where is the best place to find investors? I need someone who will invest on an equity basis but also help me get my product onto the shelves? I've been thinking about crowd funding but I'd really like to put a face to the name and work with them.

 

[LowPrices.uk]

Go to some entrepreneur / startup events in London?

 

[Ghazi]

I've done that, went to the business show, The gadgetshow Live 2015 & entered in the Pitch top 100 but unfortunately didn't get through to the next round. I guess perseverance is the key

 

[Deleted member 226268]

What is it, what does it do ?

 

[Ghazi]

Its a new type of kitchen utensil. A new invention

 

[Forthehealthofitjourney]

I would thoroughly recommend that you attend business networking meetings that are within the sector you are looking to break into. You will find like minded inventors; which will be good to discuss experiences, investors to potentially pitch to, and a great environment for soaking up information.
And you are absolutely right, perseverance is key. The more you persevere the more you create a buzz about you and your product, and exposure is key to attracting the right type of investors and potential buyers.

 

[ethical PR]

What feedback did you get on why you didn't get through at Pitch 100? Have you got a costed business and marketing plan in place?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Perseverance is part of the key

You can add a lot of value to your perseverance by doing 2 things:

1. Concentrate on turning your product into a business proposition (nobody invests in ideas or dreams). Create a simple & effective business plan that concentrates on how the business will work (more than a sentence of product description is too much)

2. Focus you search on investors who have an interest in your product type or sector. Investors are bombarded with 'business plans' - be different by making yours concise, relevant and personalised.

 

[Funding for Communities]

You are one of thousands with new ideas/projects so you need to be honest with yourself and ask would you put money in to this product if someone brought it to you with your current sales pitch. If the answer is probably not change your pitch or ditch the idea and come up with another.

 

[Ghazi]

Wow thank you guys, every single bit of advice will be taken on board.

I would thoroughly recommend that you attend business networking meetings that are within the sector you are looking to break into. You will find like minded inventors; which will be good to discuss experiences, investors to potentially pitch to, and a great environment for soaking up information.
And you are absolutely right, perseverance is key. The more you persevere the more you create a buzz about you and your product, and exposure is key to attracting the right type of investors and potential buyers.

I think I would need to go to exhibitions where they showcase kitchen products but in terms of networking events where the likes of investors particular investing in kitchen products would be a difficult find. My research has led me to believe that investors these days are more interested in the social media and cloud/web based products. Whereas mine would be old school manufacture of a product which seems to be saturated at the moment. However my invention is niche and nothing on the market as of yet.

What feedback did you get on why you didn't get through at Pitch 100? Have you got a costed business and marketing plan in place?

I did ask them this question but unfortunately never received a reply. I provided a viable projected cash flow analysis and profit and loss with the company breaking even and making a profit by month 6 and end of year sales nearly touching half a million. These figures are plucked out of the air as a guesstimate to an extent with a low sales prediction but I have spoken to potential retailers with regards to what quantity they would order but they want the final production ready product before they can entertain any discussion. To get to that stage I need the investment for tooling

Perseverance is part of the key

You can add a lot of value to your perseverance by doing 2 things:

1. Concentrate on turning your product into a business proposition (nobody invests in ideas or dreams). Create a simple & effective business plan that concentrates on how the business will work (more than a sentence of product description is too much)

2. Focus you search on investors who have an interest in your product type or sector. Investors are bombarded with 'business plans' - be different by making yours concise, relevant and personalised.

With regards to this how does one do a market analysis/research to add to their business plan on a product which has never been introduced to the market?

You are one of thousands with new ideas/projects so you need to be honest with yourself and ask would you put money in to this product if someone brought it to you with your current sales pitch. If the answer is probably not change your pitch or ditch the idea and come up with another.

At present we're focusing on our sales pitch on the product itself and it's features. Is this not the right approach?

 

[fisicx]

So how much have you invested yourself?

And I'd suggest your prediction of 500,000 sale in a year are wildly optimistic. And if you don't have a patent on the product it will be copied and on the shelves in John Lewis within a few month of launch.

And investors will want to see what other products you have in the pipeline, one utensil for the kitchen isn't going to sustain your business.

 

[Mark T Jones]

With regards to this how does one do a market analysis/research to add to their business plan on a product which has never been introduced to the market?



At present we're focusing on our sales pitch on the product itself and it's features. Is this not the right approach?

If possible, a great way to get started is to manufacture small batches and and create limited sales avenues.
Alternatively, good, professional market research is the answer (don't just ask your mates!) - investing in quality research could save you a fortune in time and development costs.

No, the only possible chance that someone will invest in a product idea is if they already own an outlet or process - which is effectively zero% of investors!

