2. COMMUNICATION TOOLS:
How to make your idea credible
and understandable

4. AGENDA
¤ 1. Why do you need the toolkit?
¤ 2. How to create and use your toolkit?
¤ 3. What is in the toolkit?

5. Who should
see?
What
information?
When to give
it to them?

7. You are asking people to give you $, energy and time

8. Explain how your business will work
South
Park
Clip:
From
18
min18
sec
-­‐>
To
19:00
min

9. Meaningful Milestones=3Ps
1. Founders with domain knowledge
¤ Problems that the customer actually has and cares about
2. Early indications of the marketing equation (cost of customer
acquisition & customer lifetime value)
¤ Path to success for customers to investigate, compare, test and
purchase
¤ Revenue model
¤ Demo or prototype technology
3. How to scale the company
¤ Proof that the results, outcomes and value are real
¤ Team that has its key team members
¤ Scalable working solution

10. The Value Proposition
Technology Value
Benefits Problem Market
Product Proposition
Management

11. You have two audiences: Investors and Customers
Investors must understand: a) what you do and who cares, b) how much $ is needed to
achieve appropriate milestones;
Focused Company & Strong Clear Investment
Management Message Opportunity
Customers need to understand how you solve a problem that they have;
~40% of users will be very Repeatable
upset Sales
if your product does not exist

12. Selling vs. Planning
VS.

13. How to create your toolkit?
¤ Do not start by building your business plan
¤ You will not have the information you need
¤ You will examine issues out of priority
¤ You will expose lack of understanding
¤ Use the PowerPoint Deck as receptacle for all ideas and
information that comes to light – easy to manipulate, organize and
adapt
¤ Build your executive summary and eventually your business plan
based on your PowerPoint deck

14. How to create your toolkit?
¤ Use your Business plan to communicate tactical priorities to your
team
¤ Develop two versions of the executive summary:
¤ 1-page abstract include Technology, Customer, Pain, Revenue,
Team
¤ 3-5 pages detailed summary with supporting data, commercial
risks and milestones
¤ Give investors your exec summary and offer to walk them through
the PowerPoint slides in person or on the phone
¤ Develop visual assets (diagrams, videos) to use on-line and in your
pitch deck
¤ Develop metaphors to make your innovation “real”

15. Develop Visual Illustration to Explain
Technology
Not bad….but difficult to digest quickly
MRI-guided trans-urethral ultrasound treatment
for localized prostate cancer
Better…easy to provide relevant comments and voice-over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MYElhUkyIA.
19 sec-48 sec

16. Develop Metaphors: Connect your
innovation to a familiar product
Not bad….Factual description
XYZ Inc. is developing a cognitive health online self-assessment
for consumers. This will be an inexpensive, yet reliable tool that a person
can use to indicate whether they are experiencing normal age-related
cognitive problems or those possibly indicative of a more severe
impairment, such as MCI.
Better……Connects to an everyday object
There is currently no quick, inexpensive, yet reliable tool that a person can
use to indicate whether they are experiencing normal age-related cognitive
problems or those possibly indicative of a more severe impairment, such
as MCI. This is in sharp contrast to other common medical conditions,
such as the bathroom scale for obesity and the blood pressure cuff for
heart disease. Even pregnancy has an easy to use home test.
Cognitive impairment has historically had no such fast, easy and reliable home screening test.

17. Construct your message

18. Define
objectives
Design
Close
Create
opening
Outline body
Add
spice
Design visuals
Tailor to
audience

19. Create Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAv06agj87Y&feature=related
0.0sec-0.24sec

20. an Outline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAv06agj87Y&feature=related
0.25sec-0.48sec

21. Make statistics meaningful
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAv06agj87Y&feature=related
1:59 min -2:18min

22. Blueprint for successful presentation
¤ What is my objective?
¤ How will I close? When it is all over, what will they remember?
¤ How will I open the presentation?
¤ How will I organize the body?
¤ How will I get their attention?
¤ How will I keep their interest?
¤ What questions will they ask?
¤ What questions will I ask?
¤ How will I tailor the presentation to the audience?
¤ What notes do I need?
¤ How many times should I rehearse?

