Business Plan Pitches

Business Plan & Pitches the Fundamentals Marc Diaz & Eric Mathews Mercury Technology Labs www.mercurytechlabs.com

purpose: to discuss the importance of business plans & pitches, what they should include and how to deliver them with the greatest impact

Upcoming Events
March 5-7 48Hour launch (LaunchMemphis.com)
March 18 FastTrac (TECWorks.org)

April 3 Business Plan Bootcamp - the Bootstrapping Version (LaunchMemphis.com)
April 8 Baker Donelson Boot Camp
In Depth Legal, HR, Accounting

Why Bother?
"Business plans don't get funded, investors fund visionary entrepreneurs"
"Investors don't even read business plans"
"Our product is too great - we don't need to write a business plan - just show it to them"

Use of Business Plan
It's the Planning, not the Plan
Operating tool - roadmap
It lives and breathes - revisit and update every six months
Communicate your opportunity to others
Hire the management team
Secure financing for the business
Cannot outsource!!!

Business Plan
Elements
Executive summary
Management and organization
Product and service plan
Marketing plan
Financial plan
Growth plan
Appendix

Executive Summary
Description of venture
Market
Money needs
Financing
History/Background

Executive Summary
Pitfalls
Failure to identify different or unique features
Providing too much superficial data
Using long sentences and phrases
Failure to specify management goals
Failure to identify money needs, how funds will be obtained & spent
Trick !!

Management and Organization
Management Team
Who will be the "business" gal?
Who will be the sales guy?
Board of Directors/Advisors
Infrastructure
Organizational Chart

Management and Organization
Pitfalls:
Not making a case for the Management Team
Leaving out the Board of Directors
Forgetting about your infrastructure:
Lawyers, accountants, bankers
Marketing consultants
Advertising/public relations agencies
Governmental agencies
Business consultants

Product / Service
What does it do?
Unique features
Stages of development
Future research and development
Patents, trademarks, copyrights,
licenses, royalties

Product / Service
Pitfalls:
Failure to do your research
"Oh isn't that what xyz does? How are you different?"
Failure to find your niche
Forgetting to protect your work
Trick:
Pitch to someone and have them repeat back to you

Market Analysis
Industry Overview
Trends
Competition Profile
Target Market
Customer Profile
Who in the company will buy from you?
Marketing Strategy
What is a sales call like?

Market Analysis
Pitfalls
Failure to do your research
Assuming you know your customer
Assuming you know your competition
Thinking everyone is a potential customer
No competition
Approaching marketing haphazardly

Don't underestimate marketing!!

Market Research Sources
Library
Government agencies
Trade associations
Trade conventions
Magazines
Computer searches
Competitors
Competitor's customers
Suppliers

Target Marketing
Identify potential target markets
Size of target markets: customers and dollar volume
Prioritize target markets
Cost of penetration
THINK LIKE THE CUSTOMER!

Pricing and Profitability Analysis
It's true - it's always MORE
Pricing
Start-up Costs
Income Projections
Break-Even Analysis

Pricing and Profitability Analysis
Pitfalls
Not understanding your costs
Undervaluing your time
Being unrealistic with your sales projections
Ignoring sales cycles
Starting the business with insufficient cash reserve

Growth Plan
New offerings to market
Capital requirements
Personnel requirements
Scaling metrics
Exit strategy

Format and Writing tips
35-65 pages
Cover page
Table of contents
Use subtitles
Use page numbers
Use charts, graphs, and bullets
Check math
Check spelling
Support documents in appendix

Appendix
Detailed descriptions of high-tech products
Resumes of management team
Patent, trademark, and copyright documents
Business agreements, employee contracts, stock option plans
Product and service brochures and advertising samples

Appendix
Company logos
Reference letters, recommendations, endorsements or testimonials
Research documentation
Product and location photos
Operating and control systems
Customers’ letters of intent

Pitching
Time for Making a Pitch
Full versus Complete
Living Artifact
Compelling and Clear

MercuryTechLabs.com/blog has detailed notes.

4 Parts of the Pitch
1) Context
2) Soluton
3) Business Model
4) Ask

Part 1: Context
Point 1: What is the Company and its Core Value?
Point 2: What is the Pain/Problem that you seek to solve?
Point 3: How Big is the Pain/Problem?

Part 2: Solution
Point 4: What is Your Solution?
Point 5: What is the Benefit(s) or Value that your Solution provides?
Point 6: Who else provides a solution and why is yours better?

Part 3: Business Model
Point 7: How will you get your solution to the Market?
Point 8: If you can get your solution to market, how will you make money?
Point 9: Assuming you can get it to market & make money, how much will you make?

Part 4: Ask
Point 10: What will be needed to succeed and how will you and others measure progress?
Point 11: Why you? Why now?

Building Toward the Ask
Slide 1: (Title Slide) What is your company and its core value?
Slide 2: What is the Pain/Problem that you seek to solve?
Slide 3: How big is the pain/problem?
Slide 4: What is your solution?
Slide 5: What are the benefits that your solution provides?
Slide 6: Who else provides a solution ad why is yours better?
Slide 7: How will you get to market?
Slide 8: How will you make money?
Slide 9: How much money will you make?
Slide 10: What do you need to succeed? How will it be measured?
Slide 11: Why you? Why now?

http://pedrosorren.com	193
http://blog.mercurytechlabs.com	59
http://www.slideshare.net	12
http://www.lmodules.com	1
http://www.pedrosorren.com	1

Business Plan Pitches

by Mercury Technology Labs on Feb 19, 2010

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

5 Embeds 266

Statistics

Business Plan Pitches — Presentation Transcript