Investment Materials You Need

Raising capital in the midst of running a business is challenging. Often it is the most important thing that you do and the one for which you are the least equipped. For many new ventures, the investment process is a constant scramble to put together new PowerPoint presentations, documents and financial information for every investor meeting that comes your way. It may seem as though each investor is asking for something unique or different than the last one, but preparing one-off packages and reinventing the wheel for every new meeting is incredibly time consuming and inefficient.
Here’s what you can standardize:

“Create a standard process.” 

Key Presentations

You need two key presentations to make your investment process efficient:

  • General Presentation :12-slide PowerPoint presentation that is the primary presentation you distribute when first interacting with a potential investor. It should be written in a font no smaller than 14-point. It includes the following slides:
    • Cover Slide (Logo, presenters and date)
    • Company Overview (Overview of company, what you do, highlight key wins, customers, successes, key points in history (founding date, key events, investments to date)
    • Elevator Pitch Slide
    • Market Opportunity (Size and importance of the market; Market problem and current solutions)
    • Your Solution (Product/service overview)
    • Competitive Advantage/Unique Value Proposition (Why your product or service is unique)
    • Team (Current team with backgrounds and roles • Include board, advisors and other assets)
    • Market Traction (call “customers” if you have them) • (Key customers, Other evidence of market traction)
    • Business Model (How you price your product or service, How you make money, Key revenue streams)
    • Competition
    • Financial Projection (Financial projections – summary • Financial metrics with investment (e.g., EBITDA, date of positive cash flow)
  • Detail Presentation: 21-slide PowerPoint presentation that expands on Presentation 1 and adds details on the various areas of the company.
    • Sales Strategy (Strategy for selling your product/service)
    • Pipeline (Pipeline of current sales opportunities)
    • Product Strategy (Strategy for differentiating your product/service)
    • Client Management (How you manage clients?)
    • Marketing (How you market your product/service?)
    • Technology (What technologies power your solution?)
    • Operations (What operations support your product/service?)
    • Finance (How is financial management being handled?)
    • Raise Details/Use of Proceeds (Structure of investment, Use of proceeds)

It should be written in a font no smaller than 14-point.

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