Presenting your business to potential investors is like any other sales presentation, all the same rules apply. But remember you are not just trying to win one order of many, you are trying to attract funding which will change your business forever.
You will probably read the rest of this and find yourself saying “Yes, of course, that’s obvious, why wouldn’t I do that?” But you would be surprised how many people fall into the trap of missing some of these points. We have seen, even some of the most seasoned professionals, make the most obvious mistakes. Do not ignore the obvious.
Be Prepared
This should not need saying, but unfortunately it does.
- Make sure you have printed copies of any presentation.
- Do not forget your business cards.
- Be on time.
- Know what you are going to say.
- Know your business inside out – including all the numbers (historical and forecasted profit & loss and balance sheet).
- Practise – make sure you have practised your presentation. Try it on your friends, ideally ones that do not know much about your plans. Ask them to be honest with feedback. Watch to see if they look bored, start to twitch etc. If you can video yourself and play it back – you will be your best critic. Try to get another professional person to listen to your presentation and give you pointers.
- Do your homework – find out as much as you can about the investor or investors prior to the meeting.
Make Sure It Works
If you are demonstrating a product or using any technology for a presentation, make sure you are 100% confident that it will work. If it is smoke and mirrors in order to demonstrate a concept then tell them. Never imply something is something it is not – you will be found out.
Death by PowerPoint
You have all heard the phrase; don’t think you are an exception. If you have to use PowerPoint, then make sure it adds to your presentation and is not just a series of prompt cards. Think about whether you really need it. If the investor is looking at a screen they are not looking at you. That may sound like a bit of a relief, but it is not good.
Investment decisions are made as much on the people as on the business, so make sure the investor gets a chance to understand you.
Dress Appropriately
Always a sensitive one. We cannot tell you how to dress, but just remember you are trying to impress. Different sectors have different interpretations of what is suitable dress, however, if you are a design company you may find funky works well for your trendy clients, it may also work for your potential investor, but we would advise against jeans and trainers. A tie is not a must for men, but it is desirable where appropriate – your Creative Director could get away without it, but we would advise your finance director to conform. For women it can be more difficult, there is not a standard look that works, but the same rules apply, dress to impress and above all be smart.
Remember you are not on a night out, or hanging out with your industry colleagues. You are attending what could be one of the most important business meetings of your career.
Know Your Subject
This is already mentioned under “Be Prepared”, however, it is an area worthy of a second mention, as it is probably the most important, and the most common one to cause problems.
This is your business you are presenting; make sure you know it inside out. Have a full understanding of all your numbers, both historical and forecasted. We are not just talking the annual profit figure here, but everything, how much you intend to spend on each overhead etc. Saying that your accountant prepared your forecasts is not an acceptable excuse for not knowing yourself, In fact there are no acceptable excuses on that one. If you really can’t talk numbers, make sure you have a member of the management team with you who can.
And as well as knowing your business, make sure you can talk confidently about the market and your competitors. How are they doing etc.
Recognise The Risks
The investor may well ask what the risks attached to your particular business are. If you answer none, the only think you will demonstrate is a lack of commercial awareness or lack of understanding of your business and market. Every business has risks. Be prepared to talk about the risk, show you recognise them and most importantly what your plan is to minimise and deal with them.
Know Your Audience
Find out as much as you can about the potential investor before the meeting. What is their background, have they made previous investments in this sector, how will investing in you help them. Before you start your presentation you can ask them to give you some background. After all this is a two way thing, you want to make sure you take funding from the right person for you and your business. This is a relationship that will hopefully last a long time and will impact your business moving forward – it is not just about the cash.
If you know about them it will help when you are presenting. You will be able to judge better their knowledge base and therefore communicate accordingly and avoid patronising. Do not try to tell an investor who has made their money in retail the basics of retail. This is a fine line as on the one hand you need to demonstrate that you know what you are talking about, but on the other you do not want to come across as patronising and irritating.
Be Yourself
You will be told over and over again that investors invest in people. To do this they need to know who you are. Do not try to be someone else, show who you are and let your passion show and this will hopefully rub off on the investor. Remember part of the presentation is to see that you can work together, so they need to see who you are and how you work, not what you think they should see.
You are not a news presenter, you are a passionate entrepreneur who believes their business can make a significant amount of money for both you and your investor.
