Speaker 1: (00:01)
Hello and welcome to season eight of How to Start Up a podcast for anyone starting a company hosted by me, Juliet Valleyfield, founder of pr, communications and podcast consultancy, Valleyfield and Mason. Approaching and meeting investors can be one of the most daunting aspects when growing a company. Knowing where to find the right ones to crafting your elevator pitch. There is a lot to consider
Speaker 1: (00:57)
In this episode. I speak with Francesca Smith, founder of Frankie's, a membership for business women that helps them connect, collaborate, engage with finance. As an experienced strategic financial planner, Francesca is passionate about increasing the amount of investment provided to female founders by equipping them with the confidence that they need to grow their businesses and demonstrate their value. With many founders wondering what to do first when pursuing investors, Frankie shares her advice on how to leverage your existing network, how not to be intimidated by networking and how to identify the right investors with the people first approach. Hi Frankie, thank you so much for coming on here. To start up today, it would be great if you could kick off with a brief introduction as to who you are and a bit about the business that you've started.
Speaker 2: (01:41)
Well, first of all, thank you so much for inviting me to, um, come and talk to you today. I'm absolutely delighted to be here. Um, so my name's Frankie Smith and I'm the founder of Frankie's, um, which is an exclusive networking group for women aimed at helping women to connect and collaborate and engage with finance. Um, so a little bit about me. My background is that I'm a financial advisor and since qualifying I was really staggered by the amount of women that were coming to me, lacking confidence with their finances and the differences between that and men and a lot more men appeared to kind of have more conversations around finance, um, and seemed to kind of be a bit more in the know. Um, and so I launched an investment club at Albright, um, and uh, started doing events which grew in sort of snowballed into something that I, um, could never have really dreamed of. Um, and here I am now having launched Frankie's, which is about bringing women together, creating those connections and helping people to kind of educate themselves and build the tools so that they're more confident with finance.
Speaker 1: (02:50)
That's amazing. And also thank you because we all need this. So it's brilliant to have met you and know that you exist. Um, this season of the podcast was all around investment because a lot of people start businesses and they get to a point where they want to scale or grow and they might think about investment can be quite daunting, especially as there's lots of jargon around it. But one of the major hurdles, especially post pandemic, is how to meet investors. So we'd love to pick your brains around that. So where should founders even start when trying to think about meeting new investors?
Speaker 2: (03:23)
So from my experience, I, I found that when I first qualified as an advisor, I wanted to meet more clients, um, and started to network with more people. Um, and I actually found joining a club like Albright, um, and there's other clubs that I've since become members or have friends who've joined like the Soho House group and Homegrown for example, are really good. Um, places where you can kind of naturally meet people. Um, and I think that that's a really key and important factor of this is that actually when people kind of think about starting to raise money, they're instantly thinking about the money. But also it's about the people that you are bringing on board. I think that's really important.
Speaker 1: (04:02)
So true. And also what you said about naturally meet people and you know, I'm already a big convert, so who works? You sit down next to people and start talking about the Webber or the dog that's on their lap and then they find out, oh, you are an angel investor. Oh my goodness. Okay. What business or sectors you, it is that natural comfortable conversation. It doesn't have to be scary. In fact, I've met so many people over making a cup of tea in the kitchen and would they like the milk? Yeah. And it's led onto client work. Yeah. It's fascinating how networking has such a negative connotation. I'd like to call it doc connecting. Yeah. That being in the right place at the right time and having the right conversation and just being open to it is, yeah, I think brings the pressure off.
Speaker 2: (04:39)
Absolutely. I completely agree. And I think that people by people so you know, building those relationships and having some common ground is really important before you start to kind of jump in with your, your pitch or who you are and what you're looking for from people. Um, so I think that's really important. And also I think that another place that's quite good to start is there's lots of different online communities that open up. Um, so I'm a big fan of LinkedIn, constantly looking at different groups and um, podcasts like this. I think there's a good way to kind of look at um, different people in your sector, look at what people are doing, have a look at companies that are opening up, um, and reach out to those founders. Because I think similarly to how we got introduced, people are prepared to share their stories and help each other, particularly when you've been on these journeys. Um, so yeah, I think start reaching out.
