 |
|
 |
Home |
 |
 |
 |
Entrepreneurs |
 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Investors |
|
|
 |
Blog |
|
|
 |
Testimonials |
|
|
 |
In The Press |
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
What our members have to say...
 |
"DONE DEAL - Eclector builds, hosts and manages online bookstores for brands with traffic: not-for-profits, businesses, bloggers and social networkers."
|
|
Eclector - www.eclector.com |
|
|
|
|
Ten Tips For Your Investor Pitch
|
|
1. Do your research. Find out not only about the group, but the individuals to whom you’ll likely be presenting. This is a sales job, which means you need to qualify the “account” and tailor your pitch accordingly.
2. Practice the pitch WITHOUT the PowerPoint. They’re investing in you, not charts. Get it down hot (not cold). If you can’t explain your idea both well and passionately, you’ve got more work to do. Imagine all you’ve got is 10 minutes and a white board (which may really be the case). Go!
3. Keep it simple. Don’t try to cram every bit of info on the page or slide. You want them listening to you, not reading (or worse yet, giving up on the density and texting to their buddies under the table.)
4. Focus, focus, focus. Sure - your product may well be both a dessert topping and a floor wax (as in the old Saturday Night Live skit) - but that’s very confusing to both investors and markets.
5. When you talk about marketing strategy, have details about how you’re going to sell it (and more than one of it.)
6. Build a case from performance to cost modeling. Technically outperforming your potential competition is just the first step. You also need to provide details on production and sales costs with projected margins.
7. If relevant, show evidence of agreements with vendors for materials and components and with key strategic partners for distribution channels. If you don’t have agreements yet, demonstrate that you’ve done research and have a strategy.
8. Provide a two-year operating plan showing when and how funds are to be used. Uses of Funds description should not use the category “working capital.” Give details and expected results.
9. Talk about your team and/or advisors. Their expertise and commitment is a key success factor. However, focus on results, versus reciting the resumes.
10. Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know. Let me do some further work on it.” The worst thing you can do is to make something up. There may well be someone in the room who knows your market very well indeed (or think they do, which can be
even worse.)
10.5. Remember, investors are people too. Don’t bore them or waste their time.
|
|
|
|
|
