So you have your great idea; you finally have people paying attention; you land the investor meeting and then what? How do you make the killer presentation- the one that lands you the money to make your dream a reality? One of the partners for the Week, kindly sent me an email recently and attached this paper: Startup Presentations for Angel/Seed Stage Investors and Partners, (startup-presentations-to-angel-seed-stage-investors-and-partners-2.pdf ) which explains how to do just that.

First off, align your interests. Make sure that you know the investor. Are they interested in your financials or your strategy? Do they have the time and money to invest right now? Make sure you know who you are and where you are going. If you find a point of contact between your interests and theirs exploit it during your presentation. For examples, I have apples, grapes and a plan for manufacturing a new juice which will cost $125 million dollars in start-up fees. The investor has $125 million to give, a real interest in juice production and has been looking around for a new grape juice. The point is to sell your idea as both novel and marketable, and the partnership has to fit in with not only the short term goals, but allign with your overall corporate strategy.

Secondly, you want to know what kind of meeting you are going into and make sure that you know the different protocols associated with the different meetings. Is it an elevator pitch, a 15 min briefing or an hour long presentation? Each meeting requires different steps and different skills. For a funny look at an elevator pitch, check this out.

Thirdly, make sure you pick the right presenter. A great speaker should know all the company info inside and out, have experience making pitches and working for companies who have successfully delivered on a product plan. The right presenter will make or break your presentation. They should understand the attitude of the investors, the plan for investing and be able to answer questions quickly and efficiently.

I suggest you read the article in full so that you are prepared for the meeting when it comes - as they offer much more than just these tips. Also, if you have other great advice let us know so that we can post it too!

This entry was posted on Friday, June 13th, 2008 at 10:01 am and is filed under Challenges. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.