Pitch Presentation for The 2017 TAG Fintech Business Plan Competition, presented by Jeff McConnell and Michael Blake on January 5, 2017

1. Pitching Your Deal – A Crash
Course on Looking Like You are
Worth the Million Dollars You are
Asking For
Jeff McConnell
CEO, Whisper Communications
Michael S. Blake, CFA, ASA, ABAR, BCA
President, Arpeggio Advisors

2. Disclaimers
• It is assumed that grownups are watching this presentation and
are capable of making their own decisions.
• The views expressed in this presentation are ours.
• This is an 80/20 presentation – we are sacrificing detail for clarity.
• You agree not to sue us if you act on any information offered here
and things don’t work out.
• None of the content contained herein should be construed as an
investment recommendation.
• None of the content contained herein should be construed as a
legal opinion.
• Don’t ever do anything without advice of legal counsel.
• All images taken from FreeImages.com or Google Images labelled
“for commercial reuse”.
• If you find any spelling mistakes, you may keep them.
2

3. Any road will get you there..
3

4. if you don’t know where you are going
4

5. Story Telling
5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9

10. Pitch
10

11. what you do
easy-to-understand
“socially conveyable”
11

12. Who are you?
What do you make or do?
12

13. Why needed? What pain do you solve?
Why important, different, or compelling?
What makes you better?
13

14. Where are you?
What’s next?
14

15. Quantify market/savings
•provides … for the $50B yo-yo market
•saves our customers 65% a year
•reduces time ..by 75%
Be prepared to justify!
15

16. Good Pitches create questions
•5-10 logical questions
•“How do you save that much time for
them?”
•“How do you make money?”
•“How do you stack up against
Microsoft?”
•Strategize and practice it
16

17. So how do you do it?
•Think “conversational pitch w/visuals”
•90+% Who/What/Why/Where
•-10% How
•focus on selling business, not secret sauce
17

18. 18

19. 19

20. 20

21. 21

22. Judges’ Score Sheet
CONTEXT and CONTENT WEIGHT
1. Established context and stated objective
 Who are you? (Story; How did you get here?), Why do you exist? (Mantra
embodies core values)
10%
1. Identified Problem
 What is the problem, Who thinks it’s a problem, How big is the problem?
20%
1. Explained Solution (Answers: What do you do? How do you do it? How is it
different/unique from others?)
20%
1. Presented Business Model and Customer Acquisition Strategy
 What is your value proposition? What is your target market? How will you reach
them?
 Who is your competition? How do you make money? Who is on your team and
why are they important? (capabilities) How will you use investor funds?
30%
1. Answered questions knowledgeably 10%
DELIVERY OVERALL WEIGHT
Portrayed professional & confident image; Connected with audience using
appropriate eye contact; Used familiar language with effective tone, pitch, rate,
volume; Used visual aids (slides, props) to engage audience and support objectives.
10%
22

23. Why Are You Doing This?
23

24. People Don’t Buy What You Do,
They Buy Why You Do It...
24

25. Which Are You?
25

26. What Is Your Solution?
26

27. What is a Business Model
27

28. Ideal = Large Market, Few Customers
28

29. Who Is On Your Team?
29

30. Use of Funds
30

31. Competition
If there’s no competition, chances
are the problem isn’t worth very
much to solve.
31

32. Answering Questions
32

33. Your Presentation
33

34. What Investors Want...
34

35. Thank You
for Your
Attention!
Questions?
Michael Blake, CFA, ASA, ABAR, BCA
President, Arpeggio Advisors
mblake@arpeggioadvisors.com
770-286-3169
@unblakeable
Jeff McConnell
CEO, Whisper Communications
jbmcconnell@gmail.com
678-439-6499
Skype: jbmcconnell