Speaker 1: (05:35)
Yeah, put your hand up And I think that comes up with a lot of the topics and a lot of the guests that we had on the podcast that if you don't ask, you don't get and people don't know you need help. And something I've learned, I never had to ask for help until I became self-employed. Yeah. And it's been very humbling but incredibly rewarding. And I've met some amazing people and I connected with some interesting people on LinkedIn and a few people replied saying, lovely to connect, how can I help? I was like, really? Goodness. Oh, I'd love to talk to you about being a mentor. Sure. Give us a call. Yeah. And it's that really natural, again, connection that you can have with people. Yeah. And you don't need to put x many hours or dollars into networking ticketed events. You can just do it online. Are there other communities other than LinkedIn that you recommend?
Speaker 2: (06:18)
Yeah, so I actually put a lot of my events on Eventbrite and I've met some really interesting people just by putting my events up, putting them as free events, um, and interesting that people do search for those, um, those things. I haven't done it personally but I had some really, um, interesting people coming to my events and I met people um, through doing that, doing it that way. Um, but I also think like, you know, before starting the business you kind of have an idea in your mind when you are in your job and you are thinking about what you are looking to do next and then there's a sort of event for most people that kind of pushes you. Either you decide that if you're ready to take the leap or maybe circumstances change that kind of give you that push that you need.
Speaker 2: (06:58)
Um, but I think some of those sort of, I was always big on building relationships whilst working as well. Um, and so anything that's sort of professional development, I think networking is the best sort of professional development that you can get. And so courses and different communities that open up within your sector or even just meeting, you know, as you said earlier about going and meeting people in so house or at the water station, et cetera, go out for the drinks. You just never know what conversation you might have. That's not necessarily always for now. Yes. But down the line you just kind of think back to that conversation and you know, you never know when the dots will join together.
Speaker 1: (07:39)
It makes me laugh actually. 'cause my business coach who I met very early on, 'cause episode one, season one was get a mentor, get a coach and he said, crack your new business. And I was like, well I do, I've got an Excel track. And he's like, and track the conversion where you met them. I was like, yep, I've got all that down. And he said, where are you meeting people? He's like, well, I accidentally moved to Barbados in lockdown and went surfing every day and met a client in the surf. And then I went to a singles dinner party and came out with a really beautiful, attractive, intelligent, funny, smart female client. And I happened to be straight. Uh, so that singles dinner went down as a business expense because she became a client. So it's amazing where you can have conversations and I think when you are typically proactive, entrepreneurial and confident in communicating yourself, I've got to a point now where sometimes you active don't want to talk about work and lots of people, oh you're doing your thing, tell me all about it.
Speaker 1: (08:25)
It's like, can we just talk about the weather? Yeah. Because it's people get excited and they want to help and if you are excited about what you're doing, it naturally comes to the top of the conversation. So yeah, you could be at a bus stop, you could be traveling, you could be an airport anywhere is actually an opportunity to meet people. And it's, I love that you're saying this 'cause I haven't properly joined the dots in the sense that people talk about going after investment and you instantly think pitch deck, PowerPoint, presentation boardroom, scary adrenaline. It could just be walking down the pavement where you meet somebody that could guide on something. Yeah. So thank you for sort of demystifying that
Speaker 2: (09:00)
Just to um, follow on from that. So, you know, as you know, I'm fundraising at the moment and my experience of the investors that I've been introduced to so far and the pictures I've done have all come through meeting somebody in these very casual building relationships ways. Um, whether it's over a lunch or at an event that's led to a bigger conversation. So yeah, you never know who's gonna open a door for you when Yeah, when you're, when you're looking for it.
