The 12-minute pitch for capital: a guide for entrepreneurs Preparation for creating the pitch Here is the list of what you need to know before we can create your pitch: 25 things you must know cold, each in a short sentence or bulleted list. This list is not in any prioritized sequence; you need to know every answer to successfully pitch to investors.
1. Your name, your role and the company name? 2. 3.
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Is it a service or a product company? If there are current clients or strategic partners, name them.
Your company’s unique value proposition
. What unique service or product does it provide to that target market? What exit strategy is planned – acquisition? IPO? What year? If an acquisition, to what kinds of companies? What specific companies will you target? At what multiple of revenue or EBITDA? If an IPO, during what year and at what market cap?
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6. Your expected ROI to investors, what multiple in what year?
7. What capital is needed now and later (in how many traunches) for what purpose to create what R.O.I. for the investor? What is your current round of investment (seed, strategic, Series A, B, etc., 1st round VC, mezzanine, etc.), and how much capital has been invested for what percentage of the equity so far? What Series and amount of capital are you looking for now, and what percentage of the equity (or what debt/equity combination) are you offering for it ? Your cap table: who owns how much now; common or preferred; warrants; employee option pool.
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9. Your management team’s expertise and credentials.
10. Who is the target market and its size (the industry segment for businesses, or the demographics for consumers)? What penetration is projected by what year?
11. Your key actual and prospective clients.
The 8-minute pitch for capital: a guide for entrepreneurs
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12. What revenue models and sources will create what revenue by Year 3 and Year 5? What are current revenues and what is the expected ramp in revenues? When do you create break-even, then profit?
13. Your margins, costs of goods, profitability model. 14. Your scalability model. How does the company grow, and how quickly?
15. Your defensibility and intellectual property strategy. How do you protect your company from competitors and copycats?
16. Your marketing, positioning, pricing and distribution channel strategies. 17. Your realistic time-to-market, time to profitability, and risk profile. 18. Your competitors and your advantages over them. 19. Your intellectual property strategy. 20. Your patent and intellectual property strategy. 21. Your board strategy: who is on now, or who will join --- to bring what advantage? 22. Your pitch to investors vs. your pitch to customers.
23. What do you want? Ask for the close (a meeting? An investment? A referral? a strategic alliance?)
24. Why you are the best possible investment opportunity available. 25. What is the true risk profile of your company?