The Pitch - Top 10 lessons

Last week I attended an event where nine early stage entrepreneurs had an opportunity to pitch their ideas. Each company had 10 minutes to give their pitch, then another 10 minutes for Q&A. There were a number of lessons to be drawn from these presentations, these are:

• Ensure your revenue projections pass the sniff test - I always divide projected revenue by a products unit price to get the transaction volume needed to achieve the targets - make sure it is realistic
• What is your pre-money valuation and how much do you want to raise
• If you have existing shareholders be aware of pre-emptive rights (i.e. dont pitch a new capital raise without having fulfilled your obligations to your existing shareholders)
• Keep it simple - too much text content on the slides is overwhelming
• Know your space & competition - it looks bad if you have not heard of a well-known player in your space
• Customers & Revenue - investors love both!
• Dont burn your bridges - the investor community is small - everyone talks - a bad reputation precedes you!
• A deal is a deal - if you have negotiated a deal and shaken hands on it - dont go back on it (See Burning Bridges point above!)
• Dont just show forward looking projections - yes, we want to see the next three years projections but I also want to know the LAST three years actuals
• Demonstrate IP ownership - Vague or verbal IP purchases or license agreements are serious red-flags for investors

Dont hide anything, know what you want in terms of investment and know what you are willing to give up for these dollars. Know your presentation and numbers off the top of your head and dont over-run on time.