Speaker 1: (09:26)
And when you are thinking about meeting investors, should you have anything in your back pockets? I mean I from a communications perspective would assume that being able to articulate your business in one breath is something that we advise our clients to be confident in doing before they then try and open that conversation. But is there any guidance you'd have either you've given your clients or you've worked out for yourself that think that founders should prep for?
Speaker 2: (09:50)
Yeah, so I, I agree being able to kind of articulate who you are and your business is so important, um, and capture the imagination of those people. I think, you know, the passion that you can have as a founder for what you've created can sometimes kind of lead you into quite narrow channel vision. And it's important that you can actually articulate that to make sure that your message is um, is clear and um, concise. Um, but ultimately I think it all comes down to the business plan and knowing where you want to go. Um, I think that's really important when you're meeting investors and when you start looking to, to seek investment. 'cause ultimately, um, you know, and it'll be the theme of this talk today is for me it's all about the people. And so it is the people and then the money. So the money will come.
Speaker 2: (10:35)
Um, but you have to have the right, the right people on board. So I like to call it smart capital. Um, so you know, thinking about what is it that you need, looking at your own skill sets and things that you might not have, looking at your team around you and what gaps there are and thinking, okay, well if I had an investor coming in, how can they add more than just the money? How can they actually add to my board? How can they um, you know, help me or open doors for me? Or what sort of other things are they gonna add? Um, and I think that the weight should, obviously the money is what we're all looking for, but that has a lot more weight, particularly in the longer term. Um, so yeah. And I think then also as you said, the the normal sort of pitch deck business plan know how much, also how much you are willing to give away of your company I think is really important.
Speaker 2: (11:26)
I meet a lot of people who have kind of been at that point whereby they were so desperate for the capital that they end up kind of with their back against the wall or they feel like they've got their back against the wall and they give away potentially too much for too little. 'cause it seems like a lot at the time, but you kind of have to take a step back and think, well this is gonna get me over this first hurdle, but where am I gonna be in three years, five years time? This is probably gonna be a really, really relatively, you know, um, small amount, modest amount of money compared to where we're looking to go. Um, so I think it's really important to kind of be clear 'cause as an angel, you know, if you are sitting on the angel side at the table and you think it's a brilliant idea, of course you are want gonna want to get in at the lowest valuation point and get the most out of that initial investment that you are, that you are making. So, you know, you have to kind of weigh it up from both sides. And I feel very privileged to have been able to work on both sides of the table. Um, 'cause a lot of the work up until me actually doing my own pitch deck over the last few months has been in helping female founders raise money. Um, but also working on the investment side. So we've got a lot, I've got a lot of clients that invest in early stage companies. So it is, it is kind of,
Speaker 1: (12:41)
You see it from all sides.
Speaker 2: (12:42)
Yes, I've managed to see it from all sides, which is, which is brilliant. But having that right investor and being on the same journey as well, you know, I think you've got to be aligned this year, three years, five years, 10 years. There's also a lot of horror stories that you hear of the wrong angels coming on board, the wrong, the, you know, the journeys get, you know, you end up on different pages and different paths and that can be really challenging 'cause you can be at crucial points in your business at a later stage and you're no longer getting along with those that are, that are in the, you know, are in the fold.
Speaker 1: (13:18)
So important because when you become self-employed you have given yourself that freedom and autonomy that it can be scary but is the best part of it. So when then you start going the investment route, you're not giving yourself new bosses but you are bringing in another layer of accountability to other people that will be looking and asking questions that you will have to answer. Yeah. So that people point you made earlier is again very crucial here that yes they might have the money and want to invest but they might not be the right fit. And I think I remember this from my old world where I had salaried jobs for other people's companies. When you are interviewing, you are interviewing your employer as much as they're interviewing for a prospective employee and it has to work for both parties. Yeah. Is there any sort of, is it gut feeling? Is it reading around the person? Is there any research that people should do on potential investors before they sign on the dotted line?
