This article presents a summary of perspectives gathered from professional blog posts on investments, investors and you (the entrepreneur). Of course whenever you hear about the subject of investing, one name comes to mind – Warren Buffet.

Based on my observations over years I’ve found that many Nigerian bloggers and/or writers seldom write or blog about investors and investments. Well, maybe I haven’t searched enough. Probably! But whenever I type the word “investor” on Google, American articles pop out on search. I am not very surprised though after all many of our Nigerian bloggers are busy sharing gossips and fake news on the net.

Many are busy either talking about, “how a man stole from a small girl going school” or “that you should never answer a call from a certain number that calls people and after few minutes of the call, the victims die or something terrible will happen to them”.

To explore this further, I thought it might be interesting to gather the perspectives of professional investors guide from blogs that have made incredible remarks on meeting the right investors for your new business. Many of the traits I found that entrepreneurs can diligently work on and improve themselves are given below.

Arie Abecassis said; “Some investors look for opportunities where an entrepreneur is trying to solve a personal problem. ‘I like entrepreneurs who decided to solve a pain point that affected them personally’, says Vasu Kulkarni, Courtside Ventures. “The conviction to solve a problem is always stronger when you are passionate about it, and generally that tends to stem from issues that you can relate to personally.

Katherine Barr affirmed; “We invest in entrepreneurs who can see a path to disrupting large markets that most of the rest of the world doesn’t see.” I strongly believe that focus, passion and deep engagement to a vision are critical elements of effective innovation and company building.

CONFIDENCE

Confidence is a crucial building block in a successful career, and embracing it fully will take you places you never thought possible. With proper guidance and hard work, anyone can become more confident. Once you pass a certain point, you’ll feel it from the inside. Entrepreneurs must be unreasonable in order to dismiss the status quo and create novel solutions. However, an irrational lack of reasonableness will sabotage an entrepreneur’s efforts, writes John Greathouse of businessinsider.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” George Bernard Shaw

CURIOSITY

Matt Hartman, says “we invest in people building products that are fundamentally about new consumer behaviors. In these types of products, it’s critical to be curious about how and why new behaviors emerge.” Success will mean different things to different people. Some entrepreneurs want to build a lifestyle or a self-sustaining business without ever raising money, some are happy with smaller outcomes, and others want to really swing for the fences and aim to build a business that grows relatively quickly. There is nothing wrong with any of these possible paths says Katherine Barr, but know which one best suits you and only raise venture capital if you are truly going to swing for the fences against a large market opportunity.

An important part of being innovative is thinking about the “what ifs” of a business. Being reactive and responsive is important but it should be blended with a proactive approach to identifying and solving problems. This requires a level of curiosity which can save time and money. It is no coincidence that as businesses evolve and go from one stage to the next, so does the development of their founders and leadership team.

CONVICTION

“A man of conviction is often more to be desired than a man of experience.”
Curt Siodmak

Entrepreneurs invariably face a variety of Dream Killers. Unreasonable entrepreneurs make enemies, cause waves and generally disrupt conventional norms. Such behavior disturbs most people, especially those who have something to lose. Be fully convinced about your business, your brand and in your capabilities to grow the business. What you are not convinced about, you cannot build. Investors engage with entrepreneurs who are convinced their business is rock solid.

Source>> http://www.youngleadersarena.com/leadership/investors/