10 things to know before you pitch a VC for money
September 23, 2008
This week the good people at TED put up a good presentation on things to keep in mind when pitching your ideas to a VC (what's that?) for funding. The presenter is David S. Rose, a business-savvy, fast-talking New Yorker who has been called a "world conquering entrepreneur" by NewsWeek Magazine and has been dubbed The Pitch Coach for his many years of helping entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to to potential investors. (Here's a longer post I wrote back in February on David S. Rose). Checkout the TED University talk below. Some of the material may seem obvious to you, but coming from a business leader who has successfully pitched for millions of dollars and helped others pitch for millions more, David is a very credible source. In this TED University talk, David is talking specifically about "the pitch" to a VC, which is different from a 45-minute talk at a technical conference, but there is much in there that can be applied to other types of presentations as well. More than anything else, David is stressing that the presentation to investors is all about you. The top ten characteristics you're conveying, says David, are personal. You are asking people to invest in you, not just the idea.
A David S. Rose remix
The slides below are a remix of tips and advice from David S. Rose's presentations on how to pitch to a VC for money. These slides are not designed to be a stand-alone presentation. The design of the slides is experimental and are not the actual slides used by David S. Rose in his presentations to entrepreneurs (though content is essentially the same). Do not adjust your computer — the display type (Carbontype) is suppose to look that way (whether that is good or bad — effective or lame — is another issue all together). I used this deck to review key points with a business class after we watched the TED video. In that context, the visuals worked well (there was also a handout...of course). See the slides below or on Slideshare.
Explaining what your company is all about in under three minutes
Among many other things (when does this guy sleep?), David is the founder and CEO of Angelsoft. This short slide-like presentation below does a very good job of answering the question: What the heck is Angelsoft and why should I care? The video appears at the top of the Angelsoft website.
Angelsoft 3.0 Introduction Video from Angelsoft on Vimeo.
Awesome presentation. I think the typeface works - very different from most seen in PowerPoints, and it's big enough to make up for the "bleed" within the letters.
TED scores again with another interesting topic and presentation.
Posted by: Jon Thomas | September 24, 2008 at 10:51 PM
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Thanks
Posted by: Spammer Charlotte Ritter | September 26, 2008 at 09:08 PM
Thank you for leading me to this video.
One thing to add: David is an example of how it is possible to speak at very, very high speed and be fully understood.
Posted by: Jan Schultink | September 27, 2008 at 11:41 PM
Very very interesting.
One question: which company makes the short slide-like presentation video? It's brillant.
(
Posted by: Thomas | October 01, 2008 at 07:56 PM
A friend of mine has just done an unusual pitch. I thought it was very well done - she wants people to invest in her music and made it real easy to understand how:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpGgwuGqtNM
The only thing wrong with this - the link to her site is not working! Lesson - it doesn't matter how great the presentation - check the detail!
The website: http://www.thisislindsey.com/
Posted by: Matt Edmundson | October 15, 2008 at 12:30 AM
Just to add regarding the relevant topics for investor presentation (taken from www.investmentslides.com):
1. Company introduction: Venture Capital and Private Equity funds don’t invest in
companies or technologies – they invest in people. That means you! Therefore the initial section of the investment presentation must present to the prospective investors that you
and your team can execute the plan – present your experience and expertise and what makes you a great team.
2. Mission statement: Start-up's should use one sentence to state their goal. Don’t be
afraid to be bold – you are expected to, but keep it short and avoid generalized
statements. More mature companies, company presentations to private equity funds,
should include a short description of the company's business and positioning.
3. Pain and value proposition: whether it is a technological edge, a strong client base or amazing manufacturing power - both start-ups and mature companies should state
their value proposition in a clear (preferably visual) manner. Very often (particularly in the event of a startup) it is recommended to introduce the value proposition slide with a preliminary slide describing the specific market failure you address.
4. The product/solution/service: investor presentations should include 2-3 slides
describing your specific offering. When presenting a technological solution, it is
important to consider the technical aptitude of the audience ahead of time – investment presentation delivered to financial oriented audience should cover your relative advantages, but shouldn’t be too specific on technical subjects
5. The market and competition: describe your market and competitors honestly in 2-5
slides. Do not try to underplay your competition, investors see many venture capital presentations and may have met with your competition… In mature companies,
investment presentations may contain references to the company's status in the form of a Porter 5 forces model analysis.
6. Business Model: a venture capital presentation delivered by a start up company needs to convince that the company has a solid business model that will empower actual gains.
7. Case study/Client base: a VC presentation can be empowered by actual proof of concept in a form of an actual client or (preferably in many cases) a canned demo. In an investor presentation aimed at raising funds from private equity, a description of current client base is important, as it is typically the major asset the company holds.
8. SWAT analysis (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats): this slide is
important in mature company's analysis. Nevertheless, it can also be useful in certain VC presentation cases
9. Financials: the message delivered in this section changes from private equity and venture capital presentation. In the case of a start-up, the company should prove that it can gain significant cash flow from its activity. Mature companies need to provide further information beyond future cash flow analysis, as this information is needed for the company valuation. This additional information can include balance analysis, changes in
working capital etc.
10. Summary: provide one slide describing your offering. Remember to emphasize the
top key issues you want investors to remember from your venture capital presentation
Please visit my web site at www.investmentslides.com for a full coverage of this specific niche.
Posted by: Hagay Levy | April 15, 2009 at 10:19 PM
thank you for that video..
Posted by: loan reference | November 17, 2009 at 01:11 AM