Can a business angel be a “development tool” for startups? How can strategic planning, an active network, and customer relationship management help your startup company’s growth? Stay with us, and through the article, you’ll find the answers.
But first of all, let’s see: What are business development tools? They are techniques and means to support you in achieving your business goals. Business development tools are as old as production, trade, and business are – the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Mesopotamians surely compete on who invented marketing and CRM (customer relations management of the time such as chitchatting with their clients on preferences, values…).
The benefit of using such tools is to utilise the expertise and practice offered without the need to re-invent the wheel. These solutions are especially helpful for startups with limited resources and expertise, and many of them are widely known to the public… but there are exceptions! We are offering to take a new look at the topic – a perspective of business angels.
Business angels (BA) are private investors who look out for talented startuppers with prospective ideas but usually with products and services not yet introduced to the market. Using the angel’s funds, expertise and network, the startupper has a much better chance of survival and flourishing. Based on that, we can already say – that a key business development tool is the involvement of an angel in the business!
To be more specific, we have to identify the key elements of BA activities. Apart from the financing, the BA helps by mentoring the startupper team. The most important business development tool is the strategy tool in business – strategical planning. So startup teams must ask themselves: What is the right approach and strategy for our product or service? What is our unique selling point? How replicable is it? Do we have all preconditions under control to produce/offer this product or service? Do we have an efficient production chain? Do we have the right team in house? A business angel can help to ask all these questions – typical issues raised at any pitching event – and the BA can also help to find the right answers with the expertise under their belt.
Another popular development tool for a startup is CRM – customer relations management. The emphasis here is not on automation or IT; rather, taking it literally – manage your relations with your buyers, create the opportunity for iterated feedback. Why exactly? Because products and services which are so close to the innovation phase need intense and valid customer feedback toallow for flexible modifications and improvements. First customers count as the demo group, as testing beds for the pilot of products/services. The term “user innovation” points to the innovation happening with the close involvement of end-users , building on co-creation, hoping for perfecting the products offered, so they definitively meet client expectations.
A further popular business development tool to highlight here, under the business angels’ expertise list, is networking. Whether it allows the startup team to meet further investors or to meet potential clients – is up to the given situation. The BA can be especially facilitative in matchmaking with B2B customers, bringing in established companies as potential buyers. Networking can also be useful in inviting further expertise needed for the innovation process, assisting the startup in navigating the local innovation ecosystem.
Instead of just summing up, we invite you to learn more about the business development tools offered by angels. Join Women/Business/Angels’ breakthrough training series in the framework of the WINGATE project. During the seven-session training course, you can learn about multiple topics from the innovation ecosystem through the investment procedure to mentoring. Start-ups can learn and grow through an angel that offers mentoring besides pure funds. The events – taking place on 3rd May, 7th June, 4th October, 8th November and 6th December 2022 at 6 PM CET, are available in person and online. We aim to answer the following questions:
- Who are the business angels, and what do they do? Why does it make sense to become an angel investor? How to manage risks and build your portfolio? Why join an angel investor group?
- What is an angel investment? What do we mean by due diligence? Why do angel investors work in syndicates? What makes a good exit?
- Why become an investor? What is your role in the value creation of a start-up? Where and how to find other investors to join forces with?
- Why become a mentor? What is your role in the value creation of a start-up? Where and how to find other mentors to join forces with?
- How to build a portfolio of mentoring and angel investments?
Participation in the training series is FREE of charge, but pre-registration is required. For each training session, you can book your place at the events created on the Meetup.com page, whether you want to participate live or online via Zoom. The Zoom link is provided on the Meetup event page: