Notes from Investment Readiness, a talk by Phil Walker, Co-Founder of Mettryx Ltd, given at an Enterprise Oxfordshire session hosted by the Business & IP Centre Oxfordshire on 16 July. The frameworks below are Phil’s, shared with thanks; where he credited others on the day, we have kept those credits.
Many of the businesses we work with at Kriston are growing fast, and growth often means looking for outside investment. When Phil Walker of Mettryx Ltd shared his insights on investment readiness with the Business & IP Centre Oxfordshire, we thought his practical advice was worth passing on to any business owner starting to think about funding, due diligence and what investors really want to see.
There’s no shortcut to attracting investment, but there are clear, practical steps that make a business more investable.
1. An idea alone won’t get you investment
Investors examine a business closely before committing money, checking for red flags. That changes the question from “how much can I get?” to “what investment do I actually need, and am I ready for it?”
2. What sort of investment do you need?
The bigger question is how much of your company, and how much control, you’re willing to give up in exchange for funding.
Founder cash: investment from the founder, collaborators, family, friends, or contacts.
Grant funding: money from bodies investing for a specific purpose, such as expansion into a new area or site. Grants often require the business to raise a matching amount.
Debt: Debt is raised against the business’s equity and assets, then repaid with interest. It can take several forms, including loans, overdrafts, asset finance and invoice finance. It can be particularly effective for businesses with strong property or equipment assets.
Equity: money offered in exchange for a return, whether shares, control, interest, or a combination. Generally, the larger the investment, the more control the owner hands over. Equity itself comes in several forms:
Angels: individuals who back you early with contacts and guidance, usually in their own area of interest.
Venture capital: funds backing high-growth potential, wanting a clear route to being repaid.
Equity crowdfunding: many small investors via a platform, though complex and costly to run.
SEIS/EIS tax relief schemes: registration makes your business more attractive, since they exist to encourage investors.
The downside of equity: unless you have to, it’s often better to avoid it. You give up ownership, control, and management. Equity investors look for unit economics that work. As a rule of thumb, a lifetime customer value of around three times the cost of winning that customer, a market large enough to interest them, and proof of a working product with paying customers, not just an idea. (Phil credited this point to Karl Rego’s investment-readiness talk at Climb26.
3. Timing matters
Don’t look for investment when you’re down to your last few pounds. Look 12–18 months ahead and plan for what the business will need by then. The better your financial position when you start, the better the terms you’ll get.
Investment also works best where a relationship already exists. If pursuing debt finance, start with lenders you already use. With new investors, take time to build trust before committing.
Phil drew this section from Chris Jones, a consultant and dealmaker, who passes on his own former finance director’s rule: “Always get an overdraft when you’ve got lots of money in the bank, because you never know when it’s going to change.”
4. How to raise investment
The route depends on the kind of capital you are after. Chris Jones’s summary, as Phil relayed it:
- Debt finance works best with a lender you already know: they understand your risk and track record.
- Asset or specialist finance usually involves a broker, since the process is technical.
- Equity investment means treating every potential investor like a customer, often via a formal “investment pipeline.”
- Be targeted. Investors see thousands of pitches, so a scattergun approach rarely works.
- Think of your pitch deck as a first date: its job is to spark interest, not close the deal.
5. What investors actually look for
Phil shared a perspective from Niraj Shah, a five-times founder, investor, and MD of DKZ Equity, a health and wellness M&A firm who spends most of his time looking at businesses through the eyes of sophisticated buyers. The strongest companies, at whatever stage, tend to share the same foundations:
- Shared foundations: the same beliefs and fundamentals.
- A clear strategy for where you’re going and how to get there.
- A great team suited to the challenge ahead.
- Evidence you’re solving a real problem customers keep paying for.
- A business that isn’t entirely dependent on its founder.
These often matter more than a polished pitch deck, though the deck still needs to be good.
a. Who’s running the business while you raise investment?
If you’re spending most of your time chasing investment, who’s running the business? A strong team in place while you fundraise is a good sign to investors.
b. Financial forecasts
Not all revenue is equal: one-off business is fine but not sustainable; repeatable business is better; contractual business is better still. Be honest about client concentration, since a diverse customer base reassures investors.
Understand your unit economics: what it costs to produce one unit, and what you sell it for. Self-funded growth is a position of strength. Investors want capital to accelerate growth that already works, not simply to cover a loss.
