Omar Zenhom explains why founders hearing rejections from investors should focus on customers and traction first. Investors fund demonstrated results (sales, demand, execution), so the speaker recommends a four-step, practical plan: bootstrap lean, rework and test your offer, obsess over customer traction via mini-launches and simple checkout flows, and document metrics and testimonials. He illustrates the approach with his own product, WebinarNinja, which he pre-sold and launched in 2014, and closes with a call-to-action to subscribe to his weekly "Three Things" newsletter.
Questions this video answers
2014
2025-06-04
Chapters
No one wants to invest in my business. What do I do? If you're hearing a lot of no's, or worse, silence, it can feel brutal. But hear me out. You don't need investors to succeed. You need customers. And actually they work hand in hand. I want to show you how to build a business that investors or anybody would wish they had the chance to invest in later. The first concept we need to agree on is that investors don't fund ideas, they fund results. If you ever watch a show, Shark Tank, the entrepreneur walks into the tank and pitches to the investors, to these billionaires, right? And the first question that the sharks ask the entrepreneur, the absolute first question every single time, is, how many sales do you have? Because that's all that matters, okay? It could be a great idea. They could fall in love with the branding of the designing. They might really love this person that's pitching. But it all doesn't matter if the market doesn't like it. Why do you think that's the first question? Why is that question so important? Well, because most investors are in the business of taking huge risks. So they want to see sales, they want to see traction, they want to see demand, they want to see evidence that you can execute on the idea. If you don't have these things yet, you're not unlucky. You're just early, and you're just asking for investment too early. So, for example, if you can't get customers or enough customers, it's not just a sales problem, it's a business model problem. That means your offer, your pricing, your product, your positioning, something is off, something isn't compelling enough. Yet. Investors aren't rejecting you personally. They're reacting to the current strengths of your business model. They're reacting to the strengths of the opportunity that you are offering them. And that's fixable. We can change that. But your mission now isn't to convince an investor. It's to improve your business until the value is so obvious that customers show up without hesitation. Let's get super practical. Here's exactly what I would do if I were you and I was building a business that is looking for investment but doesn't have traction yet. Number one, I'd bootstrap like a boss. Okay? Start, lean, strip away anything that doesn't help you build, sell, or deliver your product. Remember, profit is the best investor you'll ever have. If you have profit in your business, that allows you to pay yourself and reinvest in your business, you have a growth machine. It's almost impossible for you to lose if you are that profitable, where you're profitable enough to pay yourself or pay your employees, cover your overhead and then from there have money left over to reinvest in your business and grow. Number two, I would rework and test your offer. If people aren't buying, change something. Okay, Is your offer solving a real painful problem? Painful enough for them to want a solution? Is it crystal clear what they're going to get, what that solution looks like? And then finally, is the transformation you're promising exciting enough? If not adjust, test again. Business isn't a sell and forget it. It's an experiment. It constantly needs to be improved and constantly needs to be iterated upon because that's how you stay competitive. Number three, I would focus obsessively on customer traction. Build a mini launch like a landing page. Have an offer on that landing page, just compelling, that's like a no brainer that they would feel foolish not to buy. Have a simple way for them to pay, a checkout process. Push out that product in the world and get feedback from your early customers. Use everything at your disposal. Content marketing, Instagram, webinars, partnerships, networking. If you don't have a network, build a network. First goal is 10 customers, next goal is a hundred, then a thousand. Every single sale along that path, along that journey is validation that you are on the right path, that you are iterating correctly. And number four, lastly, document everything. Investors don't fund dreams, okay? They fund momentum. So track your customer acquisition costs, track your revenue growth tracker, conversion rates, track your customer feedback, the testimonials and the information you're gathering, gathering for them, good and bad. It's okay. This creates a story of your growth that investors later on can ignore. Let me give you a personal example of everything I just taught today. And that's my software company, Webinar Ninja that I launched in 2014. Nobody offered us funding when we got started. Nobody was throwing money at us. We had to pre sell our product to fill our beta spots to prove the product headlights, prove that we're actually fulfilling a need in the market for sale. Simpler, easier, more effective, more engaging webinars. It was literally just a landing page with mockups and a video and a buy button, right? We generated real cash in that process and allowed us to have some cash flow that funded development that built traction. But most of all, it gave me proof that this is a product that needs to exist in the world and people actually want it. So the moral of the story is traction first, fund later. Okay? To wrap up today's lesson. I want to leave you with this Ryan who asked today's question and anybody else who's listening. If you if no one wants to invest in you yet, don't get bitter. Get better. All right? Improve your idea. Sharpen your offer. Get closer to your customer. Deliver undeniable value. Because when your business is irresistible to your customers, investors are going to line up. And if they don't, guess what? You still win. Because your business will be real profitable and yours. How good is that? It's a win win. If you wanna keep on learning from me, if you wanna go deeper Every single week, we have a great, great resource for you. It's my three Things newsletter. It's something that I absolutely love because it allows me to coach you from afar. Every week I send you an email with three things. Something to think about, something to do, and something to learn. These three things allows you to grow week after week, allowing those skills to compound. It's absolutely free. All you gotta do is go to 100- MBA-NET and sign up for any of our free guides and you get added to our newsletter automatically. Thanks so much for tuning into the podcast. 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