PROJECT RISK FACTORS
Unaddressed project risks are the one thing that may prevent you from getting funded. Ensure that you address all risks (perceived or real) early on in your pitch.
Project risk factors to consider
Project dynamics are usually an interplay between cost, schedule and quality achieved.
Reducing cost and shortening the schedule, usually lowers the quality. Focusing on quality at the expense of the schedule, usually increases the cost.
These factors (and other described below) determine the risk profile of your project. The better you understand the risks, the easier it will be to provide your potential investors with comfort while they are evaluating your proposal.
Project Risk Types
In the section below, we provide a short description of the most common types of project risks that you need to consider when preparing your pitch to potential investors.
Project Risk Factors
Cost overruns can have various points of origin:
- Wrong assumptions
- Design errors
- Scope creep
- Implementation errors
- Hidden agendas
Whatever the reason, do as much as you can to reduce the risk of cost overruns, as early on in the project as you can.
Do not skip detailed planning and preparation phases. The stronger you build a foundation, the bigger the structure you can build on top.
Promising one thing and delivering something else (worse than what was promised) is a sure way to get on the wrong side of investors.
Have you invested enough resources in your project design? Do you feel confident that you know enough to actually deliver what you are promising?
If not, spend some time to ground the project deliverables in reality, before your approach investors. If you don’t, your insecurity about your ability to deliver will undermine your ability to deliver a confident pitch.
Things change. That is one thing we can always be certain of. The way you plan for unforeseen changes in project dynamics will determine how well your project will do from a scheduling perspective.
Always prioritize, and ensure that the culture of your project aligns with the deliverables (this is not as easy as it seems).
Demonstrate to your investors how you would handle scheduling issues, should they occur.
Relying on other people to implement the project you got funded is a risk in itself.
Your ability to outline the vision, and how different aspects of the project contribute to the vision will go a long way in alleviating implementation issues.
Demonstrate to investors how you will align project implementers with the end goal.
No-one can foresee exactly what tomorrow will bring, but as a domain expert, investors will be relying on you to factor in all potential market risks that could impact the project.
These include:
- New competitors
- Product/services alternatives
- Product/service market pricing
- Resource availability & price changes
- Automation
- Logistics
Demonstrate that you are aware of all potential market risks.
What does your board and management structure look like?
Is everyone on board with the project you are trying to get funded?
Are there competing domains that will try to undermine your project?
What about hostile board members or executives that could poison the project from the inside?
For your own sanity and survival, ensure that you are well positioned within your own organization, before your go look for external project funding.
Black swan events are unforeseen events that have a major impact on society (or a project).
The Covid-19 pandemic was a Black Swan event. No-one saw it coming, and the impact was felt around the world.
On a smaller scale, natural disasters like floods, storms, volcanic eruptions, lightning strikes or human-made disasters like wars, terrorism, violent unrest etc are all examples of Black Swan events.
Although we cannot plan for these, have a framework in place for the ones that are most likely to occur where you are.
GET FUNDING READY
If you are not familiar with the process of raising capital, getting funded can be a long and painful process. Cut through the complexity and save yourself a lot of time and effort by using our services to get your project funding ready.
We can do all the heavy lifting for you and then introduce you to potential investors.
Use our expertise to achieve the following:
- Develop a value proposition and narrative that aligns with your personal and business objectives
- Build a financial model that resonates with the type of investor you are looking for
- Get introduced to potential investors
Having said this, our services are not for everyone. We only work with projects that we believe have a real chance of getting funded.
Someone’s desire to get funded is not the same thing as having a viable project.
In order to understand if there is potential for collaboration, we have a pre-qualification process, which starts with the form below.
When you click the button, you will be asked a number of questions related to your project. Upon submission of the form, we will revert to you within 48 hours to advise whether we believe that we could be of service in helping you to get funding ready.
