(This was my answer to a question on Quora)
Do all the things that make your startup a good investment case:
- Address a large problem or opportunity
- Have a great product/solution/service that addresses that opportunity
- Be knowledgeable about the domain … and business in general
- Be practical about the assumptions
If with all that you have, it appears that the business case will be strong, investors will be interested.
Also, most investors are unlikely to work with the fear about missing out on a good deal. Most are experienced enough to take a calm view of the opportunities… and if something slips out, so be it. Most will make good attempts to get to the good deals first, but everyone knows that they cannot get all the good deals and they are okay to miss out rather than jump in the race, just to beat someone else, to invest.
Most experienced investors are seasoned enough to be able to smell a good investment bet in the first few minutes of their presentation/meeting. (Good investment bet does NOT mean that the startup will be a winner… it just means that the investor is willing to invest because he/she sees a reasonable chance of this becoming a winner).
Likewise, most experienced investors are seasoned enough to smell a fake in the first few minutes of a presentation/meeting/interaction/news story. In any case, even if you are able to bluff them, there is a due-diligence process which will highlight any deviation from what you projected.
