How to secure investors, from the co-founders of Judo Bank

Put simply, in seeking investors we found there is just no substitute for ‘wearing out shoe leather’, or, to borrow from a parallel idea from the book Blown to Bits by Philip Evans and Thomas Wurster, it’s about ‘richness and reach’. 

‘Richness’ in this case is the combination of the depth and quality of the engagement you can achieve, and the personal relationship, rapport and credibility you are able to build over time when you are physically sitting across the table. ‘Reach’ is all about the number of qualified investors you see and the consistency with which you see them.

In the period from 2015 to 2019, that’s exactly what we did. We made numerous international trips, and invested heavily in building relationships and rapport with investors and progressively developing their familiarity with the Judo proposition.

One of our more significant frustrations in having to make these trips during our first several rounds of capital raising was facing the questions, ‘Where are the Australian investors? What do they know that we don’t?’