5 Personality Traits That Every Investor Looks For

Before committing to your company, investors will want to know that 

their money is in capable hands. These are the personality traits that they'll 

be looking for.

You can have the best business plan in the world at your back, but if you lack a personality that suggests a good investment, investors are not going to want to give you their money. There are certain personality traits that maximize your chance of getting the investor on board:

Responsibility

Someone who's not in a lot of debt, has good credit, and has at least a modest number of assets to his or her name is someone investors will want to partner with. Proven responsibility demonstrates that you are good at managing money and that their investment will be a successful one with someone so capable at the helm.

Attentiveness

Attention to detail, eye contact, and a strong handshake are all important when you're presenting your business to potential investors. Showing that you pay attention to even the tiniest little details will tell your investors that No. 1, you care about your business enough to remember even the small things for your meeting with them, and No. 2, that you will catch any large problems well before they have a chance to affect your business, effectively staving off a disaster.

Calculated Risk-Taking

Although risk-taking can sometimes be a characteristic of reckless behavior, it can also be a sign of great confidence. As the saying goes, with no risk comes no reward. If an individual has proven to be responsible, risk-taking can actually be seen as a good thing from a potential investor because it shows that the entrepreneur is not afraid of going into uncharted waters with a plan to bring in some extra return.

Realism

This is attractive to investors because it proves that you have faith in your product--and things to back up that faith. Going on faith alone is deadly to any good investment, as hope does not bring in profits; rather, good solid solutions to marketplace problems bring in profits. When you show investors that you have your feet on the ground and are firmly planted in what needs to be done to make a business work, you will have caught their attention--as too many small business owners rely on hope or head-in-the clouds fanciful ideas to keep their business running.

Tempered Confidence

This definitely goes hand in hand with realism, as you cannot have one without the other. Obviously, knowing how difficult a market can be is good for business because you know what to plan for, but being down on yourself and overworrying are only going to lead to failure in addition to giving off the vibe to investors that you are overwhelmed by your business, and therefore prone to mismanage it. On the other hand, overconfidence shows that you are simply cocky, and may have problems adapting when need be, which are signs of a personality trait that investors will want to avoid at all costs. At the end of the day, having just the appropriate level of confidence in yourself and your business will yield the best results for your investment meeting.

From Inc. Magazine