You must present a business proposition.
If you PM me, I will be happy to send our free guide to a concise & effective business plan

 

[Ghazi]

So how much have you invested yourself?

And I'd suggest your prediction of 500,000 sale in a year are wildly optimistic. And if you don't have a patent on the product it will be copied and on the shelves in John Lewis within a few month of launch.

And investors will want to see what other products you have in the pipeline, one utensil for the kitchen isn't going to sustain your business.

OK well I do have a patent pending in place for my product so i'll just reveal what it is.

Myself and two others have created the heated butter knife. At the touch of a button it heats up instantly, at the same time we've invented the heated ice cream scoop too. Which allows for ice cream scoop to be scooped with minimal effort.

I showcased this at the GadgetShow Live 2015 and we had crowds queuing to see the product and people trying to place orders down for it.

I've other products too in the pipeline but can't reveal as there's no protection place for them as of yet. I've spent a lot of money on prototyping and thousands on protection with an IP lawyer.

 

[Ghazi]

If possible, a great way to get started is to manufacture small batches and and create limited sales avenues.
Alternatively, good, professional market research is the answer (don't just ask your mates!) - investing in quality research could save you a fortune in time and development costs.

No, the only possible chance that someone will invest in a product idea is if they already own an outlet or process - which is effectively zero% of investors!

You must present a business proposition.
If you PM me, I will be happy to send our free guide to a concise & effective business plan

I need to hit 30 posts before I can send a PM. would you be able to email to info(at)easispread.com

Thanks for all your help. Perhaps I should start some sort of journal for others to follow if I ever get to the market?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Sent it!

 

[john1989]

You've spent thousands trying to patent a 'heated butter knife'???

I have just Googled 'heated butter knife' and it would seem you haven't invented anything.
http://www.selfridges.com/GB/en/cat/auteur-self-heated-butter-knife_306-3001904-SPR22B/?cm_mmc=PLA-_-Google-_-HomeTech-_-AUTEUR&ci_src=18615224&ci_sku=55035378&_$ja=tsid:35948|cid:198904654|agid:10886005174|tid:kwd-74889046894|crid:40397350174|nw:g|rnd:16524670841209807423|dvc:c|adp:1o3&gclid=CMrI3Lfq9sgCFUccGwod5x0IRA

Anyway, I'm off to finish off my new kitchen utensil ... it will cook bread. I'm thinking of calling it a toaster.

 

[Shopclicks]

I have just Googled 'heated butter knife' and it would seem you haven't invented anything.

A completely different item from what I can see and from what the OP has written. I suspect one will work and the other won't.

 

[Ghazi]

You've spent thousands trying to patent a 'heated butter knife'???

I have just Googled 'heated butter knife' and it would seem you haven't invented anything.

Anyway, I'm off to finish off my new kitchen utensil ... it will cook bread. I'm thinking of calling it a toaster.

This is a self heated butter knife transferring heat from your hand to the blade. Mine uses batteries and is instantaneous.

Enjoy your bread

 

[john1989]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...-knife-spread-cold-butter-straight-bread.html

 

[Ghazi]

Mine is instantaneous and doesn't require 30 seconds to heat up. This never got to market either.

 

[fisicx]

So people at a gadget show wanted to buy your product. That doesn't translate to being a success. You were demonstrating to the sort of people who would buy a sponge sharpener if it looked pretty.

 

[brandy11112]

you can show your products on crowdfunding platforms,maybe will be popular

 

[Ghazi]

Agreed! But I had Ebuyer and Qwerkitty.com approach the stand asking me to contact them when I'm ready to sell. Also had the MD of a world wide kitchen utensil company wanting to discuss things further but looking at their business model it didn't suit mine as looking at their product line they didn't have any independent branded products. Definitely worth a discussion though, again when the final tangible product is to hand.

 

[NathanJ]

Ghazi, if you feel you have something (although it looks like variants of are already out there in the market place), then get a short business plan together.

Go and get some leverage on the product. If you have a few prototypes, get them out into the market and with buyers or people associated with buying. Hundreds of them on LinkedIn.

You have to put yourself into the shoes of an investor. What do they want to see? Well, ideally some traction that there's actual interest in the product. A letter of intent from a major retailer, perhaps? Give them something tangible to give them the confidence to put their hard earned cash into this.

You have an awful lot of work to do right now in order to put yourself in to a position to go out and get whatever investment you need on the product.

 

[Deleted member 226268]

Problem is ...You will not obtain any full patents for these ideas.
or even a provisional patent ( worth having )
The two ideas have been thought of before, and have been out on the market place for years.
No Patent = no serious investors.
Even the Chinese have not bothered flooding Ebay with these,
they can see that there is no real market for them.

