Getting funding for a new startup has been proven to be extremely difficult. For one, people are not yet sure of your business idea or your business model. Due to that, you could encounter a lot of skeptics when you are looking for early-stage funding for your new startup. Thankfully, there are some tools that will help make your journey to finding early stage funding a little bit easier. Here are 8 tools that you can use to help you find early stage startup funding.
Tools That Will Help You Find Early Stage Funding
Crunchbase
Crunchbase is an amazing platform for small startups to start searching for early stage funding. It is a platform that allows users to search for information about companies, schools, investors, funding rounds, people, and other important information. To start using the platform to look for early stage funding, filter the investors on the platform to see the ones who are looking to invest in early stage startups.
See More: 12 Free Growth Hacking Tools For Entrepreneurs And Startups To Achieve Growth
Beautiful.ai
To get early stage startup funding, you need to create pitch decks that convince investors to put their hard-earned money in your company. A pitch deck is a presentation that showcases your company in such a way that investors are happy to put their money in your company. Beautiful.ai is a platform that allows startups to create eye-catching presentations to pitch to potential investors. Simply put, if you want investors to take your pitch seriously, you should strongly consider making use of beautiful.ai
See Also: 7 Funding Mistakes That Startups And Entrepreneurs Should Avoid
They have a lot of pitch templates that you can start with as you look to create your first pitch deck. As you get more comfortable with the platform, you can learn how to create yours from scratch. Beautiful.ai is free for individuals but starts at $12 for a “basic” account.
Rocketreach
Rocketreach is an amazing tool that you can use to find the contact information of popular angel investors, early stage investors, and other popular people that are important to you. With Rocketreach, you can always find professional contacts of early stage investors that are looking for companies like yours. Additionally, the company boasts a 98% accuracy rate, which makes it a very valuable tool to have. An essential plan on the platform starts at $49, while a pro account goes for $99 and an ultimate account goes for $249 per month.
After getting the contacts, engage the investors with either a cold call or a cold email preferably, and if your pitch is right, they might consider you!
See Also: Small Business Startup Checklist
Twitter is often overlooked as a tool for sourcing funds for business, but it is a goldmine waiting to be explored. Many early stage startup investors are on Twitter, and because of the nature of their business, a lot of them have their direct messages open. Follow investors, set up a meeting, and pitch to them- those are some things you can achieve with Twitter.
LinkedIn is a little different from other tools that I have mentioned in this post. It is best used as a tool to find early stage funding after you have identified the investors you want to pitch to. After identifying them, search for them on LinkedIn to see if you have any mutual connections that can introduce you to them. if you don’t it might be the right time to make some meaningful connections.
EquityNet
Are you looking for a network of investors that you can pitch to for early stage funding? Then you should consider EquityNet. EquityNet is a marketplace finance platform that has helped provide a platform where entrepreneurs have raised over $500 million in funding. The platform also provides innovative solutions where startups can tune up their pitches and research investors before submitting pitches. It also allows investors to research startups properly before committing their money to invest.
See Also: 20 Small Business Startup Ideas For Entrepreneurs
Conclusion
Finding early stage funding is a truly difficult thing to do. This is because the investors who are looking to put their money in seed stage startups are few. However, with the tools we have compiled in this list, you should be well placed to attract early stage funding.
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