We work with start-ups that have raised tens of millions of dollars in venture capital, eventually become acquired, and gone public. Presenting yourself and your company to investors, corporate partners, customers, and employees is the single most critical doorway to business success. But do you know how to present your company in a way that makes it come alive so that people want to invest in you? Do you captivate people’s attention when you speak?
Many entrepreneurs want to believe that their technology and big market opportunity speak for themselves such that the potential should be obvious to investors. However, YOU are all that is visible to the investor at that moment. Because of the way human nature works, when you stand up in front of the room and start talking, investors will be assessing you more than the details of the business. How investors perceive you will heavily influence their decision to move forward with you to the next stage or to say goodbye. If you don’t inspire investors to want to know more, you may never get the chance to show off your great technology, test data, demo, patents, or technical team.
Keep in perspective the goal of your pitch when you are presenting to investors. The goal is not to get a signed check for $3 million before you walk out of the room. While that would be nice, it is not going to happen. And you will not get to tell the investors everything you want to say. Instead, you need to focus on intriguing the investor to want to know more. That also means preempting enough of the risks and uncertainties to avoid making it easy for investors to say no. And it surely helps if you get them to like you personally. These three outcomes will open the door to a second or third meeting where you can share more about your technology, prototypes, data, and staff. Later, during the due diligence process (i.e., when investors further investigate you, your business, and your competitors), you will have ample opportunity to impress them further.
Mediocre presenters drain energy from an audience. In contrast, storytellers engage and energize a room. You must think of yourself as “sharing a story with people” rather than “giving a presentation.” A presentation is a one-way lecture as opposed to an interactive, fun experience that people will remember
