How do I pitch Friends and Family for money?

[View this email in your browser]( How do I pitch Friends and Family for money? TL;DR: How do we ask friends and family for money without it getting totally weird? Is there a way to "pitch" that doesn't leave both sides feeling uncomfortable every Thanksgiving? There it is: that super awkward moment when we're about to turn the conversation with our rich Uncle Mortimer from "Well it's been great catching up on my new startup" to "Hey would you mind investing some of your hard-earned money into this venture?" Today’s Advice Sponsored by [Delighted]( It's not what we ask, it's how we ask There are lots of different ways to ask for money, and most of them are really awful. What we want to do is position the ask in a way that makes it clear we're asking for money, but also clear that it's not more important than the relationship. Look for buying clues first Before we ask for money, we have to make sure there's some level of interest in the venture at all. We can do this by asking if the person we're talking to would have any interest whatsoever being involved at any level whatsoever. We can begin by getting the sense for whether they want to be an Advisor, which could lead to an investor later. We're looking for some indication that they are willing to spend time and resources toward this venture. If they don't seem to be leaning in at any point, asking for a bunch of money is definitely not the right closing move! Leave room for a polite exit Good ol' Uncle Mortimer is going to be far more freaked out if we try to box him in with our ask. If we say "Will you please invest $25K in our startup?" then we're forcing an immediate, "yes" or "no" answer. That's not a problem if the answer is a resounding "YES!" But let's face it, it's probably not that. That's where our challenge comes in. Instead, let's give him an out. Let's ask "We're raising $25K for our startup. We'd love to see if you or anyone you know might be interested in getting involved at some point." In that simple sentence, we just gave Mortimer a chance to say "No" to being an investor but offer some help on where he might be able to point us elsewhere. By leaving the time frame in which we hope to secure the investment more open-ended ("at some point"), we're not forcing him to pull out his checkbook immediately. Delighted wants to be the industry standard for “customer delight” And not just because that’s [their name](. No, they’re doing it by making it easy for businesses to collect user feedback and discover insights worth their weight in gold. How? With a game-changing customer experience (“CX” for those of us in the know) platform. Industry-standard surveys, fresh outta-the-box [Delighted's]( interactive dashboard and seamless surveys make you feel like a CX expert the second you get started. Their platform has everything a startup or small business needs to start collecting customer feedback ASAP, with surveys that measure classic benchmarks like Net Promoter Score, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Effort and more through email, web, link, kiosk, or even SMS. Built with growing businesses in mind Ready to scale? [Delighted]( integrates flawlessly with your existing tools -- like Zendesk, Salesforce, Shopify, Hubspot, and tons more. They help you turn customer insight into action, flaws into strengths, and plain old customers into brand fanatics. They even have a workflow for turning all that feedback gold into a customer testimonial on your site… talk about convenient. If you’re ready to uncover the valuable insights that have been hiding from you like the truth from your conspiracy-theorist uncle, Delighted is offering a free account for all of you lovely readers -- you can survey up to 1,000 customers per month for free. [Survey says… do it →]( In Case You Missed It [How to Mix a Family and a Startup.]( Given that our time is so scarce, what can we do to be best prepared to be a good spouse and parent while also being the best Founder we can be? [3 Red Flags to Avoid When Pitching Investors.]( Investors sift through dozens of deals a week. In order to find the gold, they need to quickly weed out the junk. The junk usually involves startups with any one of three red flags that deems the deal a “pass.” [8 Tips for Elevator Pitches That Work.]( Members of FoundersSociety — an invitation-only organization comprised of ambitious Founders and business owners — offer their best tips for putting together a one-sentence elevator pitch. Thanks from the Startups Team, Wil Schroter Founder, CEO and Startup Sensei Ryan Rutan CMO and Man with the Golden Podcast Voice Jordan Reilly Senior Graphic Designer and Fast Car Fanatic [Twitter]( [Facebook]( [Website](Startups.com) Copyright © 2019 Startups.com, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you joined Startups.com. Our mailing address is: Startups.com 1322 Manning PkwyPowell, OH 43065-1100 [Add us to your address book]( Want to change how you receive these emails? You can [update your preferences]( or [unsubscribe from this list](.