'The Investable Entrepreneur' with James Church

The Evolving Leader

In this episode of The Evolving Leader podcast, co-hosts Scott Allender and Jean Gomes talk to James Church. James is passionate about working with founders to present a clear, concise, and credible business case to investors. He is co-founder and CEO of Robot Mascot, a global award-winning investment readiness agency and he claims that his clients are 40 times more likely to raise investment than the average start-up. James has been featured in Forbes, Entrepreneur Magazine, and on numerous industry blogs and podcasts. He has run mentoring sessions at Tech Hub, Google Campus and Runway East, and delivered mastermind sessions for Founder Institute, Design Museum, Dent Global, The Chartered Institute of Marketing and the University of East Anglia.

Referenced during this episode:

Claim your free copy of James’ book ‘Investable Entrepreneur’:
https://www.robotmascot.co.uk/investable-entrepreneur/

Take the PitchReady scorecard and benchmark your ability to raise investment:
https://pitchready.co.uk/

Other free resources for entrepreneurs and start-ups:
https://www.robotmascot.co.uk/free-resources/

Other reading from Jean Gomes and Scott Allender:
Leading In A Non-Linear World (J Gomes, 2023)
The Enneagram of Emotional Intelligence (S Allender, 2023)
Social:
Instagram @evolvingleader
LinkedIn The Evolving Leader Podcast
Twitter @Evolving_Leader
YouTube @evolvingleader

The Evolving Leader is researched, written and presented by Jean Gomes and Scott Allender with production by Phil Kerby. It is an Outside production.

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Capitole

1. Introduction (00:00:00)

2. Where does the name Robot Mascot come from? (00:03:47)

3. Can we start with how you became a start-up coach and I'm specifically interested on your intentional focus on communication. How did that come to be? (00:05:05)

4. Given the current financial climate, what are the prospects for start-ups today and how is that dynamic between the entrepreneur and the investors looking? (00:07:03)

5. So in your book you start by saying that entrepreneurs must invest in high quality funding assets to stand a chance of success. What are these and why do some seem to struggle to get these basics in place? (00:10:22)

6. There is an abundance of online opinions and memes on what a perfect pitch looks like. Can you lead us through the key ingredients and some of the pitfalls that entrepreneurs and start-up teams fall into? (00:16:18)

7. Where in your experience do people struggle most with those different acts? (00:21:20)

8. How does the entrepreneur get into the head of the investor to really connect with what they care about? (00:23:55)

9. In the book, you say that many start-ups are operating on a hand-to-mouth way of working, and that influences how they think about their long-term funding journey. So how do you help them to break that short term thinking? (00:29:17)

10. Is AI having an impact on the pitching investor landscape? (00:32:47)

11. So we focused a lot on how you win the investor over. What should the entrepreneur be looking for in that investor, both, good and bad. What are the pitfalls in trying to find the marriage? (00:37:30)

12. I'm curious about when things don't go according to plan. I imagine that some entrepreneurs may feel tempted to delay telling investors early on. What's your advice on transparency, timing and how to approach bad news? (00:41:08)

13. What’s a final piece of advice or inspiration that you can give to entrepreneurs facing this road ahead for getting funding and moving through the journey? (00:44:06)