Speaker 2: (14:07)
Yeah, so I think naturally you should always do your due diligence on somebody and look at their track record and their experience and where they've been and you know, talk to other people as well as about their experience working with people. 'cause particularly if you are gonna have somebody in, as you've said, sitting at the top table with you looking to help you and then there's gonna be some tough decisions that have to be made along the way. You want to be working with somebody that understands you, gets you and can help you to make those decisions. So I think yeah, always go with your gut. But then on the same, on the flip side, I think naturally you can be very drawn to people who are very similar to you. You kind of get into this full sense of sometimes that everybody's gonna be your friend. Um, and that's been a real lesson for me over the recent weeks is actually looking at my own skillsets and naturally I get very drawn to extroverted, um, individuals that are quite easygoing and um, good at building relationships and I, you know, and then you can end up with a team of people that are really good at doing that, but
Speaker 1: (15:09)
You are already good at that. Yeah. ,
Speaker 2: (15:11)
You know what I mean? There are other things which you maybe aren't so great at and you need to focus on that. And sometimes those individuals that are brilliant at those things aren't necessarily the individuals that you are gonna be, you know, best of friends with, but they're really gonna help you excel in your business. And I think having that different perspective
Speaker 1: (15:29)
And challenge you
Speaker 2: (15:30)
And challenge you exactly as well. And kind of stepping away from herd mentality, which can be difficult 'cause it can be uncomfortable for, for us to, to, to do that. But I think it's really important
Speaker 1: (15:42)
When exercise that I'm trying to do and have been trying to do for a while, but it's something we do with our clients is write my own job description as a founder or a company leader. Writing my job description of the bits I am doing and the bits I am not doing to ensure that the team around me know where they stand and their job descriptions are solid and strong and we, we don't double handle anything. And I think you, you're talking about double handling skill sets as well is really important. But someone said again in that first ever episode, they were like, if they're agreeing with you, they're not the right mentor. You want someone to disagree and poke and prod and make you feel a bit uncomfortable 'cause they're on your side and if you trust them, that hopefully that will deliver some really good developments and progression. Are there any like obvious big mistakes that you've seen people do along this journey that you know, kind of common mistakes that new founders tend to make?
Speaker 2: (16:31)
I think that sometimes you can get sucked into people's stories and people can sell themselves in a very, you know, in a Pacific light. Um, and maybe they see something in you, um, potential investors or people who are looking maybe to have exposure to certain elements of your business or ride with you on your journey. And I think that you have to build trust with people. And coming back to what we were saying at the beginning, getting to know the people that you're bringing to the table is so important. And I think getting to know them beyond just, you know, where they worked, what they did and kind of where they've invested, but really sort of understanding what makes them tick, you know, what's their personal situation like, understanding a little bit more about them is really important because it is just the worst thing.
Speaker 2: (17:17)
And I can't imagine even with myself, you know, I've appointed, um, two women to my advisory board and I've got two other advisors now joining the company as well, which is super exciting. But I've taken my time with that. Um, and I've really thought hard about who, what their skill sets are, who I knew. You know, I had an idea of the types of people I wanted to bring in but took my time to make sure that they had the time to give me as well. Um, 'cause I didn't want just to have somebody sat there potentially to come in as an investor but not be there to kind of help me on this journey. 'cause it can be lonely and it's scary when you take that step into it as well. And you know, I feel, you know, even though you are surrounded by and I feel very privileged to be surrounded by all the amazing people that I am, you also, you know, as you, as you will have found from starting this podcast and you starting your own journey, you are sort of taking a leap of faith into the unknown and you're learning on the job and , you're kind of using your, your instinct to get things done.
