By: Maria Brown
In an entertaining corollary to the TV Show, Martin Zwilling posted “6 Tips for Entrepreneurs Who Think They Can Dance,” on the website GUST. What is Gust? It’s a place where entrepreneurs can enroll and describe their business idea, and where angel investors from around the world search for promising investment opportunities. It’s sort of a Match.com for startups and investors!
The first step for an entrepreneur is to set up your company profile on Gust. As the web site states, “Your Gust startup profile contains the information investors want to know. Taking the time to complete it in a professional way will help you articulate your venture effectively to investors.” There is no fee charged to entrepreneurs to use the site.
Gust offers users a number of resources, including a video library with investors’ tips; educational blog posts; industry and startup data; and resources for investors as well.
Gust enrolls investors who are accredited to connect them to other investors and startups. Investors explore company profiles on Gust to find investment opportunities that match their interests. There are 36 business categories, allowing investors to target the types of companies they are interested in funding. Over the last 12 months, more than 1,800 startups have been funded through Gust.
In the Gust blog post mentioned above, Zwilling offers helpful info to startups preparing for investor presentations, such as:
- Investors evaluate you as a person before they evaluate what you’re pitching;
- Don’t try to “wow” investors with jokes;
- Adapt your pitch to the investors in front of you;In business, it’s better to be over-dressed than under-dressed;
- Practice your pitch!
Read the rest of Zwilling’s advice here. To learn more about Gust, visit their site or check out this New York Times article.
Adapted from an article by Maria Brown, SoMNSourceLink – a proud affiliate of U.S.SourceLink, America’s largest resource network for entrepreneurs.
