Lessons From “In Bed With The Right Investor”
Last night was SGEntrepreneur’s first networking event “In Bed With The Right Investor” held after the iMATCH pitching and keynote sessions.
The format of the event:
1. The investors would be paired and seated on the beds.
2. In front of each pair of investors would be a bowl.
3. Participants would drop the name-cards into the bowl.
4. Investors would pick name-cards from the bowl and …
5. The lucky participant would get a chance to ask the investor a question; cozy up with the investors to talk.
The reason for this format:
1. Clustering of investors.
There is a tendency for investors to be engaging in conversation in the same group.
2. Loudest dominate.
The loudest participant in the group will dominate the conversation in the group. The not so gung-ho participants will just stand around in the group, and keep nodding their heads.
3. Some participants don’t know anyone.
A lot of times, it is hard to break into the group unless you know someone who can introduce you to an investor in the group. There might be people with great ideas, part of a great team, with a great product who still doesn’t have an ‘in’.
The format was to help even the least connected, most shy individual get a chance for a one-on-one with the investor. The format was a way to break the ice.
Lesson 1: Things don’t always go to plan:
Due to some miscommunication, we weren’t able to usher the investors onto the beds before the start of the networking session. So people just started mingling and forming groups in front of the bar counter.
Gwen and I tried to get the networking session back on track in using the format. We partially succeeded. Some of the investors were gracious enough to break away from the groups and sat at their respective beds.
Lesson 2: Remember the objective:
The objective was to make it easy for entrepreneurs in Singapore to talk to international investors brought in by MDA.
So, even if the format wasn’t actually used (the whole dropping of name-cards & getting lucky thing), the subset of investors that did sit on the beds managed to spread the groups out a little more.
Instead of walled circles of people having conversations clustered around the same spot, some investors were artificially isolated which opened up chances for entrepreneurs to talk to them.
Lesson 3: Not Necessary To Always Stick To The Plan:
Since the primary objective was met, it was not necessary to force the evening back on course to use the format. The format was just a tool.
Biggest disappointment:
The biggest disappointment was that I couldn’t use a line I had been working on.
“Ladies and Gentlement, do remember the cardinal rule of meeting an investor for the first time. It is impolite to ask the size of their assets on the first date.”