Speaker 2: (18:21)
And you know, I'm probably annoying the hell out of them at the moment by ringing them with every every decision that I'm looking to make. But, and that's been really important for me
Speaker 1: (18:31)
And I think a lot of people forget to check how people like to communicate. So with new clients we say we don't work on WhatsApp, we work on email or Zoom or if it's urgent we phone. Is that okay with you? And we just set that tone of this is how we communicate and this is the expectation. You'll hear from us this often of this report I think with investors. Some investors want to just let you get on with it and others want to see every update every week. Do you find that that's quite an important thing to have a conversation at the beginning? It's almost sort of like dating of like, here are my deal breakers. Yeah. This is what my expectations are and just lay it out on the table. Yeah
Speaker 2: (19:05)
And I think absolutely and I think you gotta have a balance. So I think that having an investor, the investors got to trust the founder and ultimately you don't want to be micromanaged because most people have stepped into setting up their own thing because they were wanting to do something different from the grain of where they were before. Um, and so I think that that sort of spirit is really important to be kept, you know, all of us being quite entrepreneurial in our natures. You're looking to fix things, you've got ways of doing things and you've got a vision of things that you want to to happen and way that you want things to be done. So I'd say that the hands-off investors are you, you know, there's a place for that. But from my side, I think particularly with the industry that I'm in and wealth management and the kind of, uh, very regulated world that we're in.
Speaker 2: (19:52)
So Frankie's is very much a platform around kind of providing these events and giving guidance. But then on the other side, there's the kind of regulated me, which is, you know, under Ian, but that sort of working with clients as a regulated financial advisor, um, it's really important for myself when raising capital that I have somebody that understands that picture And it's, you know, as I, I used that term smart capital before, but I'm really looking to be smart with who I'm bringing on because I know that there's a lot of assistance, there's a lot of moving parts that I need work through. So I'm looking for a more hands-on person. But I think that's different for different people.
Speaker 1: (20:33)
And someone said to me, work out what your litmus test is. Would you invite 'em to your wedding? Would you send 'em a birthday card? Would you go for a pint with them? Yeah. Would you likely want them at your birthday cake in the office? Like how close are they? Work out whatever your litmus test is, if this isn't just taking a check. Yeah. Like how involved are they gonna be and are they gonna be up for that? Yeah, yeah. Those economies of scale.
Speaker 2: (20:55)
Exactly. Exactly. And also, you know, I've had, I've had a um, a handful of pictures that I've done now, um, and you know, had some promising feedback from it but sometimes I've had feedback from people who I've thought just they're not right for me. Um, and that's because you know, the kind of values or ethos isn't right for ma for the type of brand that I'm building. Um, and again, I think that's really important to just be true to yourself and make sure that wherever you are looking to get this investment from, they share your values.
Speaker 1: (21:28)
And when approaching people, I mean we've have all had those selling dms on LinkedIn going, hi, I've noticed your website's great, but I can make it way better and da da. I'm like, and putting my email to the top of your inbox. I'm like, delete. Yes. Unsubscribe. Yeah. . Are there any things that you would advise people if they're going out cold, someone they found on LinkedIn that they think could be a perfect fit for them? Should it be a two liner? Should it be a paragraph? Should it be a pitch p d f? What would you suggest in terms of that cold, cold approach?
Speaker 2: (21:58)
See personally I haven't had any experience of doing it. And I always think that if you can find a way to make it a warm lead, then look at and you know, look at where they've worked, look at mutual connections and try and find a way in that way. So
Speaker 1: (22:11)
Look, look at your existing network and see who might be able to introduce you. Facilitate an introduction or find a common ground of Oh, I saw that 10 years ago you also worked at H S B C. Yeah. It's the same with PR pitching. You personalize it and make someone go, oh you are talking to a human. It's not a a bot.
Speaker 2: (22:27)
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But I think if you can't do that then you've really gotta capture their, their imagination. So I think you've gotta be clever. I think you've gotta be snappy and as you say, most people will be hovering over their delete button. Mm.
Speaker 1: (22:40)
Well it's that initial and it, I mean it's, I love this conversation 'cause it's very similar to pitching to a journalist. It's that first sentence that has to captivate their attention of I need to read more. So that first sentence gets to the second sentence, the second sentence gets to the second paragraph, second paragraph gets you the reply and then you can go into to more. Yeah. For you, like what would be a, if someone dmd you, what would captivate you? What would make it stand out to you?