Why don't you develop a hand held butter applicator, like a small photo scanner, that will butter
a slice of bread evenly ?

 

[Pish_Pash]

Patents don't really mean much unless you are prepared to get the legal profession involved to enforce them (which requires very, VERY deep pockets). Also patents are regional, so your UK patent stands for bo diddley in the USA..which means you'd have to get a patent over there to, same with Australia etc, etc.

In short, a patent won't protect you from being ripped off unless you have a legal team like Apple's (& since you are asking for a modest amount of money, I'm guessing you haven't got a huge legal team behind you)

From a techie point of view, I'd be curious to know how you achieved instant heat up (when you say other prior products took 30 seconds)...instant heat would require a fair amount of current....how many watts is your heating element, is it battery powered....is it dishwasher proof? (I've invented a couple of gadgets myself...so I do like to look at things from a technical perspective....I'm a closet geek in fact)

 

[Mark T Jones]

Problem is ...You will not obtain any full patents for these ideas.
or even a provisional patent ( worth having )
The two ideas have been thought of before, and have been out on the market place for years.
No Patent = no serious investors.
Even the Chinese have not bothered flooding Ebay with these,
they can see that there is no real market for them.

Why don't you develop a hand held butter applicator, like a small photo scanner, that will butter
a slice of bread evenly ?

Patents relate to technologies and processes not to ideas

A patent is by no means critical - a market is

The fact that selfridges sell something similar would suggest that there is a market - though a lot more digging is needed

 

[Deleted member 226268]

Patents relate to technologies and processes not to ideas

A patent is by no means critical - a market is

The fact that selfridges sell something similar would suggest that there is a market - though a lot more digging is needed

A patent of some sort is indeed critical in this case.
To ensure some funding.
The OP is looking for an investor, to fund production costs, etc.

No investor is going to invest in any product development and marketing costs
if it does not have at least some protection / rights that he can claim ownership of.
There may be a market for the idea, but it will not get that far without some investment.

.

 

[Deleted member 226268]

Patents relate to technologies and processes not to ideas

A patent is by no means critical - a market is

The fact that selfridges sell something similar would suggest that there is a market - though a lot more digging is needed

A patent of some sort is indeed critical in this case.
To ensure some funding.
The OP is looking for an investor, to fund production costs, etc.

No investor is going to invest in any product development and marketing costs
if it does not have at least some protection / rights that he can claim ownership of.
There may be a market for the idea, but it will not get that far without some investment.

.

 

[Mark T Jones]

A patent of some sort is indeed critical in this case.
To ensure some funding.
The OP is looking for an investor, to fund production costs, etc.

No investor is going to invest in any product development and marketing costs
if it does not have at least some protection / rights that he can claim ownership of.
There may be a market for the idea, but it will not get that far without some investment.

.

I agree that an investor won't be coughing up for development costs without a clear outcome )ie route to market)

 

[Mark T Jones]

A patent of some sort is indeed critical in this case.
To ensure some funding.
The OP is looking for an investor, to fund production costs, etc.

No investor is going to invest in any product development and marketing costs
if it does not have at least some protection / rights that he can claim ownership of.
There may be a market for the idea, but it will not get that far without some investment.

.

I agree that an investor won't be coughing up for development costs without a clear outcome (ie route to market) - but I do believe the patent thing is muddying the water - Investors will invest in unpatented products if there is a defined market, they won't invest - with or without a patent - in 'hobby development'

This is why I really advise the OP to take of his inventor hat and look for a marketing hat

 

[Roenal]

I would recommend to write a financial plan / financial projection before attending shows or networking events. This ensures that you not only know your product better but also the commercial market which is very attractive for investors.

Good luck
S.

 

[AnthonyP]

The UK is a great place to find investors... If you can come up with a good business plan and you are able to present it to the right people it shouldn't be impossible to find the money. There are some posts that talk about this in this website; smartfinance.com take a look at it and maybe you can find some answers, Good luck mate

 

[ethical PR]

The UK is a great place to find investors... If you can come up with a good business plan and you are able to present it to the right people it shouldn't be impossible to find the money. There are some posts that talk about this in this website; smartfinance.com take a look at it and maybe you can find some answers, Good luck mate

Just because you have a good business plan doesn't mean you will find funding. Saying otherwise is misleading. If you are going to direct people to a website you work for then declare an interest.

 

[Chris Ashdown]

I think you have it all wrong its not investors you need but to licence production to a company like (cannot remember the name) but they produce a small A5 broucher sent out in the post with hundreds of kitchen items in a similar field.

They would have the capital to make and the marketing skills to sell in numbers and just pay you a commission on each item sold