THE INVESTOR PRESENTATION Investor Evaluation Criteria 4 Broad
THE INVESTOR PRESENTATION
Investor Evaluation Criteria 4 Broad Categories Define the Overall Quality of an Opportunity 1 Large Market • Large • Growing • Global • Understanding of segments 4 Team 2 Key Investor Requirements • Proven Leadership • Advisory Board • Active Board of Directors Business Model / ROI 3 • • Solid business model Projections are reasonable Validation in market Ability to create LT value Sustainable Adv • Protected Technology • Competitive Advantage • Ongoing Roadmap • Cleared Regulatory hurdles • Ability to grow the business
Investor Evaluation Criteria Some Additional Points on how Investors Score an Opportunity Strategic Fit Competitive Differentiation 8 Does the entrepreneur’s technology, value proposition and market differentiation fit with the investor profile? 8 Can the company implement barriers to entry for competitors through patents, quick time to market or other means? 8 Can the proposed marketing strategy be executed to acquire customers? Value Add 8 Is there an opportunity for the investor to bring additional value to the company through distribution channels, references, technical or market expertise? Strong Exit Potential Strong Management Team Financial Considerations 8 Does the management team have a solid track record, domain expertise and a proven ability to deliver results? 8 Is the business model novel and is it practical? 8 What are the potential investment returns? 8 What is the total investment required to reach profitability and investor liquidity? Market Opportunity 8 What is the size and growth rate of the market being addressed by the opportunity? Is it significant? Unique Technology 8 Are there proprietary intellectual property and patents on the technology or business processes? Is the technology secure, reliable and scalable? 8 What are the likely exit scenarios and timeframes for shareholders?
Investor Presentation Components Suggested Format (8 -15 Slides – 10 -20 Minutes) 1. Intro / problem / hook 2. Presentation outline 3. Market Opportunity 4. Value proposition 5. Product uniqueness / IP 6. Business model 7. Marketing & sales Presentation Tips ¢ Use at least 30 point font. No more than seven (7) lines or points on a slide! ¢ ONE (1) major takeaway message per slide + supporting information ¢ Follow the general order of slides and content as outlined in this template. ¢ Modify based on your audience, timeframe, and the purpose of each particular presentation you give ¢ For example, if you are presenting to the RIC Centre Investment review panel, you will have more detail on your financial and investment / ask slides than if you are presenting to the RIC Centre 360 Virtual Advisory Board 8. Current situation / successes 9. Competition 10. Management team 11. Financials 12. Timeline & the ask 13. Summary / closing 14. Appendix
PITCH TEMPLATE
Intro / Problem / Hook Slide 1 Key Items to Address ¢ Explain the fundamental problem you are trying to solve and why you started the business. Tell a story, ask the Presentation Tips audience a question, use statistics, get them ENGAGED ¢ You can either tell your intro story / hook on this first ¢ Get excited, show enthusiasm! Make the audience excited. Help them identify personally with the problem ¢ Frame the business problem you solve using specific customers (where possible) ¢ Are there existing solutions or are you creating a new market? ¢ Why are existing solutions not good enough? slide, or create another slide with an impactful / emotionlinked and relevant image to show as you tell your story General Information ¢ Title: Investor Presentation ¢ Company Name & Logo (If applicable) ¢ Presenter Names ¢ Presenting Audience (Company Name) ¢ Mark Document as “Confidential” (Mark as a footer so it appears on each slide of your presentation)
Presentation Outline Slide 2 Key Items to Address ¢ List the topics you will be covering during the presentation. Tell the audience what you will be talking Presentation Tips about, and what the purpose is of your presentation ¢ If you are pitching for money, say that upfront ¢ If you are looking for advice, also say this upfront ¢ Tell the audience what you will be discussing in your presentation, and why you are giving the presentation
Market Opportunity Slide 3 Key Items to Address ¢ Quantify the size of the problem you are solving ¢ How big is the total addressable market (all potential customers / users of your technology, in all market segments) Presentation Tips ¢ Use data to back up your assumptions. Use secondary or third party research and cite your sources ¢ Use your own market research data to back up your claims ¢ This is a good place to put a market segmentation diagram ¢ What market segments / verticals are you going to focus on initially? How big are these? Why will you focus on these first? ¢ How fast is the market growing? ¢ Is it a new market, a mature market?
