2. It didn’t take long being an
Angel Investor to realize
that most entrepreneurs
are really, really bad at
“selling themselves” and
“pitching” their ideas to
investors.
3. So many good ideas and
start-ups never get funded -
all because of a poor
presentation during the
“pitch”.
4. This is not the only way to give
a investor “pitch”, but by
following these eight simple
suggestions you’ll be setting
yourself apart from the
other poor “pitches”.
5. Most Angels and VCs have short
attention spans. Give us the “short
version” and if or when we ask
questions, then you can provide us with
more details. Just explain what
problem you’re solving and why your
solution is important to the customer.
1. Tell us what you
do in a few words.
6. As investors, we aren’t necessarily as
interested in your product as you are,
and we probably don’t have your
problem. Explain how you are going to
grow your business.
2. What’s the Plan?
How does it Scale?
7. Don’t just put up a slide of your team
and their past job experiences. Tell us
why you’ve assembled this team for
this particular opportunity and
highlight your expertise. I want to see
your passion.
3. Talk about the
team.
8. So many people spend time
developing a great product, only to
find out no one wants it. How are
you going to get it into the hands of
your customers? What is your
Marketing plan?
4.What’s your go-
to-market
strategy?
9. There are probably about 25 people
working on the exact same problem
in some form or another. As
investors we love a “secret sauce”.
What is your secret sauce? How are
you going to execute?
5.What’s your
competitive
advantage?
10. A short demo or actual
product sample is key. Is it
simple, does it solve the
problem, is it easy to use from
a user’s point of view - we just
want to know that it’s clean,
works and simple to use.
6. Let us touch and
feel your product.
11. Successful people understand
their strengths and weaknesses.
Go ahead and acknowledge your
weaknesses because I guarantee
that everyone in the room is
asking themselves, “What is it that
I don’t like about this? Where are
the holes in this plan?
7. Show us your
weaknesses
12. It’s hard to forecast projections for
an early stage company, but show us
what you’ve got - we know they’re
going to be wrong anyway. Explain
what it will take to double or triple
the sales, and what kind of timeframe
you need to accomplish it?
8. Show us the
FINANCIALS.
13. I want more good ideas to get funded. If
you follow these 8 tips and can answer
some basic questions about your
product, valuation and your competition
you’ll have a much better chance of
raising funds.
Dr. Tony Ratliff
tonyratliff.com
@drtonyratliff
