Startup Pitching

Tips for a successful presentation

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Your business idea pitch should be concise, captivating, and convincing. Here are some tips for a 10 slide presentation for a startup.

Cover slide Your captivating tagline Your vision or mission Your contact information 1. The Problem Plausible problem description, illustrated with a short personal story, if possible Is it a real problem (not only my own one)? What happens if we do not solve it? How big is the market opportunity? How established (or nascent) is the market? Do you have a credible claim on being one of the top two or three players in the market? 2. Your Solution What is your product/service? How does it solve your customers problem? What is unique about your product/ service? What are the benets of your solution?

3. Business Model How do you make money? What resources and partnerships will you need? What costs do you need to cover? What is required to become protable? 4. Underlying Magic/Technology Less words, more diagrams, owcharts and pictures Bring prototype along, show it, results of studies Intellectual protection strategy 5. Marketing and sales Who are your customers (list)? How will you reach the target customer? What is your sales, marketing and distribution strategy? What is the current sales pipeline? Always mention market research studies source (Forrester etc)

2011 AE Partners Oy

6. Competition Who is your existing & likely competition? What are the competing technologies? Who is adjacent to you (in the market) that could enter your market (and compete) or could be a co-opted partner? What are their strengths/ weaknesses? Why are you different? 7. Team Who is your management team? What is their experience? What pieces are missing and what is the plan for lling them? 8. Projections and milestones No graphs (investors prefer nancials in a table) For each time period, add headcount and cash balance. It should be clear how you expect the company to perform top line and bottom line three years out, and how much capital will be required now and later. Pricing and quantities could be helpful What funds have already been raised? How much money are you raising and at what valuation? How will the money be spent? How long will it last and where will the company "be" on its milestones progress at that time? How much additional funding do you anticipate raising & when? 9. Status and Timeline What is your stage of development (technology/product, team, nancial metrics/revenues)?

What has been the progress to date (make reality and future clear)? What are your future milestones? 10. Summary and call to action Summary of what you are offering, and why it is a feasible investment. What are the proposed next steps. Questions/answers. Inspiration and sources Jean-Pierre Vuilleumier, Guy Kawasaki Brad Feld, David Cowan

Tips from investor/advisor David Cohen

Grab me! Tell me quickly what you do and why I should care. Make it painfully obvious that I should pay attention. Establish credibility. Be specic, not general. Dont rely on things outside your control. Contradict conventional wisdom. Play on a known fear. Make me laugh. Be appropriately different. Make me think. Show, dont tell. Illuminate the problem. Explain the pain. Get another meeting! People will listen or read They will not do both! Im really going to remember one or two things you said.

These tips are provided by Aarni Heiskanen, Founder and CEO of AE Partners - www.aepartners.