Value Proposition Slide 4 Key Items to Address Value Proposition ¢ Specifically describe what your product is Presentation Tips ¢ Who is the specific target customer? ¢ What value do you bring your target customers? ¢ Remember – Sell your story. Don’t just explain your technology. ¢ State what factors have changed that now make this problem easier to address with your technology ¢ Is it better, faster, cheaper? Description and Example: ¢ A value proposition is a statement of the unique benefits delivered by your offering to the target customer. It describes the unique value of your product or brand offers a compelling reason for customers to buy ¢ “Google is the world’s largest search engine that allows internet users to find relevant information quickly and easily. ” ¢ “Google is the world’s largest search engine that automatically provides advertisers with potential customers tailored to the ad content, increasing click-through rates and conversion rates. ” 8 What the product is; target customer; values
Product Uniqueness / IP Slide 5 Key Items to Address ¢ Continuation on the value proposition – can be part of the previous slide or expand on an additional slide ¢ Describe your product or service(s). Focus on why it’s unique. ¢ Include photos or screen shots Presentation Tips ¢ What makes your technology unique and hard to copy or replicate? ¢ What prevents competition from doing the same thing? What’s your ‘secret sauce’? ¢ Leave live demos for another part of the presentation (instead use screen shots, product photos or a simplified architecture diagrams where appropriate) ¢ Avoid jargon. Limit the use of non-standard language and acronyms. ¢ Be very honest about the status of product development - is the product real? Make sure you are clear about what parts of your solution are in development vs. customer trials vs. products released (that customers may be paying for) ¢ Detail how your product is scalable and when you plan to launch ¢ Outline the next R&D steps to further build on or improve your offering. ¢ Include a discussion of intellectual property ¢ How will you protect your IP? Patents, trademarks, trade secrets, first to market / speed, continuous innovation etc.
Business Model Slide 6 Key Items to Address ¢ Most important slide – make it very clear ¢ A business model describes the value an organization offers its customers and illustrates the capabilities and resources required to create, market and deliver this value and to generate profitable, sustainable Presentation Tips ¢ Explain clearly: How does your business make money? ¢ Identify specifically who pays you for your product / service ¢ Be prepared to defend your assumptions and numbers revenue streams. ¢ How do you acquire customers, how do you charge them, how much do you charge them? (retail, licensing, Saa. S etc). ¢ Cost to acquire a customer? Total lifetime value of customer? ¢ Through what channels (direct to consumer, online, business to business, through partners, distributors, etc) ¢ What are your fixed costs, what are your variable costs? (cost of manufacturing, marketing/sales, overhead etc. )
Marketing / Sales Slide 7 Key Items to Address ¢ This can expand on your business model – optional. Can be combined with previous slide, or expanded on in an Presentation Tips additional slide. ¢ What is your pricing strategy? ¢ What is your current sales pipeline? Value of it? ¢ Through which media will you communicate with your market? ¢ What is your branding strategy? ¢ Who are the Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in your field? ¢ How long is your sales process? ¢ Where do you get your prospective customers ? ¢ What’s your distribution strategy? ¢ What is your general go-tomarket strategy? How is it scalable? ¢ Where do you start? Where / when do you expand? Which market segments and geographies?
Current Situation / Successes Slide 8 Key Items to Address ¢ Stage of product development ¢ Any prototypes? Functional? In Beta testing? Pilots? Presentation Tips ¢ Any partnerships? Key partners ¢ Show off your progress to date! ¢ Any sales? How much? Free trials? Key customers? ¢ Level of detail based on purpose of presentation, audience etc. ¢ Providing a proof that people have paid or will pay for your solution is one of the most important points you can make in your presentation. Early adopters? ¢ Patents, trademarks etc. granted? ¢ Funding secured? ¢ Funds raised / spent to date? ¢ Key hires? ¢ Current area of focus moving forward / next steps?
Competition Slide 9 Key Items to Address ¢ Direct and indirect competitors ¢ Established and pipeline competitors (current vs future upcoming) Presentation Tips ¢ A good way to present competition is by using a matrix to highlight functions and values vs your product ¢ How can you position yourself among the competitive landscape? ¢ Are there gaps within the niche you are in? ¢ Be careful not to dive into an exhaustive list of competitive deficiencies at the feature level. ¢ Do your homework on competitors beyond simple scans of their website. Look for analyst reports/whitepapers or reports in the trade press ¢ Do not misrepresent competitive strengths or weaknesses. If you don’t know, say so. ¢ Competitor matrix vs product functions and values (to compare to your product) ¢ How are you different? Additional value added? (cheaper, better, faster, etc). ¢ How do you maintain your competitive advantage (reference to product uniqueness slide, IP, features, ‘secret sauce’ etc)
Management Team Slide 10 Key Items to Address ¢ Founders, team members and advisors ¢ Include pictures if possible, title/function and BRIEF highlight of relevant education or experience (1 line) Presentation Tips ¢ Don’t spend too much time, just highlight relevant functions within the organization and critical points on expertise ¢ The point of this slide is to convince the audience that you have the team to get the job done and be successful. ¢ Team is cited by most experts as the most important reason investors sign on ¢ If you have an incomplete team, be honest with the fact. Describe key gaps and plan to address (i. e. will you approach through new hires or consultants, advisors. board members) ¢ Show you and your advisors have the capability to attract quality talent ¢ If there are too many, break into two pages
Financials Slide 11 Key Items to Address ¢ Beware hockey stick projections. Are your sales Presentation Tips projections realistic and achievable? ¢ Base financials on realistic and defendable assumptions ¢ Assumptions for financial forecast should be defendable and based on realistic figures ¢ Graphs or tables – present in a clear way ¢ ¢ Identify breakeven point / cash flow positive At this stage investors don’t want to see a detailed spreadsheet. ¢ It is important to show significant but realistic annual growth to be of interest to investors. ¢ Investors aren’t expecting you to be able to see all future revenues/expenses in great detail. However, your numbers should align with all of the assumptions you have made throughout the presentation. ¢ Pay particular attention to key assumptions that could seriously affect your forecast such as sales cycle time; estimated go to market costs and start dates of new personnel. ¢ 3 year forecast is typically sufficient ¢ Identify points of inflection due to assumptions such as expansion into new geographic region, release of next generation product, follow-on investments etc. ¢ Does your projection rely on external funding? Comment on this Estimated 3 Year Projections Revenue Expenses Net Income (Loss) Year 1 Year 2 Year 3
Timeline & the Ask Slide 12 Key Items to Address ¢ Based on your audience, this will be different ¢ If pitching to investors (RIC Centre Investment Review Panel), make sure to outline investment to date, and future rounds of financing required in order to meet your Presentation Tips ¢ The ask is dependent on who the audience is and what the purpose of the presentation is ¢ Your ask should be as specific as possible. ¢ Take milestones seriously - this is what investors pay for - they are essentially your promise to perform ¢ Be aware of share dilution issues financial projections on the previous slide. Comment on valuation and investor ROI. List the proposed uses of funding (not in extreme detail, just generally). Outline milestones you will achieve along the way. Potential exit strategies (what do you want to do with the company)? ¢ If pitching to RIC Centre 360 Virtual Advisory Board or Regional Alliance, the ask may not necessarily be fore money. Focus on asking the panel for advice on specific components of your business strategy, or for connections to specific potential partners, or on your presentation style in general.
Summary Slide 13 Key Items to Address ¢ Re-iterate the most important take-away points from your presentation ¢ Re-iterate the purpose of giving your presentation (this slide should be very similar to slide 2 – Presentation Tips ¢ Remind the audience the most important points from your presentation, and the reason you are presenting to them ¢ The close is very important, make it count! Outline ¢ Close the presentation with as much enthusiasm and excitement as when you first started ¢ DO NOT close by saying “And that’s it” or “Thank you for listening, any questions” or “That’s the end of my presentation”
Appendix Key Items to Address ¢ Add additional detailed slides here, including backup information for any assumptions you made in your Presentation Tips financials Some ideas for consideration: ¢ PEST analysis ¢ Job descriptions ¢ Technical specs ¢ Financial spreadsheets ¢ Testimonials ¢ White papers/references ¢ It helps to have backup slides during the Q&A period – try to anticipate what questions will be asked
Potential Questions Examples of Some Common Questions Presentation Tips ¢ Don’t get defensive when answering questions. You should remain calm and back up your answers with facts
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