News broke on Monday that web-building platform Placester raised a $2.5 million seed round, led by Romulus Capital, along with financing from David Anderson, David Cohen and Angel Street Capital, among other angels. The company will expand its online marketing offering throughout the US, according to reports.
Geared toward real estate agents, brokers and home owners, Placester offers a platform where realtors can create maintenance-free websites within minutes. It’s customization options, mobile-compatibility and search engine optimization (SEO) options is what keeps those in the real estate industry coming back to the platform.
With Placester co-founder Frederick Townes speaking on Black Enterprise’s Tech Start-UP Fast Track: Launch Code S.U.C.C.E.S.S. panel at the Entrepreneurs Conference on Thursday, May 16, the savvy entrepreneur outlined some pitching dos and don’ts (which he’ll talk more about during his panel session):
DO ask for advice. Don’t
ask for money. Finding money is not easy, but it is a lot harder when you’re looking for it. Develop good relationships where you can ask investors their opinion on things as you try to figure out your product market fit or whatever your current challenge is.DON’T try to obfuscate reality. Make sure that you make things clear when pitching.
DO your homework. At early stages make sure you are building something that people will actually want to part with money to use.
DON’T assume that investors understand your market. You want to tell a story and you want to make sure the investor has the context to understand why your story is compelling. Assuming is a huge mistake.
DO talk to customers and investors. But do your due diligence so that when you go get advice or feedback from customers or investors it looks like you understand the problem that you are solving.
DON’T stop! It is one of the biggest things that people don’t seem to understand. There are various businesses from various sizes with remarkable ideas. If they had stopped the world would be a different place. As long as you’re learning and listening, whatever you’re doing can only get better if you don’t stop.