23. Make your message memorable
¤ ENGAGE your audience
Make information meaningful to them
¤ Case studies, testimonials, personal stories (Example: Alex Levy video,
03sec-35 sec)
¤ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKU-SqrnqX0

25. Understanding Honest Signals in Business
¤
http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=MmhOjPTk6wU&feature=related
These social signals are not just a back channel or
complement to our conscious language; they form a
separate communication network that powerfully
influences our behavior. In fact, these honest signals
provide an effective window into our intentions, goals and
values.
Alex Pentland, MIT

26. Know your audience
q Speak to your audience in language that they understand:
§ Institutional investor – do not speak techie ,
tie everything back to money
§ Angel Investors - access their background; understand
their interests

27. Prostate Cancer in U.S. Prostate Cancer
1.2M Cases 1.2M Cases
192,000 New Cases
192,000 New
Cases
96,000 HRPC
27,000 Deaths
18 Months
Survival
$2 Billion

28. Know your audience
§ Strategic investor – may be more technical; will be
interested in your ideas as they impact their business
§ Strategic Partner – mix of technical and business;
understand how a relationship will be mutually profitable to
both parties
§ Customer – understand their industry and
pain points

29. Achieving Value Through Partnership:
29
Foundational Framework for Alliance Success for STRATEGIC INVESTORS
3 Dimensional Fit
Cultural Fit
How compatible are
the management
teams and cultures?
Cultural
Strategic Fit Fit Operational Fit
How well aligned are How complementary
the partners' Strategic Operational are the business
objectives? Fit Fit models?
Source: The Waren Company, an Andersen Consulting Alliance

30. Social Media Tools
¤ Create an informed dialog with peers, partners,
journalists and investors
¤ Ask people to engage in the conversation, cultivate the
audience with # and streams
¤ Plan your social media presence, for example
¤ Month 1-2: Twitter
¤ Month 3-4 Facebook or Quora
¤ Month 6: Google+
¤ Month 8: LinkedIn

31. Social Media: How to start
¤ Find your community: start with one , follow, the see who
they follow;
¤ Resources
¤ MASHABLE.COM
¤ Guidebook to Facebook,Twitter@danodigital|
www.danodigital.com
¤ http://www.slideshare.net/danodigital/
¤ develop-your digital roadmap-guide
¤ Guide to Twitter by KevinA.Magee@unmarketing

32. Create Context
Idea# 1: “Don’t Dive Straight into the Technology” (Value Proposition)
¤ Don’t start with technology. Everyone has this. Instead create context.
¤ Understand your customer’s pain points and show them how you offer a
value proposition that is FASTER, CHEAPER, BETTER
Idea #2: Maintain A Degree of Focus & Consistency in your Message (Brand)
¤ Focus on just a few of the really good things you can do and lead with
these points.
Idea #3: “Personify your People” (Profiles)
¤ Profile Managers Backgrounds - Creates context for potential clients and
investors.
Idea #4: “Provide Proof of Results” (Case Studies)
¤ Tell a story. Focus on Results and the overall customer Experience.
Use testimonials.

33. Principles for Business Planning and
Communication
• No hype. Let investors become enthusiastic on
FACTUAL
his/her own
• Business planning is an iterative and adaptive
DYNAMIC
process
VISUALLY • A clear, precise structure is a courtesy to those
COMPLELLING investing their time in reading the proposal
CONSISTENT, CONCISE, • The storyline and all the facts presented must fit
CLEAR together and generate a well rounded impression
• Acknowledge style, recognize knowledge gaps and
AUDIENCE-CENTRIC
biases
EASE OF • Financial decision-makers rarely are technical
UNDERSTANDING experts

34. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN
THE TOOLKIT?

