How to know when is the right time to seek investment with Jo Fairley, co-founder of Green & Blacks

How To Start Up by FF&M

One of the most challenging aspects is knowing when the right time is to seek investment for your company. If too early your business may not be ready, however, if too late you may slow down its growth potential.

In this episode, I speak with Jo Fairley, co-founder of the renowned chocolate company Green & Blacks. Jo co-founded the business in 1991 with her partner, Craig Sams, to create the world’s first organic chocolate and the UK’s first Fairtrade-marked product. In recognition of her entrepreneurial talent, Jo received an Honorary Doctorate in Business Studies from Kingston University.

Jo is one of the UK’s leading female entrepreneurs and has been an inspiration to me throughout my whole career, originally in PR and now as someone who has started a business, so I was thrilled to speak to her about her investment experience and hear her advice on key considerations around the timing of raising investment.
Jo’s advice:

• If your business grows quickly you may find your cash flow restricted so you will need investment
• If you are lucky, you may be able to play one potential investor off against another
• Avoid being in a situation where you are tempted to take the ‘wrong money’ because you are under pressure
• You may need to keep your day job to finance growth
• Be prepared for investors to want to investigate every area of your business: your contracts, your financial details, your social media history - they will want to see every detail
• Finding the right investor can be a full-time job
• You must decide how much equity to give away; keep this as minimal as possible
• Be aware that with an investor, you lose power and autonomy
• Consider crowd-funding as a source of revenue, rather than finding a single investor
• Be mentally fit for this challenge - your well-being is vital for your whole business

FF&M enables you to own your own PR. Recorded, edited & published by Juliet Fallowfield, 2023 MD & Founder of PR & Communications consultancy for startups Fallow, Field & Mason. Email us at [e-mail] or DM us on instagram @fallowfieldmason.

Let us know how your start up journey is going or if you have any questions you would like us to discuss in future episodes.

FF&M recommends:

• LastPass the password-keeping site that syncs between devices.
• Google Workspace is brilliant for small businesses
• Buzzsprout podcast 'how to' & hosting directory
• Canva has proved invaluable for creating all the social media assets and audio bites.
• For contracts check out Law Depot.

MUSIC CREDIT Funk Game Loop by Kevin MacLeod. Link & Licence

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