Keep your numbers scrutiny-ready: filings up to date, accounts accurate, personal and business finances kept separate. Clean books speed up due diligence and signal a well-run business.
c. Business plan and structure
Investors may ask to see contracts of employment or want to understand how the company operates, looking for risk in the business model, staffing, and key-person dependency.
Your business plan should be robust enough that someone else could test and verify it: a written document with defensible assumptions, not something that only exists in your head. Keep it current in a data room, along with:
- Shareholders’ agreements / share register
- Key customer contracts
- Existing investment and debt
- Plans for use of the money
d. Know what the money is for
Match the amount you’re raising to the actual requirement, the type of investment, and the timeframe. Plan for 12–18 months of use before you’re likely to need to raise again, and be clear about when and how you’ll spend it.
There is another area that often sits behind all of this but is easy to overlook: the systems that keep the business running. Investors do not only want confidence in the numbers, the contracts and the growth plan; they also want confidence that the company is secure, resilient and well-managed operationally.
6. The Kriston layer: IT and security due diligence
Investors increasingly look beyond the balance sheet when assessing risk. A business with weak IT infrastructure or gaps in its cyber security is a red flag in the same way as messy accounts: it signals operational risk, potential downtime, and exposure to data breaches that could affect valuation or derail a deal entirely. Well-managed, secure systems, and a clear picture of how the business protects its data and keeps running, are as much a sign of investability as clean books.
This is where Kriston can help. We work with growing businesses to review the IT foundations investors are likely to care about, from Microsoft 365 configuration and user access controls to device management, data protection, backup, business continuity and cyber security. The aim is not simply to make the technology work today, but to make sure it is organised, documented and resilient enough to withstand scrutiny.
In practice, this often starts with an IT health check. We look at how the business is set up now, where the risks are, and what might raise questions during due diligence. For example, are user accounts properly managed? Are leavers being offboarded securely? Is multi-factor authentication in place across key systems? Are company devices visible, protected and kept up to date? Are backups running, monitored and tested? Are Microsoft 365 permissions, SharePoint access and Teams structures clear enough to explain and evidence?
For life sciences, STEM and other data-sensitive businesses, this can be especially important. Investors, customers and partners may want reassurance that sensitive information is protected, access is controlled, and systems are reliable enough to support growth. A business handling research data, client information, financial records or intellectual property needs to be able to show that security is not being managed informally or left to chance.
Our process turns technical risk into a clear improvement plan. That might include tightening user permissions, removing unnecessary administrator access, improving endpoint protection, reviewing ageing or unsupported equipment, strengthening email security, checking backup and recovery arrangements, introducing vulnerability management, supporting Cyber Essentials preparation, or creating a more structured hardware lifecycle. These are practical changes that reduce risk and make the business easier to explain to investors.
Documentation matters too. During due diligence, it is much easier to answer questions if key systems, licences, suppliers, security controls, backup processes and support arrangements are already recorded. We help businesses build that visibility so they are not relying on one person’s memory or scattered notes when an investor asks how the technology is managed.
Ongoing support is just as important as the initial review. Through proactive monitoring, regular reporting, patching, security checks, service desk support and strategic review meetings, we help businesses stay ahead of issues rather than reacting when something breaks. That gives owners and leadership teams better visibility, clearer priorities and more confidence when making decisions about growth.
It is far better to address these areas early than to discover gaps during due diligence. By getting the IT and security basics in order before the investment conversation gathers pace, you can reduce risk, answer questions with confidence, and show that the business is being run with the same discipline investors expect to see in your finances, contracts and growth plans.
7. Common issues that stall investment
Gaps in the pitch
- Unclear positioning or lack of a clear strategy
- Overly long presentations (aim for under 15 slides)
- Numbers that don’t add up
- Over-dependence on the founder
- Due diligence started too late
- Concerns over dilution of control
- Simply not being ready
- A reputation as a “bad investment”
- Pursuing the wrong type of investment
8. Key takeaways
Becoming investment-ready doesn’t happen overnight, but a few consistent habits make a real difference over time. Here’s what’s worth keeping in mind:
- A clear strategy goes a long way.
- It helps to have your investment pack ready ahead of time.
- It’s worth thinking about which type of investment genuinely fits your business.
- Your existing contacts and relationships are often a good place to start.
- Ask yourself what you could change in the next 30 days to become a little more investable.
If you’d also like to gauge how investment-ready your business is more broadly, Mettryx runs a free Investment Readiness Scorecard. A few minutes gets you a score across eight dimensions, plus feedback you can use to identify where the business is already strong and where more preparation may be needed.
