Cocktail 101: how to pitch your business

February 21, 2011 4 Comments

Tomorrow evening is the launch cocktail of Capital Innovation 2011 where I will be again an honored member of the advisory committee. Last year, I made myself available to help all the companies that entered the contest and I am very happy to say that last year’s winner, Artfox, did spend a lot of time with me in improving their business plan and overall pitch (full disclosure: since then I have invested in them as well as accepted the role of Executive Chairman). So while I have lots of excitement to see the companies that have registered so far, I have no choice to cringe on the idea of listening to badly delivered elevator pitches. So in hope of making this more enjoyable for everyone, here are my 8 tips on better cocktail pitching:

Introduction

Please take the time to introduce yourself but don’t get started for a mile long presentation. Say your name, role and company name (slowly and pronounce every bit properly). The follow with a SHORT one liner about what you do (WITHOUT acronyms or industry specific words). This is not yet your elevator pitch; it’s an introduction on the matter.

Get to know the other person

Nothing worse than to hear someone rapidly pitching what he or she is doing even before they even know whom they are talking to. Take a few moments to find interest in the person you are in front of: what are they doing here? What are they looking for? What kind of businesses interests them? By knowing more about them you will be better at giving them a proper pitch.

What is the problem you are solving?

Never assume that people understand and get your field of expertise. Take a few seconds to put your business in the context of the problem you are solving. Try to find an example that can be highly visual and simple for anyone to get his or her head around.

What kind of solution do you have?

Once the problem is understood on the receiving end that you can take a few seconds to explain what is the solution that you have (plan to have in the near future). Again, make this as simple as possible (think of explaining this to your aunt that has no understanding of technology – never assume that anyone will get it).

What makes you different?

It’s one thing to have a solution; it’s a completely different one to be unique (i.e. to have a competitive advantage). You need to detail here what will differentiate yourself, what will make you win the war against the others. This also does not need to be uniquely technology related. Having a specific go-to-market, pricing strategy, distribution channel, etc. all count as differentiators.

Why do you believe you will succeed?

Almost closing time on your cocktail pitch. What makes you say that you will make it? Why would I think that you are a company to follow and feel that you have the right stuff? Here the challenge is to stay within the boundaries of being pragmatic and not look like a Looney bin.

What do you need?

Ok, you are obviously there for a reason. So what do you need to make your business a success? Do you need money? Senior leadership? New partners? All of the above?

Make it short

This entire cocktail pitch should have lasted only a couple of minutes. Now if the other party is interested, it may last longer but don’t try to hog on someone too long. There are a lot of people to talk to … :-)

Looking forward to see all of you tomorrow evening and hopefully my little tips will help you polish your cocktail tips.

 

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Why Apple would do just fine without Steve

February 14, 2011 Leave a comment

There is a lot of talk about the future of Apple and how they can possibly survive without Steve. For one, I think they would do just fine. Of course, Steve has amazing drive and vision but you have to look a bit deeper to see what he has achieved; above and beyond all the amazing products they have done.

Culture
If you ever had the chance to work with anyone at Apple, there is a deep and well-defined culture over there. Everybody marches with the same level of discipline and engagement. For example, try to get confidential information from any employee (I think that most leaks have come from 3rd parties) and you will get the same textbook answer that you usually get from any Apple employee. There is a deep sense of culture and following within the company; this is very deep and would require major changes for years to come before this changes.

Ultimate User Persona
Whether Steve is there or not, he personifies the ultimate user persona; I am convinced that anyone involved in any decision-making instantly has a thought of “what would Steve say or do” before doing something. It has already been proven that market driven companies thrive upon the use of a user/buyer persona. Apple has probably implicitly created with Steve the uber persona.

Product Roadmap
If you were ever involved in any off-sites or product brainstorming, you know that Apple has most likely a bunch of new product ideas and well-defined roadmaps for years to come. The genius behind ofthe past decade has most likely written down what to do for at least 3 or 4 generations of upcoming product releases and updates.

Executive Team
Most of the key players around Steve have been working with him for more than 12 years: Jonathan Ive (Head of design, since 1997), Scott Forstall (Head of iOS software, worked with Steve at NeXT and followed him in 1997), Tim Cook (COO at Apple for 13 years), and Philip Schiller (SVP of Worldwide Product Marketing, rejoined Apple in 1997). When you have been working with the same team for so long, there is no doubt that they know a lot about the man and his vision. And most likely they know how to continue this going forward.

In short, unless the Company changes all these key executives, run out of what’s on the multi-year roadmap and change the overall company culture and finally stop using Steve as the uber persona, you can expect great things from Apple for many many years to come.

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My Presentation Tips & Tricks

February 8, 2011 1 Comment

Here is a follow-up on my latest post regarding the content of an investor presentation. Beyond the information that needs to be put into each slide, here is my top 10 list of tips when it comes to doing a presentation.

Simplify the content

Making presentation is an art form where less is better. Try to make each of your slides and clean and simple as possible. Try to extract the essence of what you are trying to say in each and every slide.

Use words that are easy to pronounce

Sounds silly but in a Province where English is most likely not your first language, try to pick words that are easy to pronounce. Be careful about words that might have a different meaning when badly pronounced (for example, saying “fuck us” when wanting to say focus). Of course, some words cannot be replaced so you just need to practice your pronunciation.

Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse

You never rehearse enough; don’t just try to wing it. Even the pros practice a lot their speeches and presentations. Practice your timing, practice the quality of your speech. You can do this by yourself but it is also quite valuable to practice in front of a mirror, in front of people that you are not as comfortable with, and ultimately record yourself with a camera.

