Business Presentations
If you are a new business owner you will have to learn the art of business presentations whether it be a formal presentation to a group of people or just telling someone you meet what you and your business do.If you seek venture finance you will soon master the art business presentations, as once you've opened the door to an investor with your executive summary or business plan most likely the next stage is a formal presentation.
Investment Pitches
The length of the Investment Pitch varies according to the type of meeting; whether it is one to one or one to many; business angel network presentations will have a clearly defined timing to which you must adhere. Most investment presentations range form 8 to 12 minutes and can be given with or without PowerPoint slides.The points you must cover in your presentation include:
Introductions: Who are you, the business name and what does the business do, stated very clearly and understandably.
What is your Vision Statement? State it clearly and with passion, if you have crafted it correctly it will not need explaining!
What is the problem/pain or need are you addressing? Why will customers buy your product; or why are they buying your product. What pain do they have that your product solves?
What is the product or service? Describe the product or service so that it may be understood by someone who is non-technical but provide enough information so that they understand the uniqueness and specialty of your offering. Do not go into deep technical detail; leave this for interested parties or questioning after the presentation.
Who is the customer? Who are your customers and what need are you satisfying? What evidence do you have that your product/service is effective and customers will or are buying at your set price.
What is your competitive advantage and how is that advantage protected? Why will people prefer your solution ahead of a competing product; what is the strength of your competitive advantage. How will that advantage be protected and how ill it continue to be protected in the future; have you registered IP (patent, brand, copyright, license, trademark) or is the expertise required to create the product or service hard to copy?
How big is the market? You must provide numerical evidence that there are more potential buyers for your product; what is the size of the market, what portion of the market will you address, what market territories will you address, how many are likely to buy your product and based on what evidence.
What is your go to market strategy? How do you plan to make sure your potential buyers know about your product so they can buy it? How will you tell them? What marketing tactics will you use?
What is your sales strategy? How do you plan to sell your product? Direct sales, distribution network, internet sales, retail, wholesale or manufacturing license. Explain why you have chosen this strategy to meet your revenue predictions.
What is your exit strategy? How do you plan make an exit so that your investors can achieve their return on their investment. When do you plan for this to be? Will it be IPO, trade sale? What is your predicted value on exit? If you have opted for a trade sale, which companies are likely to be interested and what is the likely sale price?
What do you need to do to achieve the exit? To reach your planned exit date what needs to be done and by when, what are your milestones?
Who is going to make this happen? Who are your key management team? What positions do they hold, what is their previous experience that is likely to be useful to ensure the business reaches its objectives? If you have roles that need to be filled say what they are and how you plan to fill them.
Investment, how much do you need? How much money do you need and when do you need it? Are you looking for anything else from the investor in terms of skills? What will the investment be used for?
What returns are you offering the investor? What portion of equity are you selling to the investors for the level of funding that you require? Give the investor your starting point, this will invariably be negotiated and give an idea of proposed exit value and the timeframe.
Compelling Reason to Invest: Finish by stating the key points from your presentation and the compelling reason why the investors cannot afford to miss this opportunity!! This is your ‘call to action’ and needs to be a strong sales message.
Make it Memorable!: You are one of many pitches investors will hear, how do you stand out from the rest? Why should they invest in you and not the next business they hear? Your pitch must be clear, stick to the allotted time and you need it to be remembered by your audience.
Using PowerPoint
PowerPoint is a useful tool but can be over used to your disadvantage!! Slides must be clear and not over complex. Remember the audience can read so don’t read out your slides, they are there to help you convey the information and present your business in a logical order. You are telling your story, make it interesting and don’t go off track or you may run out of time or lose your audience from retaining your central message.
The Elevator Pitch
The Elevator Pitch is a set of believable, compelling sentences, about your business, designed to engage attention. Imagine you are seeking venture capital and have entered a lift on the ground floor with a prospective investor and have the time it takes the elevator to travel, say, 5 floors (about 30 seconds) to engage their attention and deliver a call to action. In this situation you have to clearly and concisely articulate your business idea without the aid of visual aids or props; so it must be well rehearsed!The ‘Elevator Pitch’ is not normally used in investor presentations as there is usually more time in which to explain about your investment proposition but in general networking forums it is a good idea to have a few compelling sentences to engage someone’s attention and make a potential investor want to know more about you and your business.
You need to cover:
- The Product: What it is, the need it satisfies and its USP;
- The Market: Its size and market drivers;
- Sales: Pricing and product distribution;
- Your Partners: High profile customers, well known partners;
- How you plan to exit;
- Why you are right for this opportunity and what you want;
- Encourage feedback and ask for that follow up meeting - your call to action!