Chapter Outline

I. Explain yourself within the first minute
a. Be clear and concise to what your company does
b. Bea able to describe the what the company does in a ten word sentence
II. Answer the little man
a. Answer the question of “so what?”
b. Essentially describe the significance of what your company does
III. Know your audience
a. The foundation of a great pitch is the research you have done before hand
b. Look into why you were able to meet and the background of the individuals you are meeting with
c. Look into the organization efforts, executives, and current efforts of the venture capitalist firm
d. Brian storm to find issues(hooks) that will catch their individual interest
IV. Observe Rule
a. A pitch should be 10 slides, twenty minutes long with 30 font
i. 10 slides allows for the audience to stay connected
ii. Have a dark background
iii. Twenty minutes long creates an environment for questions
iv. 30 point font allows for the elderly to view the main points
v. Use the points as a guide not a script
V. Set the stage
a. Be prepared with whatever is necessary for your presentation
i. Bring your own projector
ii. Bring two types of laptops with the presentation on it
iii. Bring copies if necessary
VI. Let one person do the talking
a. There is no need to emphasize team work
b. One person allows for the foundation of the pitch to be more clear and concise
c. Having other members there will be useful in the question session
VII. Catalyze fantasy
a. Being realistic is one major aspect of the pitch
b. Many investors tend to pay consultants to develop trends that proves the industry will be a billion dollar industry
c. Avoid the 1% of China assumption
VIII. Get 1000 feet and stay there
a. Avoid being extremely technical and extremely broad
b. Be somewhat in between and concise
c. Provide enough detail to prove that you can deliver and an aerial view that allows for vision
IX. Shut up, take notes, summarize and follow up
a. After the pitch, take notes of their suggestions for improvement
b. Do not argue or disagree with the vc’s main points
c. Writing their message down sends a positive message
X. Rewrite from scratch
a. After the many suggestions, take into account a few
b. Rewrite the presentation and pitch from scratch
XI. Pitch Constantly
a. This allows for a more improved pitch
b. Avoid becoming a pest
c. Some investors might find interest in what others do not
XII. The Art of PowerPointing
a. Use a dark background
b. Add your logo on the master page
c. Use common fonts
d. Animate your body, not your slides
e. Build bullets
f. Use only one level of bullets
g. Add diagrams and slides
h. Make printable slides