7 Key Steps to Prepare for Your Investor Presentation
by Linda Huff
1. Know Your Audience.
- Research as much as possible and obtain as much information as you can about the people to whom you will be presenting. It is useful to have the following information: schools, degrees, current and previous projects, hobbies, affinities, business alliances or partnerships, BODs on which they sit, etc.
Any of this information can be valuable in the future to establish rapport and
a connection with your key targets.
2. Be the Expert in the Room. Know the following:
- Your technology and your product(s)
- Markets and industries in which you plan to compete.
3. Back up your assertions with data whenever possible when it comes to the following:
- Industry size
- Industry growth rate
- Competitor size and strength
- Financial forecasts
- Need and demand for your solution.
4. Competition. Never say you do not have any competitors - if you think you do
not have any, think again!
- Research the competition
- Understand and articulately explain how you will be able to compete and
win. (answer: How will you differentiate yourselves?)
5. Know What You Do Not Know - Be objective with self and organization
evaluations.
- Critically evaluate the skills of the team you have.
- Determine what additional skills will be needed for success.
- Find those people and bring them on board.
6. Financial Projections - Accuracy needed and back them up.
- Explain your assumptions, and why you think they are attainable.
- If you can not show a steep upward curve over several years, figure out why,
and how you can fix it.
7. Learn From Your Experience.
- Pay careful attention to where your presentation receives the most interesting
and the most difficult questions.
- Be open to constructive feedback.
- Adapt future presentations to improve in areas, which are identified as weak or
require more information.
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