fbpx

Investors Insights on Startups Communication in 2024

3 min read
Words by Lily Mägi
On 27.12.2023
Words by Lily Mägi
On 27.12.2023
2023 has been a year of reset and adjustment. Some companies had to shut down, while others faced tough layoffs. However, there has also been a ton of opportunity.
The META Alpha team recently interviewed Siim Teller, Tim Vaino and Yrjo Ojasaar, who have experience supporting startups through their ups and downs. They shared their insights on what matters in 2023/2024, what type of media they follow, and what topics matter for them in communication efforts.  As a New Year’s present, we have included 10 questions for founders that can help you align your communication efforts.

It Starts with Your Vision

When talking with investors, one thing became clear: what matters is the vision and mission the founders have to be able to sell. Many startups are too technical initially, and looking over their experience and origin story could build trust between their startups and investors. 

According to Teller, the company’s narrative is crucial: “The story that a company tells is one the most important thing,” he emphasized. Teller’s insight suggests that startup primarily sell their vision story, particularly those in the pre-seed and seed stages. A charismatic leader and a compelling story can significantly impact positioning and attract attention. 

Many startups face the common challenge of not being able to effectively communicate their product to their target audience through a compelling story. Since emotions drive customers and investors, it’s important to identify their pain points and concerns to craft a narrative that resonates with them. This is where seeking the help of an unbiased third party can be beneficial. They can provide a fresh perspective and ask the right questions that help the founders tell their true origin story in a captivating and engaging way.

General Media or Social Media?

During a discussion on scoring in the media, there were varying opinions. While most investors keep up with Sifted, TechCrunch, and TechEU, accessing local news behind paywalls has become more complex. As a result, LinkedIn has become the primary communication channel. However, it was also mentioned that a single news publication can increase the valuation and generate buzz. „Your valuation could be either 3 million or 5 million, and it might depend only on 1 well-timed coverage,“ according to Ojasaar.

It’s important to have a balanced mix of general and social media. While smaller updates can be shared on LinkedIn or Twitter, sharing anything newsworthy with a larger audience is wise.

Educate Your Audience

Investors are not experts in every field; therefore, it is up to the founder or team member to educate them on the market, explain why it is a promising opportunity, and demonstrate why it would benefit them to invest in it. Additionally, it is important to highlight the team’s unique expertise to differentiate from your competitors.

Some of the participants highlighted a startup called Woola as an excellent example. They educate their customers about the growing use of fossil fuels and the market while explaining in simple terms how their product works and introducing the people behind it.

Navigating the Crowded Marketplace

The startup industry is fiercely competitive, and according to investors, your story, team, revenue, and burn rate are the key factors determining your ability to secure investments. 

In this environment, how can you stand out and grab investors’ attention when the investment demand is high? The answer is by networking and contacting investors directly to ask for a coffee meeting. Alternatively, you can leverage your warm leads by talking to startups that have already been or are currently in the investors’ portfolios and learning from their experiences. You should also focus on understanding what went wrong and whether there is a potential fit between your company and the investors.

It’s important to not only focus on established investors but also to engage with younger colleagues who are constantly on the lookout for interesting companies. Doing so can increase your chances of success in securing investments for your startup.

10 QUESTIONS FOR FOUNDERS

  1. What is our company’s narrative, and how well-defined is our vision and mission?
  2. Are we open to seeking the assistance of unbiased third parties to provide fresh perspectives on our storytelling and communication efforts?
  3. What media channels are most relevant to our industry, and where are our potential investors most active?
  4. Should we prioritize traditional media outlets like TechCrunch or focus on social media platforms like LinkedIn for communication?
  5. How can we balance general and social media to maximize our reach and impact?
  6. What key topics do investors need to understand about our market and opportunity?
  7. Are we highlighting our team’s unique expertise to differentiate ourselves from competitors?
  8. Are we learning from the experiences of startups in the investors’ portfolios to increase our chances of success?
  9. Are we proactively reaching out to both established and younger investors to diversify our network?
  10. How are we adapting our communication strategies to align with evolving trends in the startup ecosystem?

