Why investors are the best consumers
By: Aditya Jaishankar
Tags: Investors, Start Up Companies, Consumer, Research, Insights

The pitching process to investors has been glorified within the startup ecosystem. The end objective is of course winning and convincing investors to invest in the business. While we constantly look at investors as a breed who need to be convinced and persuaded it is time to perhaps look at them from another perspective

Maybe a more simple human perspective.A perspective that will make time spent on the investment process even more fruitful and fulfilling irrespective of the result. Perhaps broaden the vision beyond just winning and losing.

Here are few points that can be considered

It’s not just about persuading an investor but also persuading a consumer

An investor is the best devil’s advocate

In certain product categories, especially the B2C ones the investor can step into the shoes of not just one consumer but several types of consumer and play the devil's advocate. The investor will ask questions like why should a parent pay a certain price for your app? What is so unique? Can you make it more flexible for the parent and kid to gain entry into your product or service?

This is rich feedback with suggestions that perhaps no amount of consumer research might give you? The reason is that the investor has tapped into his personal connection that he has with your product as a parent and has imagined how other parents who are his immediate connections would have reacted to the product, its convenience, price, the value it offers in a kid’s life etc etc

By virtue of evaluating products and services across categories, the investor can quickly think across categories and provides a multidimensional consumer perspective.

An investor can be the most creative consumer

We all know how user-generated ideas have captured the imagination of today’s marketeers. We all know that a lot of consumers when allowed to wear a creative hat can come up with ideas that leave even marketing and advertising folks in awe

When an investor is evaluating your brand it’s potential to scale up he sometimes puts on the lateral thinking hat and thinks of angles from a consumer perspective that can perhaps bring out a consumer opportunity that lies untapped

Gone is the age of just a USP ( Unique single-minded proposition) that was enough to make the product owner happy. Being constantly ahead of the curve is the name of the game. The only way to achieve that is to keep thinking of new opportunities rather than rest on the laurels of one BIG idea. Investors ask the right questions that sometimes naturally opens up a new discovery or an untapped product opportunity for your brand

An objective evaluator of the product experience

Once an investor joins hands with you there is objective feedback that goes into ensuring that over a period of time the product that is being built has a superlative experience, as nothing less than the best will do. Objective feedback on each dimension of the product can significantly impact the business

So let us look at every investor start-up meet as an opportunity to dig up a goldmine of insights and strategies that can helo a start pivot to it’s maximum potential in the future. Remember an investor can represent millions of consumers out there when he or she is talking to you. By listening to the voice of the investor you are perhaps soaking in diverse perspectives of consumers.

Let’s celebrate this process that is indeed enriching.