See: Why You Should Get More Than Money From An Investor

In the new Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch broadcast program, founders enter the Entrepreneur Elevator and have just 60 seconds to present their idea, product, or business to a panel of investors. Whether an entrepreneur is invited to the boardroom or sent back downstairs depends on what our experts think in that first minute. Here, we break down the lessons aspiring business owners can learn from each episode’s releases.

There are many reasons why entrepreneurs seek financing for their businesses. They may be ready to scale up manufacturing and lack the resources to do so. They may need capital to invest in getting the word out about the new product they have developed. Often they simply need to access the many valuable resources investors have at their disposal.

However, for many company founders, investors bring a much more important asset to a startup. Most investors are seasoned professionals who can bring experience and knowledge to a particular business. In the sixth episode of Entrepreneur’s new Elevator Pitch streaming series, we meet a group of founders who desperately needed this kind of expert guidance. Here are three important lessons that entrepreneurs can learn from the episode.

Investors are consultants.

First on the episode were Jared and Karina Rabin, the husband and wife team behind Hang-O-Matic, a popular picture-hanging tool. At first, these two attracted “bait and switch” concerns. They spent most of their speech talking about their already successful product and then suddenly revealed that they wanted to invest in a newer tool. Know that in these situations, investors will generally want a piece of the original, successful product before considering anything else. They’ll probably send you packing differently

So the investors agreed to let the Rabins go up to the boardroom, but if the investment wasn’t specific to the original tool, they weren’t interested. After all, the couple already made it clear that they had more than enough income to fund their planned new product.

Fortunately, Jared and Karina quickly revealed that their main interest was finding a business partner who could advise them as they moved forward with their business. That means they were okay with investors taking a stake in the original product, not just the newer. Investors were immediately interested and agreed to serve as a team of consultants in exchange for shares in the company. This was a perfect fit for the couple, who was exhausted after years of working nights and weekends to build their business. The success of this launch clearly shows that investors can be invaluable advisers to your portfolio businesses. Be open to the idea that this could also be the relationship you need.

First, conduct market tests.

Dawn Maslar, author of the book Men Chase, Women Choose, approached the panel with a product called Devotion Test. After sampling a man’s saliva, he said, the test can detect whether a man is engaged to the woman he is currently with. The panel felt a bit unsure about Maslar’s product, but they were curious enough to invite her into the boardroom anyway to hear more.

Once inside the boardroom, Maslar failed to win over investors. Their biggest objection was that they simply weren’t convinced that there is real demand from customers for their test. With a proven sales history or market research, you may have been able to dispute this objection. Although she didn’t have that. All of her actually had her own opinion. Investors’ decision to opt out demonstrated the importance of having market data before addressing investors.