The Art of Pitching. What is pitching? 07/05/15

Transcription

1 The Art of Pitching Jean-Pierre Vuilleumier CTI Invest Roderich Hess CTI Invest May What is pitching? A Start-up is always pitching, e.g., for partners or suppliers first customers future employees Investors competitions Information Venture_lang 1

2 What is pitching? The only goal: reach the next step Get on the radar screen Arrange a meeting Send the business plan / canvas There are different forms of pitching Type Elevator Pitch (30 seconds, 1 minute) Investor Pitch (5-15 minutes) Sales Pitch Purpose Generate Attention (AIDA) Sell your company Sell your product Number of people 1:1 1:n Information Venture_lang 2

3 Ask your self WWW Why? To inform / to motivate / to convince / to provoke What? What is your Key Message? (max 4-5 points) Who? Audience? (background, motivation, expectations) Always ask: What s in it for the audience?) Reduce to the max Do not get lost in details The objective is to stimulate interest, not to tell your life or close a deal! No technical details 1 Slide = 1 Minute Limited number of slides The shorter your pitch, the better it probably is! Information Venture_lang 3

4 Rule 10 Slides 20 Minutes (with Q&A) 5-10 Minutes pitch Minutes Q&A 30 Font size By Guy Kawasaki Use PowerPoint, or other tools, the right way Add your logo on the slide master (small) and first slide Include page numbers Animate your body and your hands, not your slides Use only one level of bullet points Add diagrams, pictures and graphs (except for financials) Use one (1 only!) standard font (works on any PC) Watch out for ABBR. (abbreviations), write them out Information Venture_lang 4

5 Q&A and hand-outs Show presented slides as small pics for Q&A Prepare for likely questions with a lot of backup slides Use Hyperlinks to navigate for Q&A session Hand-outs Distribute before start Color or B/W, 2 Slides per page You may have more info on the hand-out than at the presentation! Keep in mind: Top four investment criteria of all VCs 1 Market size and potential 2 Winning business model that makes money 3 Team, management quality and potential 4 Clear, large and sustainable technology edge (IP) Information Venture_lang 5

6 Do not tell those old lies (invent new ones) Our financial projections are conservative Gartner, Forester etc. says our market will be 100 Mio. in 5 Y. A big company is signing our contract next week Key employees will join us as soon as we get funded Several investors are already in due diligence The big companies are too old, dumb and slow to be a threat Patents make our business defendable All we have to do is get 1% of the market We have the first-mover advantage We have a world-class team (all out of the same lab?) There is no competition (so there is probably no market?) SOURCE: Guy Kawasaki (The Art of the Start) Preparation is everything «You never get a second chance to make a good first impression» Practice, practice and practice Video, mirror, your family, friends, employees, partners, Know your audience in advance Be aware of Murphy s law Get there early and have your own fallback solutions Information Venture_lang 6

7 Investor pitch: 10 slides, 5-10 minutes, MAX! Recommended presentation Structure Slide 0: Event, logo, date, speakers, contact information Slide 1: The problem Slide 2: Our solution (mention patents) Potential Slide 3: Underlying magic (explain USPs) Slide 4: Market (size, potential, segmentation) Slide 5: Competition Slide 6: Value chain & business model Slide 7: Implementation roadmap (achievements, milestones, next steps) Slide 8: Team, boards & support network (short bio with picture) Slide 9: Financial overview (Sales, net profit, cumulated FCF, FTEs) Slide 10: Financial offering (How much? Source? Exit?) Q&A Slide: Links to presentation and backup section Backups: Many slides, well structured to support Q&A Slide 0: Title page COMPANY LOGO and SLOGAN Event name Speakers Date Contact Info (Mobile, , Homepage) Explain what your company is doing in the first minute (with a slogan / mantra on this first slide) We sell software We develop, assemble and sell a medical device We develop a new drug Contact info always on first slide (Investors hate to look for it!) Information Venture_lang 7

8 Slide 1: The Problem The motivation should be: Make this world a better place! Increase quality of life Better a wrong Keep something good Where s the customer pain? Plausible problem description (pictures can help, also analogies) Who is concerned? How is the problem seen? Is it a real problem? (not only my own one?) What happens if we do not solve it? Slide 2: Our solution USP of product (max 3) Picture of product (prototype) Value proposition for: Customers Partners (Distributors) Further products/applications in the pipeline Patents (mention if there is one) Question of the Little Man: So what? Your answer: For instance. Too many USP are not realistic! Information Venture_lang 8

9 Slide 3: Underlying magic Describe the technology, secret sauce, or magic behind your product or service The only slide where technology is allowed! Less words, more diagrams, flowcharts and pictures Proof of concept (PoC) are helpful here: Bring prototype along, show it Bring results of studies Mention the intellectual protection strategy and status of patenting (no details) Slide 4: Market Market potential (size & growth) with: Addressable and Target market related to applications Top-down versus bottom-up Customers list (potential or real) Go to market strategy Watchouts Top-down market approach (if only 1% of all Chinese buy the product ) Market research studies (Forrester etc), always give the info source Information Venture_lang 9

