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Michelle Weinstein, AKA The Pitch Queen, is the host of Success Unfiltered, which features an array of unique and inspiring guests. She talks to all kinds of innovators and achievers, including multi seven and eight figure entrepreneurs, Shark Tank veterans, authors, performers, and investors.

Her guests share their most intimate stories, no holds barred. It’s the raw and vulnerable stuff that you don’t always hear about, like major rejections, epic failures, and unrelenting setbacks.
They share their most inspiring stories of overcoming adversity, never giving up, and achieving success beyond their wildest imaginations.

She created this podcast to help entrepreneurs realize that they are NOT alone. Everyone who has attempted something epic has had their share of setbacks, failures, and NOs. By sharing unfiltered stories from extraordinary individuals who overcame hardships and ultimately achieved their version of success, her hope is to inspire others to stay in the game and hold out for their own dreams.

Her mission and goal is to inspire rising entrepreneurs to break through barriers, overcome obstacles, and make a bigger impact in the world. It’s her passion to show people how to take action, own their value, and grow their top-line revenue. You CAN build a successful and flourishing business and make a global impact by doing what you love, and Success Unfiltered will inspire you ever step of the way!

https://www.thepitchqueen.com/podcast-success-unfiltered/

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  2. 111 | Will Smelko Shares How to Find Investors that Lead to Strategic Moves

111 | Will Smelko Shares How to Find Investors that Lead to Strategic Moves

Jul 10, 2019

111 | Will Smelko Shares How to Find Investors that Lead to Strategic Moves

What value do investors add to your business relationship? And what value do you add?

Will Smelko is the visionary and CEO behind Ora Organic as well as a fervent foodie. Upon graduating from UC Berkeley, he dove headfirst into the world of strategy consulting for Fortune 500 healthcare and pharmaceutical companies but soon realized his calling was elsewhere. Understanding that the most promising solution to climate change involved food, Will began exploring plant-based nutrition. Ora is changing the status-quo by creating nutritional products made directly from food without artificial additives. Ora reflects the values of its co-founders, which is why the company prioritizes organic farming, sustainable harvesting practices, and delicious, plant-based nutrition.

When you’re starting out, it can be very tempting to just accept money from anyone who is offering it, and figure things out after. But, vetting our investors can help us strategically grow our business. 

You started your business because you were passionate about the product you manufacture, or the service that you provide - not solely for the money. That means you want investors who are going to be able to help that business move forward: you know what your business needs, who has the connections and the ability to meet those needs? That’s who you want as an investor.

I know how tempting it is to take money from any investor when you have none. When I started FITzee Foods, I accepted money from any investor who was willing to give. But if I had taken the time and interviewed potential investors to see what value they could bring, and if I had figured out what value I brought to them, it would have completely changed how I approached investors in my business. 

This week’s guest on Success Unfiltered, Will Smelko, started his plant-based nutrition company, and instead of accepting any investor interested in his business, he faced his fears and asked the hard questions.

Are you ready to see how vetting investors strategically can lead to success? You’ll find all that AND MORE in this episode of Success Unfiltered!

Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered!

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Special thanks goes out to Will Smelko for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode!

If You Don’t Believe In Yourself, Nobody Else Will. But why is doing it so hard? Most entrepreneurs can learn strategies. But the strategies are useless if your mind is stacked against you. What do you do to stop the negative self-talk and become your own biggest cheerleader? Start by investing in the most vital asset your business has: YOU. Grab my FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time) and let me show you how!

Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:

  • Michelle introduces Will Smelko.
  • Will, the Shark Tank veteran of the month, created a plant-based supplement, named Ora Organics to avoid additives in food and supplements.
  • The most NOs that Will heard were in the early days, from investors: there was a long string of NOs!
  • In the beginning, a lot of people said NO because it was a product that had a negative connotation: many people were not interested in supplements.
  • One of the earliest NO’s was overcoming objections through education; helping people see that their supplements weren’t “artificial”; that they were made from plant-based products.
  • Working with investors can be hard because they ask the tough questions: some of which you don’t have answers! Prepare as much as possible, and embrace that you won’t have all of the answers in the end.
  • Learn what numbers and metrics are important, and focus on those. Make sure that you are working with the data that is most important to you and your company.
  • When investors don’t give money, sales will keep you afloat!
  • “When we are out there talking to investors, you can figure out pretty quickly (in the first 5 or 10 minutes) what investors care about.” ~ Will Smelko
  • Instead of catering to all of your different audiences, go back to the core of who you are and what your company is all about. That will naturally attract the right kind of investors and help vet out the ones that aren’t the best fit. 
  • Shark Tank was especially defeating because most of the Sharks said NO so quickly, and they critiqued the packaging. Ora Organics was able to turn it into a conversation on social media, and have conversations with their consumers.
  • Ora Organics had to go to a completely new manufacturer, and risk selling out of stock on hand. When it came to making that decision, it came down to staying true to their core values.
  • Will and his team vetted potential investors to see if they’d actually be a good fit for the company and the culture. It was scary to do that, for fear of investors feeling like they weren’t trusted, but Will and his team would follow up with references.
  • The key thing that they looked for was value for both parties: “If you can't sit down and write out clearly on paper exactly where this, "value add" investment fund is actually going to add value, then they're not a value add.” 
  • It took Will a while to grow into being the kind of entrepreneur who would vet investors. “The 2015 Will would have just been like 'Oh my God I'm so grateful that these people are talking to me! Maybe we'll get an investment!  I don't know if I should even call - if I call the references, are they going to think that I'm like doubting them?' I lacked that self-confidence at an early stage. I was just happy to be talking to someone and that they hadn't told me NO yet.” ~Will Smelko
  • Will and his team knew that even if the company failed, they would still be committed to creating the product, and would somehow be involved in something like it. That kept them going through the hard times.
  • Will shares what he would tell his younger self.

Connect with Will Smelko:

If You Don’t Believe In Yourself, Nobody Else Will. But why is doing it so hard? Most entrepreneurs can learn strategies. But the strategies are useless if your mind is stacked against you. What do you do to stop the negative self-talk and become your own biggest cheerleader? Start by investing in the most vital asset your business has: YOU. Grab my FREE guide Believing In Yourself (For REAL This Time) and let me show you how!

Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com