Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Season 3 Episode 11: 'Aren't Those the Guys From Shark Tank?' Is your business ready for an investment round?

By Matthew McCreary

When is the right time to ask for investment money? If it's too soon, investors will have too many doubts to jump in. Too late, and they'll worry the opportunity doesn't have enough upside.

This week's Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch introduces four startups, each one in a different stage of development. One entrepreneur has been making sales on her product for five years, even appearing on The Steve Harvey Show and the Home Shopping Network. Another has raised more than half a million dollars but has yet to earn a single client. Another of the entrepreneurs had previously appeared on Shark Tank.

Related: Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch Season 3 Episode 10: 'I Don't Know If I Can Drop F-Bombs on Elevator Pitch'

But, which of these options is most attractive to the judges? Some of the business ideas seem too small while some of the bigger concepts seem too ill-defined. A man with an ambitious tech vision fails to explain his concept in a minute. Even when he's given more time, he struggles to make the judges see just how his business differs from the competition and why it would be important to invest right now.

That leads to an important tip from one of the judges: When there's competition, first make yourself equal, then make yourself better in the eyes of investors and potential clients.

Will the judges accept his pitch, despite the slow start? To find out, stream this week's Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch.

Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch in partnership with Sports 1 Marketing streams Wednesdays on Entrepreneur.com. Follow Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch on Facebook, YouTube and IGTV.

Matthew McCreary

Entrepreneur Staff

Associate Editor, Contributed Content

Matthew McCreary is the associate editor for contributed content at Entrepreneur.com.

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