10 Slide 5: Competition Market structure Names of potential or real competitors (competitive landscape) Also show competing technologies! If there is no competition, there might be no market! Everyone wants to hear why you are good, not why the competition is bad! Compare Market price to your price (or cost savings for buyers) Slide 6: Value chain / business model Parts of Product Assembled, tested Product / License Products Logos Supply partners and research partners Start-up company (own logo) Competences (e.g.) R&D Quality control Marketing & sales Logos Distribution partner Name dropping of existing Customers and/or Distribution partners can help (Logos)! Differentiate between onetime and recurring revenue (Razor & Blade!) Logos Customer Enduser Information Venture_lang 10

11 Slide 7: Implementation roadmap Achievements (with timeline) Customers (LOI s, prototype on site, ) IPR (Intellectual Property Rights) Technology (proof of concept, Prototype) Partnerships (R&D, Distribution, Supply) CTI Projects / Coaching Next Steps: (kind of a roadmap, indicate timeline) Hiring key people within the next 6 months Moving to own facility in fall Closing financing round by the end of the year Format either as table or better as a simple gantt chart Include concrete milestones Only show the most important achievements and next steps (in the eyes of the investors!) Slide 8: Team, boards, support network Management Name / Function / Education & Title Experience / Founder Important functions are: CEO, CFO, CTO, CSO Board of Directors It would help, if not too many Management members or Founders still remain on the Board of Directors (Scientific / Business) Advisory Board Well known and committed academics or (serial) entrepreneurs! Have detailed CV s in Q&A section Show team deficit and your commitment to fix it! Show pictures of the people! Information Venture_lang 11

12 Slide 9: Financial overview Sales Year Year Year Year Year Net Profit Free Cash Flow (capital need) FTE (employees) No graphs on this slide (investors prefer to read financials in a table) Pricing and quantities could be helpful Differentiation between different businesslines (sales) could be interesting Be prepared to show more financial details in the Q&A section Slide 10: Financial offering (investment opportunity) Current ownership: 100% Founders & FF End 200x: CHF 2 Mio. first round Use of funds: Expansion Step 1: to ~ 8 FTEs Product development, Quality Assurance End 200y: CHF 4 Mio. second round (no further details) Exit: Trade Sale in 5 years to e.g.... Be realistic in your timing (for closing of the round, 6-12 months)! IPO is most of the time not very realistic; investors hate this claim, but of course love it, when it happens (only 5% of all exits are IPO s in US) For the trade sale do not hesitate to mention potential buyers! You should not communicate the valuation. Only disclose during the due diligence process. Keep your negotiation power! Information Venture_lang 12

13 Q&A Slide Technology Market Financials Other Patents / IPR Pilots Background Sunk costs Size Segments Pricing Product (USP) Channels Competition Customers Income Statement Cash Flow Balance Sheet Businessmodel Shareholders Valuation SWOT Awards Risks Team CV Scalability Presented slides Use the Hyperlink function to navigate smoothly during Q&A Also use the Hyperlinks for the previously presented slides (small pics) How you speak is important How you speak Use short, active sentences Speak with passion, louder than usual Speak slowly Pause between ideas to catch attention Vary pace and pitch Eliminate non-words: ehm Eliminate fillers: OK, you know, and so forth, now.. What you say Share insights, not efforts Share message, not data Don t read content of the slide Information Venture_lang 13

14 Body language Make slow movements (pacing) Change location 2-3 times during pitch Don t play manual props (pens, pointers, glasses, etc.) Don t put your hands in your pocket Dress Business like (suit & may be even a tie) Be aware of your tics and eliminate them Focus on the audience: One person, one thought Focus on the audience Not the slides (You know the content by heart!) Not the projected slide Never turn your back to the audience Stop using a pointer If you need a pointer the slide is not clear and simple enough Look at one person at a time rather than scanning the room Reduces nervousness Helps you to read your audience Information Venture_lang 14

15 Use active speech Recommendations Change verbs from the passive to the active voice Replace is with an action verb Make an is statement more concrete Link assertions to your experience by eliminating seem Avoid The sample was taken from We found three out of five assembly lines were inefficient. We believe the decision is a good one. The data would seem to indicate that Use A team of four assemblers from the plant took samples from Poor maintenance contributed to 43% of downtime in three out of five assembly lines. The decision will save you $214K per month in purchasing costs. Our experience in similar situations leads us to suggest that Finish on a positive note Thank the audience for the attention Stay in front of the audience (some people might want to applaud) Open the discussion, Q&A session Information Venture_lang 15

16 Mastering Q&A First LISTEN & UNDERSTAND, then answer If necessary, reformulate (to win time) Answer as concretely and precisely as possible If you do not have an answer, admit it! (take notes) Never say YES, NO BUT Beware of participants looking for attention: Don t start a debate contest Golden rule: stay calm and never lie Some last tips for pitching Let the CEO present (do not switch speakers in < 10 mins) Be authentic at presentation (dresscode not so important) Be humble, open-minded during Q&A session Do not interrupt the audience Take notes, follow up the same day if you have no answer Never answer a question with: YES, BUT NO, BUT Know your pitch, it is your baby Know your numbers (revenue, profits, burn-rate, FTE s) Always respect TIME! Information Venture_lang 16

17 Good luck! Information Venture_lang 17