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What an Investor Looks For
» Vision
- Are you thinking big?
- Have you identified an opportunity large enough to generate significant return?
- Scalability
» Clarity
- Have you clearly identified a problem/market need which your product/service addresses?
- Have you clearly articulated how your solution solves the problem?
- Is the value proposition easy to understand?
» Experience
- Is the Management Team qualified to solve this problem?
- Can you sell? Your Company, Your Product, Yourself
» Risk
- Market Risk: Market Size, Adoption, Competition
- Technology Risk: Does it work?
- Financial Risk: Enough Money? Strong Co-Investors?
- Execution Risk: What can go wrong?
- Management Risk: Experienced and Flexible?
Tips for Writing a Good Business Plan
» Be Concise
- It doesn’t need to be “War and Peace”
- Include an Executive Summary
- Use a “Bottom-Up” analysis of the market opportunity
- Be realistic with your projections
» Be Clear
- Use plain language and avoid jargon
- Discuss the market problem and explain how your solution addresses that problem
- Use examples and/or screenshots whenever possible
» Address the Risks Head On
- Market Risk: Talk honestly about competition. Recognize that Market Adoption is always a factor.
- Technology Risk: It’s OK to sell vaporware and betaware, but don’t try to sell your investors that you’re further along than you really are.
- Financial Risk: Don’t be too greedy with your equity and don’t run out of cash.
- Execution Risk: Have a back up plan and expect bumps in the road.
- Management Risk: Talk about your experiences, your successes and your failures.
- Explain how they’re relevant to the current business. Be upfront about management team weaknesses. Every team has room to grow.
Questions Your B-Plan Should Address
» Key Questions
- What problem do you solve?
- What is your product?
- Who is the customer?
- Who will sell it?
- How many people will buy it?
- How much will it cost?
- How much will you charge?
- When will you break even?
» The Product
- Why would anyone buy your product?
- What will it look like?
- When will it ship?
- How different are you from the competition?
- What is the product’s name?
» The Customer
- Do the customers think it is a good idea?
- Who is the real customer?
- What are your customers’ secrets?
- Should you do focus groups?
- How much will the customer pay?
» The Competition
- Who is your competition?
- What are they doing?
- What is their value proposition?
- What are their secrets?
» Market Research
- What do the experts say?
- What do the numbers say?
- What do the users say?
- What’s on the web?
- What do the media think?
- Can you predict the future?
» The Marketing Strategy
- What is your strategic objective?
- What is your marketing objective?
- How will you sell and support the product?
- Who will generate demand?
- Will you need marketing or sales?
- What is the marketing plan?
- How do you become front page news?
Sample Investor Presentation Slide #1
Cover Slide
- The cover slide should offer complete contact info, and a tagline if you’ve got one
- PowerPoint forces you to describe your business to your potential investor presentation in very few words.
Sample Investor Presentation Slide #2
Cover Slide
Problem / Market Opportunity
- What problem is your company addressing?
– Explain the pain
- What is your market opportunity?
– How big is it?
Sample Investor Presentation Slide #3
Cover Slide
Solution / Product
- What’s your solution to the problem?
- What is your product or service?
- How does it uniquely solve the problem compared to existing solutions?
– Do NOT get into a deep competitive analysis yet
Sample Investor Presentation Slide #4
Cover Slide
Business Model
- How will your product be sold?
– Subscription, Up-Front Fees, Recurring
- What is required to become profitable?
Sample Investor Presentation Slide #5
Cover Slide
Underlying Magic / Technology
- Provide more detail on the technology and/or process that you have developed to deliver your unique solution. If appropriate, discuss patent status
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