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Equity Investment Platform Preparation Best Practices

Startup Professionals Musings

If you are one of the thousands of entrepreneurs who need equity funding to get your startup going (no loans to repay), you are probably overwhelmed at the prospect of finding, contacting and pitching to the huge number of qualified angels and investment groups around the country. Prepare a slide deck to highlight product and business.

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Adding Slides Does Not Enhance Your Investor Pitch

Startup Professionals Musings

A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. Here are the ten slides you need: Problem and market need. Here is how and why it works, including a customer-centric quantification of the benefits. Explain how you will make money and who pays you (real customer).

Slides 99
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10 Answers That Make Your Startup Plan Investable

Startup Professionals Musings

Either of these qualms can ultimately sidetrack your startup as not worthy of investment, so it pays to do your homework on what you say and how to communicate effectively. Investors want to hear about customers with money who have a painful problem that you can solve now. Investors invest in people more than the idea.

Invest 108
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Ten Slides Make a Killer Investor Presentation

Startup Professionals Musings

A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. 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. Opportunity sizing. Exit strategy.

Slides 94
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5 Steps To Reduce Due Diligence Investment Failures

Startup Professionals Musings

In my activities as an angel investor, and my work with new ventures seeking investment, I find the “due diligence” stage to be fraught with the most risk. Usually this stage only really starts after an investor has expressed serious interest, or already informally agreed to invest. Update reference customers, partners, and vendors.

Invest 59
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How to Improve Your Odds of Getting to Yes with a VC — “Land and Expand”

Both Sides of the Table

You company is the product and you’re selling an equity ownership in your company but much more broadly you’re selling trust & confidence that you’re going to build something enormously valuable and that you’re going to be enjoyable to work hand-in-hand with over the coming decade of each other’s lives.

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8 Ways An Investor Pitch Differs From A Product Pitch

Startup Professionals Musings

When pitching to investors, entrepreneurs always seem to start with a customer pitch, then add a slide or two about the business. In reality, they need a separate pitch about the business, carrying over only a slide or two about the solution. These don’t get funded, nor bought by customers.

Product 103