Present Your Business Not Your Product
An easy trap to fall into is to focus on the product. Yes this is important, but the business is more important. The investor’s priority will be their returns – your profits. The product is the tool, not the end game. For example you may have created what you believe is the best search engine in the world. That on its own will not necessarily make your fortune, how the business around that product works, could. So, yes, you do need to explain the product but that is one, albeit highly significant, part of the whole. Both the product AND the business need to be presented and stand up to scrutiny.
Listen
Yes you are presenting, but if you don’t put equal effort into listening you will miss key information. Listen for buying signals, listen to their questions – this will help you understand and therefore address their concerns.
All too often an entrepreneur is so focussed on their presentation that they miss key buying signals or key concerns. Do not fall into this trap, and talk yourself out of a deal.
Answer Their Questions
The investor will have a number of questions, you should be able to answer most of them, well all that relate specifically to your business. If you do not know the answer, don’t fudge it, tell them you don’t know and that you will get back to them. Then get back to them quickly – any delay will reflect badly.
What they may ask:
- What is in it for me?
- How much equity are you offering?
- How did you come up with the valuation?
- What form of funds are you looking for – loans, equity etc?
- Is the business EIS qualified? (to find out more see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/eis/)
- How much have the management team invested?
- Justify your sales forecasts
- Justify your cost figures
- You are saying you are going to breakeven after x period, what would it take/have to happen to halve that period?
- If I put in twice as much money, would the results be achieved twice as fast?
- What is the share structure, pre and post money?
- When do you think you will need more funding?
- Who are you competitors and how well are they doing?
- What makes your business unique?
- What are the barriers to entry for potential competitors?
- Is your idea protected – patents, etc?
- How do you intend to spend the money?
- When is the money actually needed – can it be in stages?
Stay Focussed
It is vital you remember why you are there, this will help you stay focussed on the goal. To help with this imagine a pile of cash on the table between you and the investor – the same amount of cash that you want. Then throughout the meeting you can imagine it moving toward or away from you. As soon as you see it move away, change tact and get it back. You will be surprised how easily you can visualise the movement and keep your presentation on track.
Don’t Be Boring
Sounds simple but it is not. This is your passion and you could probably talk about it for hours, going into every detail of why it is so great. You don’t have hours! Be concise, keep it straight forward and easy to understand – you can go through the detail at the next stage. Try to engage as much as possible, asking an investor to just listen to you for too long will be a turn off and leaves you vulnerable as you will not know how they are feeling at any time. So yes be passionate, but don’t be a bore.
Next Steps/Call to Action
Make sure you know what you are trying to achieve from the meeting and then make sure you achieve it. This may be setting up another meeting, it may be providing information, just ensure the dialogue continues in a timely fashion. Do not leave it as an “I’ll be in touch”. This is your most important sale – sell.
TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) and other specialist terminology
It goes without saying that the potential investor needs to understand what you are talking about. Avoid acronyms and terminology. Avoid jargon as much as possible. One person’s daily language can be another’s jargon. If it can’t be avoided, make sure you take the time to explain what it means.
Practise talking about your business and product in lay man’s terms. Don’t patronise, just speak in plain English.
Stay Professional
This may seem an odd one, but all too often an entrepreneur can forget this and get a bit personal. This is business, if the investor asks a question that makes you uncomfortable, do not lash out at them, take a deep breath and think of the best way to respond in a professional manner. We are not suggesting you have to put up with any inappropriate behaviour, on the contrary, just do not personalise what could be a genuine business question. And if you find you are rubbing each other up the wrong way, then the investment is probably not going to work. Be polite, if it is obvious you cannot work together, then say so – but not in an antagonistic way, or defensive way. After all just because you both recognise that you will not work together, the investor may be able to recommend someone they know. They will only do this if you handled the situation professionally. Remember even if you don’t get the ultimate goal directly, you have put in the effort so see if you can get something. This might be another introduction to an investor, an introduction to a potential client or even feedback from a seasoned professional. Be open to all these, never close a door or burn your bridges.
Be Honest
There is absolutely no point in trying to fudge or mislead. Any deviations for the truth will come out eventually – so do not waste people’s time, including your own.
Put Yourself In The Investor’s Shoes
Try to put yourself in their position. Think what you would like and not like about your business if you were hearing for the first time.
If you can think like your audience, you are more likely to appeal to them.
And last but not least, SMILE!
Good luck!
Written for fundingforgrowth.co.uk.