Speaker 2: (23:06)
I've always lived by giving first think it's very easy when you are sat, sat looking for something to really go in hard with what you want and why
Speaker 1: (23:16)
The me, me, me
Speaker 2: (23:17)
That exactly. Whereas I've always, I've always gone for the opposite. And sometimes that can be vulnerable, put you in a vulnerable position because you don't necessarily know who you're doing that to and people can feel protective over their ideas and their, the way that they're presenting themselves. But even I go as far, and I appreciate that you have to go on NDA a sometimes for cer at certain levels, but when sometimes you get sent a pitch deck and you're forced to sign an n d a straight away, I personally, that kind of makes me recoil a bit because ultimately if you are trying to get yourself out there, then you need people to be talking about your, your brand and what you're trying to do because you don't know what doors that's gonna open. And in the same way as going in cold, I think that if you can find a way that you can show them why looking at you would be of benefit to them and find a common ground of how that might help and how, I love the word collaboration. I, I think I use it far too much, but how you can collaborate to try and create something which ultimately may not give you instant gratification, but quite quickly you've proved yourself and then you come back to why you got in touch in the first place. That's really kind of my style of, of ways of doing things.
Speaker 1: (24:31)
So what I'm learning so far from you is that there's, this will take time but also that it's, it's a gentle approach and you shouldn't go in and expect investment the next day. Yeah. So in terms of having their business in good shape, I've always been taught to have six months of salaries in the bank account. So I never have to worry if revenue dries up, I'm not panicked, I'm not wasting worry time. So for this, when someone's thinking about okay, we're gonna need investments, is that three months, six months, a year, how much time should they factor in and where can they go to to seek help on that financial planning?
Speaker 2: (25:02)
Yeah. So I think um, it really diff it really, that answer is very much about the timing and the landscape that you're in. So kind of if we've been speaking two years ago or sort of prior to Covid, but even in the initial parts of Covid there was a lot more money around and there was a lot of things that were quite, you know, raises, um, funds were oversubscribed, um, and people had a lot more cash. And I think that that landscape shifted. Um, and ultimately now, you know, I think you're looking at a good sort of 12 months, um, sometimes more to, to raise capital. Um, a staggering statistic that um, I was um, told by a venture capital group that we work with closely, um, that on average it takes 80 pictures of your business to obtain capital
Speaker 1: (25:50)
80
Speaker 2: (25:50)
80 pitches.
Speaker 1: (25:52)
That's interesting. But that's nice to have a number. It's nice to be able to factor around that and plan for that.
Speaker 2: (25:57)
Yeah, exactly. And I think that also shows the resilience that founders need. Yeah. And to understand that, you know, rejection is not necessarily a bad thing and it's something if you
Speaker 1: (26:07)
Try PR it takes like 400 pitches to get a piece of HR .
Speaker 2: (26:11)
Exactly. And I think that it's having that um, tenacity to keep going and to really stay on your vision, know what you're trying to do,
Speaker 1: (26:21)
And make you not panic, you're gonna run out of money in that interim.
Speaker 2: (26:24)
Yeah. And so having a runway is really important and not everybody's in these situations and sometimes you've got to have dedicated a lot more time, but ultimately the more sort of bootstrapping that you can do personally that you've shown investors that you are, you are, you've got skin in the game, I think that's really important as well. Yeah. It's very difficult to ask somebody to invest in you when you are not investing in yourself . Um, so
Speaker 1: (26:48)
It's Joanna Jensen from Charles Farms, like I want them to be eating Tesco value . I don't want 'em to be disappearing off a beater for three weeks after I've given them my money. I was like, I get that it's your money. If you are putting like dues you would be done by I suppose.