35. The tools
Developing a financing strategy for your Company
http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-
toolkit/workbooks/financing-
workbook-1-developing-a-financing-
strategy-for-your-company

36. The Elevator Pitch
¤ What:
¤ A 30 second overview of your business concept
¤ Why:
¤ To get a follow–on meeting
¤ When:
¤ In a cold call to an investor, customer, potential partner, etc.
¤ Good for networking at trade shows, business functions,
etc.
¤ Dos and Don ts:
¤ Do not spend forever practicing and refining this – should
come naturally;
¤ Figure out a few key messages you would like to get across
to use as a loose script
¤ Distribute key messages to outward facing employees –
standardize message

37. The Elevator Pitch
ABC Inc. is a location-based advertising company
focused on bringing
hyper local targeting to any website.
Through a unique privacy architecture, Inc's technology
allows media companies and advertising agencies to
accurately reach the most relevant and responsive
demographics online.

38. The Executive Summary
The Executive Summary Template
http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/
articles/Investor-engagement-Executive-
summary-template

39. The Executive Summary
¤ What:
¤ 3-5 page summary of your technology, product, sales plan, revenue path and
financial requirements
¤ Why:
¤ A teaser document meant to generate a request for more information
or a meeting
¤ Readers will want to get their head around the concepts quickly
¤ When:
¤ When you have a warm intro or an invitation to contact someone
¤ Integral first interaction with an investor
¤ Rides the line between confidential and non-confidential – some degree of
trust
¤ Dos and Don ts:
¤ Has to have the right emphasis given the maturity of the business concept
¤ Keep it current

40. The Whitepaper
¤ What:
¤ A fairly concise layman s summary of your technology, product(s),
the uniqueness of the technology and products and the value
proposition
¤ Why:
¤ Helps investors to understand how a concept or technology
works
¤ When:
¤ After investors are curious about details or have bought into the
big picture business vision
¤ Dos and Don ts:
¤ Put the whitepaper on your website
¤ Don t go so deep as to give away all of your trade secrets/IP –
consult your IP professional
¤ Keep it as short as possible and fully explain all acronyms

41. The PowerPoint
Elements of a Pitch Deck
http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/
Investor-engagement-Elements-of-a-pitch-deck
Building a Strong Presentation
http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/
Investor-engagement--Building-a-strong-
presentation.html

42. The PowerPoint
¤ What:
¤ A ~15 slide outline of the key aspects of your business plan
¤ Why:
¤ Provides an overview of the business plan in point form
¤ Allows people to absorb a lot of key information
¤ in a short period of time
¤ When:
¤ Usually the second piece of information an
¤ investor receives after the executive summary
¤ Investors love these because they can flip through
¤ them very fast and get highlights
¤ Dos and Don ts:
¤ Critical document in the fundraising process –
¤ present a sound story; make it look good
¤ Practice speaking to it, preferably in front of
friendly people who will ask lots of questions
¤ Use graphics as much as possible

43. The Business Plan
The Business Plan Template
http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-
toolkit/articles/Investor-Engagement-
Business-Plan-Template
Business Plans for SE and SPBs
http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-
toolkit/articles/Business-plans-for-SEs-and-
SPBs

44. The Business Plan
¤ What:
¤ A rigorously prepared and executable description of how you
will build your business
Why:
¤ This is your roadmap for how you are going to build your business
¤ Describes roles and responsibilities for building various aspects of
¤ the business
¤ When:
¤ When you have assembled enough solid information to write it
¤ Highly proprietary; later stages of diligence
¤ Wait for the investor to ask for it
¤ Dos and Don ts:
¤ Often made a condition of financing or a board action item
¤ Re-write with every major change in strategic direction
¤ Avoid the temptation to turn this into a sales tool – preserve its integrity as an
execution plan

45. Business Plan

46. PowerPoint/InvestorDeck

47. Executive Summary

48. Veronika Litinski
Advisor, MaRS Discovery District
T 416-673-8113
E vlitinski@marsdd.com
W www.marsdd.com

49. 12-02-16
49