Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Seattle 2.0, and imported to GeekWire as part of our acquisition of Seattle 2.0 and its archival content. For more background, see this post.
By Matt Hulett
I see a lot of PowerPoint decks from startups. One of the key things you need to do is tell a story quickly and succinctly. You must also be ready to present your pitch from both a presentation format perspective as well as an actual speaking perspective. This is a big topic but here are some quick tips that should help you craft (or recraft) your investment pitch strategy:
1. Less slides – Only present ten slides. That’s right. Ten. I usually have a full-sized secondary deck full of more information if it’s needed for the Q&A section of an investor pitch. I’ll do some future posts about what the taxonomy should be for the deck contents but in general:
- market problem that you are solving
- team
- size of market, competition
- unique technology overview projects
- product roadmap
– operating timeline
Assuming you have a full hour booked, plan to spend 20 minutes delivering meaningful information from your slides and the remainder, about 30 minutes, answering questions. Always allow 10 minutes up front for lost time because of late comers, machine issues, chatter, etc.
2. Momentum slides – Package up various key metrics and milestones in a manner that explicitly tells your story. Too often I see slides that show information without telling a story (or using data). The adage of showing data that “trends up and to the right” is actually useful and works. Remember that within your 10 slides to your potential investors, you are going to want to show that there are some key performance indicators that are working whether that is traffic, subscriptions, revenue, etc. Here is an example of a chart that tells the story an aggressive market share story: /uploads/wb global.png . Yes, I shamelessly used my own company’s growth rate. Slides That Stick has a great blog post about this topic.
3. Multiple versions – You should create different versions of your pitch deck. You may need more than two versions based on the type of investors you are pitching. For example, if you are pitching to a strategic investor, you are should be highlighting areas that your company will strategically fit with that investor. You should also build two types of decks as a “leave behind” versus a presentation style deck. The difference is that you are allowed to layer in more data and some appendix information in the leave behind. For your presentation deck, you are going to want to have less words and bigger fonts (24 point – 30 point fonts). The presentation deck is your proverbial Cliff Notes deck for the leave-behind.
4. Do your homework – There are endless amounts of blog posts online that give you advice on how to present information to investors. Yet, I have not read much in terms of the preparation with the actual audience. I am always shocked when I talk to an entrepreneur who really hasn’t studied his investor audience yet. As the presenter, it is your job to do the homework on each person that you are talking with. This list (not all inclusive list) is:
– Have you read thru the backgrounds of the various partners that you are talking to?
– Have you identified a strategic fit with your company and your investor and/or overall portfolio?
– Do you understand the % of the portfolio that is investing in different segments and verticals?
– Do you understand where the firm is in its own fundraising cycle?
5. Take it for a test drive – Practice and perfect your pitch before you deliver it. You should turn to existing investors and advisors as well as other peers (who have ample success in the area of fundraising). Get to know an investment banker and have them provide some tips. You want to have your presentation nailed before you give it. Treat each meeting as a make or break meeting for your company and you will have honed your intensity to the right level. I am always surprised when I talked to an entrepreneur and they can’t answer questions around their relative market share expectations or their thoughts on the long-term sustainable competitive advantage that they are building. Take a lot of batting practice before the real game begins.
Your presentation and actual presentation skills determine whether you will land financing for your business or not. Especially in this market, this is an incredibly important area that should be treated as a sales process (see this post on startup whisperer for more information).
