Preparing for an Investor Presentation

Your Presentation

You won’t have much time for your presentation, and it is essential that you use this time well. In some cases, the time you are allotted will be as little as 7.5 minutes. More typically, it will be 10 to 20 minutes.

Here are a few key points:

• Keep the product description to just a few minutes; the focus should be on the business and the investment opportunity.
• Be sure to explain who your prospective customers are, how you will reach them, and how large the market it.
• Include a summary of your past financing, as well as your goals for this financing, including the pre-money valuation you expect.
• Explain how much total financing you expect to need over the life of the company, what the exit opportunities are, and what return you anticipate. Whenever possible, provide examples of similar companies that illustrate that your projections are realistic. The Keiretsu Forum has published an excellent article on how to structure your presentation. It is aimed specifically at software companies but is relevant for many others as well.

Author Michael Slater is co-founder of Webvanta, the technology behind this website.