The Entrepreneur Has Little Time To Get The Message Over

An investor pitch is actually not that difficult if you stick to the basics; what problem do you solve, who for, what is your competitive advantage and how do you make money? Obvious you will be saying but it rarely comes out that way. I have sat through numerous presentations where I have asked at the end ‘So – tell me what you do? Sometimes, I have asked them if they have shown it to their mother!

The fundamental problem which entrepreneurs have with pitching to investors is that they forget who they are talking to and why they are there. They are talking to investors – not customers, suppliers or professional service providers. Investors want to know why they should invest and how they are going to get a good return on their money. Are they really interested in the product, market or background of the entrepreneur – not really. They don’t need to know about every feature and function. If fact, if you told them you had already sold 1,000 of them, they would happily skip that part of the presentation.

What is the 'right' message?

Then there are the problems of the jargon, the TLCs, those long unpronounceable chemical and biotech words and lists of competitor companies which no one outside the industry has ever heard of. Within an Angel Group, half the audience are retired bankers and accountants and the other half are cash-up entrepreneurs from ever sector of commerce. Chances are you may be lucky and find one person in the room who understands your technology.

I have sat though countless business plan presentations where I was struggling from the first 30 seconds to understand the business and thus missed the rest of the presentation. I have watched a lot of product demonstrations and got lost in the detail. I know a lot of entrepreneurs who talked about their product, business strategy and competitors for the full presentation time and neglected to say what funding they sought or how the money would be used.

Practice the message

Fortunately for most entrepreneurs, Angels are smart enough to see through the maze and spot the potential. But if time was pressing and the potential investors needed to leave, those unprepared entrepreneurs may have thrown away what could have been a lifetime opportunity. If they had simply taken some advice, read some literature on investor presentations or practiced the presentation in front of a non-technical audience, the end result may have been very different.

So back to basics. Whether you have 2 minutes or 20, you do need to put together a presentation which answers the fundamental questions which the investor needs answered. You can find these on many Angel websites. Make sure you cover the fundamentals. Ensure you can deliver this within the time available and to a non-technical audience.

If you are unsure what to present, how long you have or what type of audience you may encounter, ask for help from the Angel Group you are presenting to. They would normally assign someone to advise you and check your presentation because the Group does not want to waste their members’ time. You may have to do the presentation several times as the Angel Group gains a better appreciation of the investment opportunity and wishes to involve additional members in the due diligence and investment process. Learn from each presentation about what was missing in your content and ask how you could improve your presentation. They actually want you to be successful so, if you have some underlying potential, usually they are more than willing to give you advice.

Think about the audience

Put yourself into the shoes of the investor and ask yourself what you would want to know about a business approaching you for investment. Especially consider the problem of dealing with a business sector you are unfamiliar with. Ask yourself what would push you over the line to invest. As you gain a better appreciation for what they need to know on their side of the table, you will be better prepared for the presentation and the questions. Also remember that you need to prove everything. Don’t make any claim unless you can back it up with evidence. Don’t fall into the ‘We can secure x% of the market’ trap. You need to have the data to show exactly where the sales are going to come from, how you are going to secure the business and why you will get the business rather than your competitor.

In my entrepreneurship classes I would have every student present a one minute elevator pitch. I would close down the presentation exactly at 60 seconds. The first time they would do the pitch was always a disaster. The next time, after some coaching, they would usually be outstanding. Almost anyone can get it right with a little bit of coaching. You simply need to know what to do, try it out, get the feedback and improve. A very simple process. Whatever you do, don’t go in cold and unprepared.

Learning how to pitch in 20 seconds, 2 minutes or 20 minutes is a very valuable skill. As entrepreneurs we sell all the time to prospective customers, supplies, employees and investors. It is worth spending time to get it right.

Download the Investor Pitch Guidelines