See the World Through Investors’ Eyes

The key to succeeding with investors – both institutional and individual – is to understand how they think, process information, and make decisions, and then make it as easy as possible for them to reach a positive decision regarding your company.

All new investors progress through the same mental stages before they reach a positive investment decision.  To succeed with them, it is important to understand each stage of their process, and communicate with them in a way that maximizes the chance they will continue advancing to the next stage.  This will ultimately culminate in an investment in you and your company.

Stage One: Creating Curiosity
Investor Time Commitment: less than 10 seconds

The road to capital commitment begins with curiosity.  Each investor is constantly bombarded with “investment opportunity” messaging, most of which he or she doesn’t even notice, or immediately disregards as noise.  Once in a while, however, something grabs their attention.  In other words, they have become curious.

Stage Two: Curiosity -->Interest
Investor Time Commitment: 5-60 seconds

Once curious, an investor will usually spend just a few seconds deciding if they are interested in learning more.  During the curiosity stage, he or she will typically ask a few questions, such as “what does the company do?” or “what are the earnings and growth rate?”  If the answers to these questions resonate with what they are looking for, they will become interested in learning more.  The investor is now interested.

StreetContent presents the salient points of your company so investors can assess it very quickly and easily, thus translating their curiosity to interest.

Investors in this stage typically rely on the following to evaluate the opportunity your company represents:

• The front page of a corporate overview or research report
• Company description verbiage on the company website on in investor conference guide
• The content of an investor-outreach email or press release

Stage Three: Interest-->Serious Consideration
Investor Time Commitment: 5-20 minutes

Once you have sparked an investor’s interest, you have earned the right to tell them your story.  How you approach this is of paramount importance if you are to succeed at this stage.  The key here is holding and intensifying the investor’s interest throughout your presentation or a research report, right from the beginning, by first reiterating what got them interested in the first place, and then by backing it up with full information.  By approaching things this way, StreetContent keeps the investor engaged and interested as they build a real understanding of your company and why they should invest in it.  This is where we shine.

Investors in this stage typically rely on the following to evaluate the opportunity your company represents:

• Research report and valuation analysis
• Investor presentation
• Business plan
• Company website

Stage Four: Serious Consideration-->Investment
Investor Time Commitment: as much as needed

Each investor’s process will vary widely in stage four, which we broadly refer to as diligence.  In this stage, individual investors will often rely on their own research and the advice of trusted friends and advisors in making their go/no-go decision. Institutional investors are more likely to speak with management, customers, partners, and analysts, and then come to their decision independently based on their worldview and standard investment criteria.

StreetContent understands these four stages of the investor mentality, and facilitates your and your team’s success in stages two (Curiosity -->Interest) and three (Interest-->Serious Consideration).  In combination with your investor outreach efforts (which generate curiosity) and the direct efforts of you and your team (which secure investments), we maximize the results stemming from all investor-related activity.