Meta Advisory launched a start-up business line

3 min read
Words by Kerli Soe
On 31.05.2023
About Sales Support Communicaation
META Advisory, Estonia’s leading public relations advisor, has created a new business team, Meta Alpha, focused on supporting the growth of start-up companies. The team is made up of experts in startup communications and marketing.

Over the years, META Advisory has advised Uber, Starship, Lightyear, Walt, Kwota, Äio, Bikeep, Snabb, Jobbatical, MeetFrank, Skeleton, Clevon, Eleport, Futugrid, GScan and many others. “We have already spent a decade supporting the growth of dozens of Estonian tech startups – from building messaging platforms to fundraising and communicating their expansion into foreign markets. The lessons learned are simple: start-ups communicate differently from profitable market leaders. A start-up that wants to grow fast also needs an advisor who can deliver rapid and measurable results, a willingness to experiment, make mistakes and try again from the ground up. But above all, flexibility – both in terms of the forms of collaboration and the changing objectives. Based on this experience, we designed a separate team with a higher risk appetite, with working time and capacity equal to that of our start-up clients, and with the ability to take into account the particularities of the start-up’s developmental stages,” said Ann Hiiemaa, partner of Meta Advisory and head of Meta Alpha.

Just as Meta Advisory was founded at the bottom of the great financial crisis in 2009, the time to build an advisory team with a tailored approach to start-ups is now, when tech finance is struggling and more needs to be done with less. It also means that META Alpha’s service portfolio is much broader than just media relations and local PR. The team includes the market’s strongest growth marketers, SEO specialists and business advisors.

“Our strength lies in our experience – our team members have built start-ups and consulted both leading Estonian start-ups and businesses just starting out. We’ve learned from our own successes and also from difficult decisions. We know what gets results and what just burns money and energy. We focus on where we can expect results and growth,” Hiiemaa concluded.

Prior to the creation of the new business line, Meta Alpha conducted a survey among startup leaders, which clearly showed that the main focus of the companies is raising money and launching new products or services. While more than half of start-up founders do their own marketing and communication, 30% of respondents use an in-house specialist and only 10% use an external agency.

According to Lily Mägi, Head of Client Relations at Meta Alpha, there are not enough strong people and resources with a marketing communications background in the early stages of start-up development. “One person cannot cover all the marketing needs of a company. META Alpha is a marketing communications team that works with the company on everything from positioning to growth marketing. Our job is to create order where a start-up company is still in disarray – we build up the functions that support the growth of the start-up’s core business,” added Mägi, who said the survey showed that it was important for one-third of respondents to reach the world’s leading media outlets that are important to their target groups. This is why Alpha is focusing on expanding its global PR strengths. “Meta Alpha is also part of Convoy, the world’s leading technology communications network. This enables us to quickly find strong partners in all the world’s major capitals and business centres,” said Mägi.

META Alpha is a business line of META Advisory, Estonia’s leading public relations advisor, created to support the development of start-ups in the Baltic region. The team includes Madis Trei, who focuses on growth marketing, SEO specialist Annika Helendi, copywriters Maria Magdalena Lamp and Vira Suarez, and product and service development consultant Anni Sinijärv. In addition, Meta Alpha’s startup portfolio includes international technology communications network Convoy and Rud Pedersen Group companies in Europe and other Meta Advisory partners worldwide.

Contact page
Internet Explorer Icon

NB! Microsoft on loobunud Internet Exploreri arendamisest ning sellele uuenduste tegemisest ja ei soovita antud internetibrauserit turvanõrkuste tõttu kasutada. Internet Explorer ei toeta enam uusi võrgustandardeid ning antud veebilahendus ei tööta siinses brauseris korrektselt.

Palun lae alla mõni moodne veebilehitseja: