Last week I was signed-up to attend two events hosted by the Queensland Chief Entrepreneur’s office. The first was Leanne Live! Investment and Capital Raising hosted by Leanne Kemp, and the second was Write Well. I made Write Well but I ended up following along with Investment and Capital Raising event on Facebook Live. The video from the event is still available, which is great because I can see myself revisiting the video from time to time.

The panel for the Investment and Capital Raising consisted of,

Kris Trevilyan- Angel Investor

Marcus Simpson - Head of Global Private Capital, QIC

Lisa Siganto - Board Director, QUT Blue Box

Stewart Glynn - Partner, Transition Level Investments

I have attended a few panels were investors give their perspective. The common theme is always, 1) do your research, 2) don’t ask for money in the first interaction, 3) cultivate a relationship because the best ideas won’t get funded if the investor has no confidence in the people trying to take the idea and make hay out of it. But it was great to get a Queensland-centric view of the investment landscape. Also, I am glad to here that there is a shift in the investment landscape, with an increasing emphasis on profit with a purpose businesses such as Abide!

I am not seeking investment at the moment. But I will sooner rather then later and so now is the time to up my knowledge of the process. Which is also why Write Well was a great talk to attend. I missed a good chunk of it on account of running late and having to leave early. But I didn’t miss the tips sections, and that’s the most important part!

Megan Avard, CEO and Founder of SurePact gave some great tips with the best one being to actually contact the organisers of the grant or award and talk to them about what they want to see in the application. That way, you know for sure you are answering the questions as asked, and not what you think they are asking.

The other useful tips was around who to talk about in the team section, including mentioning your advisory board to increase confidence in your ability to execute the project for which you are applying for grant money. Also, there were some great tips around targeting your efforts. So all around, a great talk. I learnt a lot. I am looking forward to finding an opportunity to applying the tips, and seeing how I go.