Lead the presentation

Too many times, we start talking once we have flipped the slide. If you ever have noticed great speakers such as Steve Jobs, they will lead the slides; starting to talk about the content that will appear next – BEFORE the slides is displayed. This will create a better flow and prevents you from just reading what’s on each slide.

Tell a story

Presenting is very much about telling a story. Make your presentation compelling by focusing in getting your audience engaged and getting them thru a series of steps; up to the closing statement.

Take your time

By keeping the content short, you can make sure not to exceed any allocated time period. You can then make sure to take your time. Nothing worse than a rushed presentation because you have too much to say or are not sure on how long you will take.

Pause by taking a sip of water

One useful trick is to take a quick sip of water once in a while. This will allow you to take a second, make sure you are focused and composed (if you were starting to lose it). While this sip of water will feel like you have paused for a minute (or even feel like an hour), it creates just a small enough of a break to catch your breath.

No matter what happened, focus on closing strong

Even if you have fumbled plenty during the presentation, you always have a last chance upon closing. Take a deep breath and make sure you deliver a good and final message correctly. While always better to do a perfect presentation, a good finish can go a long way.

Be careful of your body language

How are you placing your hands? How is your body moving around can say a lot about your level of confidence and comfort. Make sure that you don’t do any twitching, dangling, or too many sidestepping moves. This is where recording your rehearsals with a camera can greatly help. Sometimes we are just not aware of all the things we do when we present.

Smile

Nothing worse than a presenter that is tense and looks like he is in a bad mood. If you can, remember to smile and have an upbeat attitude as you are presenting; even more when a presentation is recorded and then posted to a public website.

 

Filed under Business Principles, General, Marketing, Product Management, Sales Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

Looking for funding? Here is my presentation template in 15 slides

February 2, 2011 1 Comment

Raising funds is something that most startup hates doing – being very difficult (and sometimes next to impossible) as the primary reason. While not easy, getting investors on board is not as hard as you might expect. That is of course if you have taken the time to build the right business plan and have taken the time to sell your story. There are three basic rules that will make a round of funding happen. To begin is there a market (and a problem) that is big enough to invest into? Second question is do you have the right solution to that specific problem? Finally, to you have what it takes to succeed? Investors want to put their money into things that have a shot of succeeding. For any business plan they read or presentation they see, this is basically what they are trying to answer. If you succeed, you will get the funding you need. Missing anything and the road to money will be long and painful… Here is my top 15 slides that I believe need to be in any investor presentations:

Company Overview: make it short; explain where you come from and how you got to this point. What kind of experience do you have? Who are the key people in your team?

Distinctive Competences: Take a few moments to explain what makes you unique. What do you have or do that other companies would not or cannot do? This is extremely important. If you are just a “me too”, what confidence can I have that you are the right horse to bet on.

Market Problems: What are the problems that the industries you are serving have? How painful is that pain for them? Make sure to show that you are addressing a real pain, not just a nice to have.

Market Sizing: How big is that market opportunity? How many customers are there? How much would they be willing to spend? Try to have 3rd party references such as industry research and market analysis to support your hypothesis.

Solution to the problem: What kind of solution is needed to fix this problem? How complex this is? Will it take a few years or a decade in order to get there? This is as much as product agnostic as it needs to be. Focus on the solution rather than what you product does as of today.

Target Customers: The market is large and that is very good but you still need to focus. What will be the types of customers you will be targeting first? Types of customers can define this but having samples of customer names is always good.

Your product line: Ok now it’s time to put things into perspective. What is the solution you have (or plan to have) that matches best the market problems and the needs of the customers?

Product roadmap: You need to show that you know what to do for years to come. How can you demonstrate that what you have in your plans will align with the evolution of your target market?

Go to market strategy: How will you get your customers to notice you? What is your plan to get the meetings you need and the volume of business required to be financially viable? And please be specific. Just saying that you will use SEO, Adwords, Social Media and mailing list does not cut it …

Competitive landscape: Whom are you competing with? This can be a direct competitor to your products and solutions but this can also be the customers themselves (in-house development, status quo). How will you position yourself in order to have a competitive advantage?

Revenue Model: What is the pricing for your solution? Do you have plans for recurring revenues? Will you have a reseller channel? How will you monetize your web service? Sometimes a simple illustration can help visualize the flow of money and how it gets to you…

Financial Projections: How much money will you make in the coming years? How much will it cost you to get to profitability? What is the breakdown of spending per category (R&D, S&M, G&A)? Keep it simple but show numbers that fit within metrics found in your industry. For example, if you nearest competitor is running at 15% profit margins, don’t show margins at 40% (unless you have a major compelling reason that shows why you will be so different).

Exit strategy: This is not as much about selling the business as what will be the triggers that will allow the investors to get a return on their investment in the next foreseeable future.

Funds needed: How much do you need and what will you do with it? There is no problem is asking for more, just make sure that you can demonstrate how the proceeds will be spent. Money invested needs to be used to create value, not to sit in a bank account for 3 years.

Summary: Time to wrap up; this is your last chance to make a lasting first impression. What are the key take away points you want to investor to remember; no matter if they will be investing or not. People talk and you want to make sure you leave them with the right message.

I hope this will give startups looking for funding some insights into the key points that investors are looking for. Of course, I might have made it sound easier than it really is. If you need some help or just want to get some feedback, drop me a line and I would be more than happy to assist you in making a killer presentation that will help you get the funding you need.

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