"Raja, how can I sell on LinkedIn?" & Understand The Investor/VC Game Before Raising Money
“Raja, how can I sell on LinkedIn?”
Well… The more you try to sell on LinkedIn, the less you will.
LinkedIn is not about hard selling.
It´s about social selling:
Giving, before asking
Trust building
Being remembered
And these things just take time.
How can you start?
Master content writing technics.
Learn how to build an engaged community.
Understand your audience.
Give them what they are seeking.
On social media, people expect you to be social and to show up.
Allow the audience to take their time to:
Evaluate you.
Get to know you.
Trust you.
Once you have done that, opportunities will come your way, instead of you chasing them.
Want to learn how to attract the right audience and build your personal brand?
→ The Next LinkedIn Scale Up Program starts at the end of May 🚀 to help you attract the right clients, users, community and investors, if that´s your goal! LinkedIn is a goldmine. Make the most of it.
👉 Reply to this email 'curious' for details.
Words from a past participant in my LinkedIn Scale Up Program👇
Other relevant content 👇
Understanding Investors and VCs to optimise your fundraising 👌
I am an investor in 80+ companies directly and indirectly (via VC funds and accelerators); I sit on the investment committee of a Swedish VC; I am on the board of the Norwegian Business Angel Association; and I prefer to bootstrap my own companies and help founders build profitable businesses that don´t need investors.
Why?
Because most investors, accelerators and VCs don´t have your interest in mind.
They can´t. They have their own interest in mind. Their investors´ interests. Which can conflict with yours…
I meet many founders who try to buyback investors and accelerators who invested in them early on.
But that´s not so easy to do and costs time and legal fees.
Once you raised money you are no longer the solo captain on the boat.
You have to report to investors. You have a responsibility towards them.
Your new investors will most likely ask for a board position (as they should), you have legal obligations towards your shareholders and you have to deliver on a 10x - 100x growth.
Why?
That´s what they are looking for.
How come?
Because they want to make money and promised their OWN investors that kind of growth.
If we just talk about accelerators and VCs (cause angel investors invest their own money), they are just like founders, they go to investors to raise money to be able to continue surviving.
To be able to stay in business, they need to show that their past startup investments have been giving a juicy return on investment to their investors.
Can you deliver a 10-100x to make sure they make their investors happy? You will have to.
Can you achieve that? At which cost? Family? Personal life? Health? Mental health?
I would rather not raise money than raise money, lose my freedom, slow down the decision-making process, and end up with investors who are passive (or even nocive).
There is a reason why I help founders find ways to bootstrap, attract clients, and grow their business independently from investors, for example thanks to LinkedIn 🙏.
Of course, let's not put everyone in the same basket. But don't forget that investing is a business; accelerators and VCs have a business to run and stakeholders to report to.
The product accelerators and VCs sell is 👉 YOU.
Another reason why when you get rejected by them, don´t take it personally, maybe your business and its potential simply does not match what they promised their own investors.
And if you still need to raise money from investors:
Take time to know them and how they work.
Ask about their expectations.
Ask about their investment thesis. They have one.
Profile them. Pick those who understand your industry and can contribute with a network and expertise.
Until next time,
Raja Skogland