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Investor Presentation - You Need 10 Slides

Written by: Martin Zwilling

Article Overview: As a member of the local Angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in fifteen minutes.

Investor Presentation - You Need 10 Slides

As a member of the local Angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in fifteen minutes.

Remember the goal is an overview presentation that will pique investor interest enough to ask for the business plan and a follow-on meeting, not close the deal on the spot.

Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation, completed before you formally approach any investors. Most advisors will tell you to write the business plan first (20-30 pages), then distill the key points into a set of Microsoft PowerPoint slides for standup presentations to potential investors.

An alternative approach, which I prefer, is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text-based business plan document. Here are the ten slides you need:

1. Market Need and Solution. Define the problem or the market need, and outline your solution. Give the “elevator pitch” for your startup.

2. Company & Business Model. Name of the company and organization, product or services, how you will make money, who pays you, and gross margin.

3. Product & Technology. Define the technology behind your product or services (past, present, and future development phases). Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”.

4. Industry & Market Sizing. Define the characteristics of the overall industry, market forces, market dynamics, and customer landscape. The investor needs to understand the industry of your company. Use data from third parties like Forrester or Gartner.

5. Marketing, Sales, and Partners. Describe marketing strategy, sales plan, pricing, and partnership plans. Here is also a good place for a rollout timeline with key milestones.

6. Competition and Competitive Advantage. List and describe your competition. Describe some of your company’s competitive advantages.

7. Management Team. Qualifications and roles of the top three executives and top three on your Board of Advisors.

8. Funding Requirements and Use of Funds. How much money (if any) has management put into the venture? What is the level of capital funding sought during this stage? What is the company willing to give in return for the investment?

9. Financial Forecast and Metrics. Project both revenues and expense totals for next three years, and past three years. What is the current valuation of the company? Show breakeven and growth assumptions.

10. Exit Strategy. What is the timeframe of return on investment? What is the planned exit strategy (IPO, merger, sale, etc…)? What is the timeframe for the exit? What is the rate of return expected for the investor?

Hand out copies of the slides before the presentation, with proper cover sheet, with brochures, product samples, or other marketing material you may have. Offer to do a demo later, but don’t try to squeeze it in the presentation.

My last recommendation is practice, practice, practice. The CEO should give the pitch, and prepare by playing “presidential debates” - asking your team to be the opponents, and check you on timing. Investors hate long rambling presentations. Remember, you are asking someone to give you $1M, so you need to convince them that you respect their time and interests as well.

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Article Tags: angel group, customer landscape, elevator pitch, fifteen minutes, gross margin, group selection, investor interest, investor presentation, market dynamics, marketing sales, marketing strategy, microsoft powerpoint slides, model name, organization product, overview presentation, partnership plans, plan document, product technology, selection committee, technology patents



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