Presenting your Plan

1

• Presenting your Plan
• Successfully

2
Overview

• Percentages of Success
• 0.5 of business plans will be funded (1 in 200)
• 10 of VC portfolio companies will succeed
• Improving your odds
• Getting Ready
• Getting In
• Presentations
• Due Diligence
• Negotiating the Term Sheet

3
Stages of Funding

• Early Stage
• Basic management team
• Launch product
• Focus on marketing sales
• Get paying customers
• Complete Management Team
• Growth Stage
• Expand marketing
• Establish partnerships
• Release next product
• Mezzanine Stage
• Grow the business
• Add killer board members
• Implement exit strategy

Likely timeframe of Your Business Plan
4
Getting Ready

• Plan Full-time activity, can be many months
• Research Target investors, comparables
• Prepare materials
• Letter of introduction (who, what, where, when,
  how much)
• Executive Summary
• Business Plan
• VC Presentation
• Due Diligence packet

5
Getting In

• Once youve identified your potential investors..
• Use every conceivable
• network contact
• to get in the door
• Have lots of
• elevator conversations

6
Your Executive Summary

• Will be scanned not read
• First sentence should describe what your company
  does, written equivalent to elevator
  conversation
• Formatting must not block understanding
• Short/concise/understandable
• In very rare cases, might lead to reading of
  Business Plan

7
Funding Presentation

• Tell your companys story
• Underlying logic comes first
• Blend personalities, passion, and facts
• Include deal (investment) elements
• Language
• Personal, passionate, but sincere
• Use terminology appropriate to audience (VC,
  angel, banker, friends family, etc.)
• Practice, practice, practice!

8
Funding Presentation

• State the problem Start by stating the problem
  from your customers point of view.
• Explain why you are qualified to solve it Tell
  us how you investigated the problem and what
  special qualifications you have to solve the
  problem. Why should the customer turn to you,
  anyway?
• Tell why I should care about you Create an
  intersection between your company and the
  solution to your customers problem.

9
Presentation Guidelines

• Be a leader, command presence
• Practice introductions
• Know your numbers
• When you dont know dont ever fake it
• Dress the part
• Be extremely well prepared
• Have handouts on white backgrounds
• Be courteous and appreciative
• Dont waste their time

10
Presentation Practical Tips

• Dont let auditory and visual effects overtake
  your presentation
• Keep the sides readable
• Dont use too many slides. Fifteen is about
  right for a 30 minute presentation. You can have
  backup slides for QA.

11
Presentation Practical Tips

• Dont read from a script. Reading well is far
  more difficult than ad-libbing.
• File cards with main points listed will help keep
  you on topic. Number the cards. Someday you will
  drop them.
• Humor is always a help. Make it appropriate.
• Be respectful of your competitors. You can make
  specific comparisons but dont make fun of your
  competitors.

12
Negotiating the Term Sheet

• The Term Sheet is a legal agreement in greatly
  shortened form,
• typically one page, that sets the basis of an
  investment. Once
• agreed to, it is followed by detailed investment
  documents.
• Always done in confidence
• States amount of funding being sought
• States shares or percentages of company in
  exchange
• Closing date of offer
• Valuation and pre-financing price per share
• Board of Directors composition
• Valuation is negotiated, often over many
  discussions and meetings

13
Raising capital today

• Difficult
• Slow
• Winners are
• Smart
• Tenacious
• professional
• connected