Speaker 2: (27:01)
Yeah. You know, I meet a lot of founders and you know, I've done it a little bit myself where you start to look at other ways that you can build revenue streams into the business, whether it's consulting or helping people with, with different projects and just having some one-off kind of income streams starting to come in which can kind of tide you over whilst you're looking to how you're gonna raise capital. I think that's really important because also, you know, it is such a difficult task as we know because you've got to be running the business proving the concepts and raising the money all at the same time. And it's not a case of one can stop and one can start. Mm-hmm. That's all got run harmoniously together. And if anybody tells you that it's easy, they're lying . I guess my message on that though is if it was easy everybody would do it.
Speaker 2: (27:49)
True. And so I think that now, you know, having my own trials and tribulations and feeling very excited about my next steps, but ultimately, you know, it is challenging. You are out of your comfort zone and you are trying to build a brand and put your head above the parapet and make people kind of think of you and notice you for what you are trying to do. And that comes with a quite a kind of toll on yourself during that process. But you've gotta keep that eye on where you're going. And I think that's really important.
Speaker 1: (28:18)
It's really hard, especially when you are doing your new business and potentially something a business that hasn't been done before. So it's new to you and new to the industry, you don't know how long things are gonna take. Yeah. And then you are off investment, which you've never done before either. And being in the business versus being on the business and not spending enough time getting out to meetings. And this is why I was like so lucky to start in Covid because there was no expectation to go to networking events. Whereas now it's very much expected. Yeah. That time taken of an evening where I just want to go home and do the accounts and I have to go and talk to 50 people I've never met before. Yeah. Which me being in communications I actually quite enjoy. But do you have advice for people who are walking into a room who know no one in there what they should do to walk up to somebody?
Speaker 2: (29:00)
I think that be open and talk about yourself, find out about them. I would love the saying be interesting rather than interesting. Yeah. You know, you really kind of can find out a lot about people through the stories that they're saying and just joining conversations. Then I always think it's better to go to networking events with an objective, not necessarily a hardcore objective like we've been saying about raising capital. If you are stood in a conversation and you realize that the individual as as lovely as they are is not why you've come to the event, then I think you need to set yourself bound to move on from that conversation. 'cause the worst thing is when you leave a networking event. And as much much as I absolutely love networking and I am blessed to not have those feelings of worry. Yeah. I love looking into rooms and meeting new people and finding all out about them and that doesn't phase me. I also have a lot of friends and colleagues that that does phase. I think if you, you know, you kind of sit in that camp then the worst thing is when you leave that event and you think, why did I just spend the last two hours
Speaker 1: (30:04)
Recommending a roofer and a builder and . Yeah.
Speaker 2: (30:06)
You know, um, when you could be doing something else, which we're all caught for time on. So I think having an objective so important,
Speaker 1: (30:12)
I went to a homegrown event recently and I found it, it was probably one of the few official networking events. It was everyone was there for a reason so everybody knew what everyone was up to as it were. Yeah. And people were working the room in the best possible way. They'd come and go, hi, I'm Dan. I set up this company, what do you do? Okay. Bye. And they took themselves away when they knew that I was no good to them. Yeah. Took and it was a professional conversation and I was completely respectful of that. And then there's other people who you click with and suddenly you realize you've got so much common ground and it's really exciting and you've shared your QR codes on LinkedIn and it's all yeah it's all good. But then I was amazed actually how cutthroat people are like, okay great, I've got your details, I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Speaker 1: (30:52)
And they moved onto the next person. Yeah. And I think it's when there are events that aren't official networking events, it can be even worse sometimes to have to walk up to people. For me, I just walk up and go, hi, I don't know anyone here, what's your name? Yeah, can I get your drink? And they're like, oh sure. Come and join the conversation. It's the icebreaker moment. It's not only the intro but it's the outro. Yeah. As well. That's super interesting. It's like, thank you so much for your time. Great to be in touch. I'm gonna follow up with you tomorrow.
Speaker 2: (31:16)
And I think it's those follow ups as well that are really important as well. Just always up when the iron's hot, get that in and get moving with that.
