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How to Engage Investors to Fund Your Startup with John Livesay

As a funding strategist, John Livesay helps Tech CEOs craft a compelling pitch that engages investors to fund their startup. He hosts The Successful Pitch podcast with investors from around the world. He won salesperson of the year during his 15 year career at Conde Nast.

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Resources Mentioned:

  • Your Big Idea: Successful Entrepreneurs have One Big Idea. Follow JLD’s FREE training & you’ll discover Your Big Idea in less than an hour!
  • Audible – Get a FREE Audiobook & 30 day trial if you’re not currently a member!
  • JohnLeeDumas on Snapchat
  • Disrupt You – the book that led to John’s ah-ha moment
  • Trello – John’s favorite resource
  • How to Be a Power Connector – A book recommendation by John’s business partner
  • Yeti mic – What John uses for his show
  • SellingSecretsForFunding.com/fire – Free PDF from John (Sorry! This link was active when this episode was first published in 2016. This resource is no longer available.)
  • The Successful Pitch Book Trailer
  • The Successful Pitch – John’s Book

3 Key Points:

  1. Invest in yourself and your business.
  2. Give your customers true value, and the success will come right to you.
  3. When you are starting a business, be confident but not arrogant.

Sponsors

  • DesignCrowd: Post your design project on DesignCrowd today and get a special $100 VIP offer! Visit DesignCrowd.com/fire and enter the discount code FIRE when posting your project!
  • ZipRecruiter: Looking for quality candidates to help you grow your business? Find out today why ZipRecruiter has been used by over 1 million businesses (including EOFire)!

Time Stamped Show Notes:

(click the time stamp to jump directly to that point in the episode.)

  • [01:00] – John lives in Los Angeles with his King Charles Cavalier.
  • [01:09] – He is passionate about photography.
  • [01:41] – How do you generate revenue in your business? – He and his partner have cracked the funding code through Facebook ads.
    • [02:31] – He has an incredible funnel for his business.
  • [03:03] — Worst Entrepreneurial Moment: The Pitch Whisperer – two years ago.
    • [03:45] – He had seventy people in a row reject his business.
    • [04:05] – Founders wanted to get introduced to the right investors.
    • [04:28] – He launched The Successful Pitch to meet with investors.
    • [04:57] – His second interviewee offered to go into business with him.
    • [05:25] – Start giving out content, and all you need is some luck.
  • [06:10] – What’s one thing that you want people to get from your story? – Listen to your prospects.
    • [06:31] – Collaborate with somebody who has contacts and a different skill set.
    • [06:48] – Invest in yourself.
  • [7:24] – Entrepreneurial AH-HA Moment: It came with his business partner, Judy Robinett, when she read Disrupt You
    • [07:55] – He had the idea to host a private Facebook group for the investors on his podcast.
    • [08:07] – He has had investors coming to him because they want to be in the group.
  • [8:44] — What’s one thing that you want people to get from your AH-HA moment? Look at your resources.
    • [09:04] – Give your customers value.
    • [09:25] – “Look for those win-wins.”
  • [09:54] –Biggest weakness? – Hates accounting
  • [10:14] – Biggest strength? – He’s a storyteller and he teaches other people to be storytellers.
  • [10:30]– What has John most fired up today? – His new book, The Successful Pitch, comes out next month.
  • [11:08] – What are some points from the book that are valuable? – You have to be a storyteller.
    • [11:23] – “Investors invest in the jockey, not the horse.”
    • [11:56] – You can’t think that you have no competition.
    • [12:08] – Be confident but not arrogant.
    • [12:25] – Taking one man’s lessons from the Amazon jungle into his business.
  • [15:21] – The Lightning Round
    • What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur? –Fear of rejection, failure, and the unknown.
    • What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received? –Keep going until you get a zombie idea so great it won’t die. (from the author of Disrupt You)
    • What’s a personal habit that contributes to your success? – Scheduling breaks throughout the day.
    • Share an internet resource, like Evernote, with Fire Nation –Trello
    • If you could recommend one book to our listeners, what would it be and why? – How to Be a Power Connector
    • Imagine you woke up in a brand new world, and all you have is a laptop and $500. What would you do in the next 7 days? – I would buy a Yeti mic and start creating my own content.
    • Parting piece of advice –The key to success is confidence, and the key to confidence is preparation, so don’t wing it in front of people who can invest in you.
  • [19:38] – SellingSecretsForFunding.com/fire for a free PDF (Sorry! This link was active when this episode was first published in 2016. This resource is no longer available.)
  • [19:45] – john@johnlivesay.com

Killer Resources!

1) The Common Path to Uncommon Success: JLD’s 1st traditionally published book! Over 3000 interviews with the world’s most successful Entrepreneurs compiled into a 17-step roadmap to financial freedom and fulfillment!

2) Free Podcast Course: Learn from JLD how to create and launch your podcast!

3) Podcasters’ Paradise: The #1 podcasting community in the world!

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