What is a VC looking for?
The single most important thing is YOU
Most pitches are 15-30 minutes if you're lucky.
In Reality you have far less time than this to make your first impression
What then do you need to convey?
- Integrity
- Passion
- Experience
- Knowledge (domain expertise, know your market and your area)
- Skills (in you and/or in your team)
- Leadership (especially when leading a team)
- Commitment
- Vision
- Realism
- Coachability (You must be prepared to listen and learn)
How deliver these and other messages?
All pitches are emotional.
At the start you have about 10 seconds to get people's attention.
Make sure you grab their emotional attention and keep the emotions positive.
Make things better, and better, and better until you reach your knockout punch at the end.
Things that will help your pitch:
- Logical Progression (don't skip steps)
- Link to things your audience will understand
- Validate your idea (sales, success, evidence that the world wants your product)
- Show a believable upside
Things that hurt
- Things that are untrue
- Things your audience doesn't understand
- Things that make the audience think for you
- Inconsistencies
- Basic errors including typos etc.
Presentation tips
- Keep the focus on YOU during a presentation. That is what they are interested in afterall
- Avoid bullet points, aim only for images
Include:
Company Logo
Business Overview
Management Team (highlight relevant experience and skills)
Market
Product
Business Model (how do you make money?)
Strategic relationships (helps with validation)
Competition and how you're different (all companies and products have competition, even if it's only the old way of doing things)
Barriers to Entry
Financial Overview
Use of Proceeds
Capital and Valuation (how much do you want?)
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