At some point, nearly all entrepreneurs and business owners find themselves pitching their companies to outside investors whether they are friends and family investors, angels, private equity, or venture capital. Each of these investor class participates require differing levels of disclosure before making go- or no-go decisions on investment.
As a general rule, I encourage all of my clients to prepare their own business slide decks as though they were preparing for the most sophisticated investors, so that they are prepared, think about the most important issues, and spend the time necessary to refine their presentations. Getting the deck trimmed to the most important 10-12 slides is important to demonstrating that entrepreneurs understand their business models, and the most important aspects of their model.
So in coaching entrepreneurs, business owners, and CEOs how to prepare to raise capital, here are the typical slides that I recommend:
Cover Slide
Elevator Pitch Slide (show graphically the problem, opportunity, and solution); a visual talking point
Market Problem and Current Solutions; big market problem met; show pain of problem; Market Opportunity: define market, size, addressable market, and target clients
Our Solution – why we are better (price, technology, security, efficiency, etc)
Management Team and future hires
Company Market Fit / Competition / typical business school quad chart showing feature sets of company with our solution trending toward the optimal area of the visual
Business Model: Financial Model and Revenue Streams, Basic Assumptions Marketing Approach and Strategy; expected conversion rate to acquire paid client? Expected Average Revenue per User; expected lifetime value of customer;
Technology plan (core technology, patents, and future direction)
Traction / Performance / Awards / Timeline (optional)
Business model and Financial Projections
Exit Strategy
The Ask (Capital raise, use of cash, introductions, smart money requests)
There are many suggestions online for how to tailor and edit investor presentations; and here is a helpful example.