From a Business Week article from the New York Angel Group (group of angel investors who see a dozen - thats 12 - business pitches a week).
Here's what they said should be included in your pitch, and remember SHORT is key. The more you talk, the more likely you are to lose your audience. KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). Take a look:
(the stuff in purple represents the introductory information - the stuff in blue represents the actual content)
- Company Title Page: name + logo + presenter (name with title) + company tagline + dollar amount being sought
- Business Overview: what you sell + what you do
- Management Team: talent + experience and background for each member of the management team (three lines maximum)
- Market: environment + segments (your specific market niche) + pain points (where the problems exist)
- Product: how do you solve customer's pain + what you do + product images or screen shots (if you have them - will depend on your round of funding) + process diagram (again, if you have them)
- Business Model: explains the revenue generation portion of your company: who pays whom + how much (pricing model) + for what (what customers are paying for) + from where (how payment is made)
- Customers: who are they (demographics) + how many are there (population size) + how to distribute to them + how are they attracted and retained (marketing)
- Barriers to Entry: how to outlast the competition - why other people can't do what you're trying to do
- Financial Overview: top line revenues + expenses + EBIDTA (earnings before interest, depreciation, taxes and amortization... in other words, earings before all the bad stuff)
- Use of Proceeds: what you plan to do with the $$ you requested on the title page
- Capital and Valuation: money raised previously + current investors + what is being sought + suggested valuation
- Review: presentation summary (keep it in the same order) + highlights (5-7 points you want to re-iterate)
- Contact Info & Next Steps: if they're interested, leave nothing to their imagination - tell them what's next + follow up meeting (what will be discussed) + contact info
Hope it helps someone get some funding. Keep us posted. We like success stories - they help remind us that SOMEONE out there is successful...
Now playing: Radiohead - There There (Haiil to the Thief)
2 comments:
Nadiyah, you need to learn quickly.
It's not the quality of the pitch (i.e. those 13 points), it's where the pitch comes from. Cognitive bias to familiarity.
It's like if your favourite movie star handed you a drawing she did as a kid. It's may be a terribly crappy piece of work - but because of the reputation of the person giving it to you - you will place value on this object which other wise would be worthless.
Do you see what I am saying? Don't ever pitch people. Ask people people if you can pitch them. Reply only to invitations. This is not an activity where cold calls are effective. Make sure you have a friendship - or a referal - with the peopple you're pitching.
These things are a lt more important that 13 rational obseravations. Investment decisions are nor rational. They are based on emotions of trust, familiarity, greed, delusion and speculation.
Thay have little to do with "Contact Info & Next Steps" and everything to do with feelings of comfort and excitement.
Thanks for the insight and you've school me on this notion a bit on the Young Entreprenurs board (www.youngentrepreneur.com).
It was an article I found on BusinessWeek that I found interesting, and thought our VAST audience (ha) might also find interesting.
As for your comments - it relates a lot to the question I asked on the "Let the Critiques Begin" posting.
Which is more important when it comes to investors: you or the idea?!
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