The EIR Corner

The goal of your first presentation to potential investors is simple: generate enough interest to be invited to a second meeting. To improve your odds, your pitch must be clear, well structured and targeted to the interests of the audience. To best utilize the one hour you typically have available, it is recommended that the prepared portion of your presentation use no more than 15 slides and not last longer than 30 minutes.

Although you may feel that your story deserves more slides and time, it doesn’t. It is important to keep your slides simple and uncluttered because you need to be the center of attention. You should use your narrative to keep people focused on you and to control the timing of your presentation. As a rule of thumb, the information on a slide should be covered in no more than two minutes. If 15 slides have an average of six bullet points each, you will be presenting 90 data points about your opportunity. That is a lot of information for anyone to remember over 30 minutes. Limiting your presentation to half of your allocated time will also leave sufficient time for questions and answers.

The 15 topics listed below are similar to the content of an ideal business plan and should enable you to communicate your message clearly and confidently. Your audience will appreciate the timeliness and relevance of your presentation, and that should make it easier to get invited back.

1. Introduction – Your most important slide. In one sentence, describe what you do. Next, provide a high level overview of the current status of your venture (stage, noteworthy clients or prospects, testimonials, funding, etc.).

2. What Makes You Special – Summarize the strength of your management team, patents or unique technology, market size, trends and growth rates. What makes you unique?

3. Problem or Pain – Describe the problem you’re trying to solve, or the pain you’re trying to relieve. Validate how big of a problem it is. Mention why it has not been solved before.

4. Solution – How does your venture solve the problem? How are you more effective than current solutions (if any exist)? What is your unique selling point?

5. The Product or Service – Describe it in just the right amount of detail. Focus on the magic or technology behind it and if it is patented (or could be). What are the important features that will address the pain you talked about? Use simple illustrations.

6. Testimonials – Investors need proof about how effective your solution is. Why do your customers or prospective clients love you? Can you include brief endorsements?

7. The Market –Describe how big the market is and how fast it is growing. Describe your target market and the profile of a typical customer. How much of this market do you plan to capture. What are your strategies to reach this market?

8. Business Model – How do you plan to make money? What are the economies of scale? Will you use distributors, or a direct sales force? Validate your pricing and use flowcharts and diagrams to illustrate your points.

9. Competition – Who else is tackling the same problem? Talk about direct and indirect competitors. Show how you are better by comparing features on a table or matrix.

10. Team –What are the relevant skills and experience for individuals running the company? What is their track record of working in companies at the same stage and industry? Describe other resources (advisors, lawyers, accountants, etc.) and who you may need to bring onboard.

11. Risks – What reasons could contribute to failure (regulatory, legal, pricing, competition, etc.). How do you plan to mitigate these risks?

12. Financial Summary – Provide a high-level summary of revenue growth, profits, ROI and cash flows for the next five years. Mention key assumptions and breakeven period. Avoid detailed spreadsheets.

13. Exit Strategy – Describe how and when you will provide a return on the investment. List potential acquirers and their recent history of buying companies like yours.

14. Funding Plan – Detail when and how you will spend the investment. What results do you expect?

15. Conclusion – What points do you want the investor’s to remember? Reemphasize your attractiveness and strengths.