Speaker 1: (31:23)
And what you said about the added value really resonates as well. 'cause when I mentioned earlier about the roof and the builder, when you are talking about stuff that might not be relevant, same again with editors, maybe investors, it's how else can you add value to that person's life? How are they gonna remember? He's like, oh I remembered you said you had a leak in your roof. I had this great roof of his contact details. I'd also love to have a chat about investment here on my contact details. Yeah, it's that added value of being, you're not just trying to take from someone you are trying to give as well, which I really love. Yeah. Brilliant. Is there one golden nugget piece of advice you'd offer a new founder when it comes to meeting investors?
Speaker 2: (31:57)
Be authentic and be yourself. Just get to know them. Trust your gut.
Speaker 1: (32:01)
Yes. God, love the gut feeling the Vegas nerve. And another question I meant to ask earlier is when you're looking at investors, is it a case of less is more if you can get one to two significance versus 10?
Speaker 2: (32:14)
You can answer that question in two ways, but I think what we touched upon earlier about your vision and your team and building something that's gonna work for you and help you to get on, sometimes having less at the table in the early stages I think is better because you've got less people to put boundaries in or put barriers in and you don't wanna end up with a table full of chiefs, our advisors that mean that, that actually you're just having conversations without getting things done. But at the same time, having a couple of different perspectives I also think is important. Yeah. Because when you're looking to scale your business after you've got through that initial phase, then actually different perspectives, different experiences, the ability to branch into different sectors, different markets. I think that that's really important to have a breadth of individuals. Sometimes when we use the term advisor, you are thinking about older people.
Speaker 2: (33:07)
But I also think that there's an amazing place for younger people coming through with ideas and things that, you know, we haven't thought of. And I consider myself to be very young, but you know, I meet some of my younger colleagues and I'm amazed by the kind of things that they come up with and the ways that they see things. TikTok, for example, I remember two and a half years ago when somebody told me that they were getting some financial planning advice from TikTok. And I remember feeling absolutely horrified and just sort of trying to move on from the conversation. 'cause I was so alarmed thinking who on earth giving financial planning advice on TikTok and now loads of wealth managers use the platform as a way to communicate with the younger generation. And ultimately the irony will be that I will likely to be open up by some sort of TikTok platform. I'm sure over the next few months times change and things kind of come in and you've got to stay dynamic and ability to be flexible and move with it.
Speaker 1: (34:02)
Absolutely. I completely agree. It makes me laugh about TikTok. 'cause my most guilty secret is the Excel sheets Instagram account. And I know whenever I've reposted it, it's been our most engaged content. Yeah. People love Excel. It's fascinating. So given that you are the first episode of our new season, we don't have a question from our previous guest for you, but would you have a question for our next guest? And it could be anything to do with starting business, doesn't need to be around investment, but anything that you've got sort of percolating in your mind at the moment as a founder.
Speaker 2: (34:32)
Um, Kate, what in your previous, um, career or time led you to start your business?
Speaker 1: (34:39)
Oh, I love that. Thank you. Thank you so much Frankie. It's been fascinating talking to you. I've learned so much and I love that you are a people, first person as are we so very much aligned on that and it's, um, fantastic to hear everything about it and we'll obviously include all of your details in the show notes should people want to contact you. Uh, but thank you for your time. Perfect.
Speaker 2: (35:00)
Thank you so much for having me. It's been brilliant. Thank you.
Speaker 3: (35:04)
If
Speaker 1: (35:05)
You'd like to contact Frankie, you can find all of her details in the show notes along with a recap of the advice that she has so kindly shared. Thank you for listening to how to start up. I hope these conversations offer you some confidence, encouragement, and reassurance that you are on the right track. If you can join this podcast, I'd be so appreciative if you were to rate, review and subscribe as it will really help other people starting a company discover it. Of course, if you've got any questions at all on PR, communications or podcasting, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me because at Fallowfield and Mason, we love supporting startups.