The Investment Blog

Watch this video now and comment: http://capitalmatchpoint.com/content/winning-pitch-when-seeking-raise-money
Hosted by Ken Honeyman, The Capital MatchPoint, 770.433.8250, http://capitalmatchpoint.com
…You’ve asked me about the best way to pitch a potential investor, and that’s a great question. At the Capital Match Point, we’ve distilled our best advice in what we call the winning pitch. There are ten components to this, and I’ll go through each one of them. Pay attention!
Target the pitch, number one. Capital Match Point actually takes the guess work out of that equation because the person who has interest is the person who talks to the capital seeker.
Number two. This is simple: be on time. Or better yet, be early. Capital sources usually have a hard stop. They only have so much time for anybody.
Number three, don’t overwhelm the money provider. The goal at the first meeting is not to get all the money at the first time. Don’t try to cram six or seven meetings into one meeting. Peak their curiosity but don’t abuse their attention span.
Number four, I have to say to know your audience. Try and find out in advance who is going to be at the meeting and spend some time learning about them at their site and find out who’s actually going to be in that room when you’re there.
Number five, get to the point fast, and I mean really fast. Funding sources sit through presentation after presentation. That’s their livelihood. So, it’s easy for them to lose interest if a presentation doesn’t get to that point quickly. Here’s a little bit secret sauce. To get their attention, answer this: what problem is my company solving? Tell them up front. They’ll listen. Trust me, they’ll listen.
Six, use analogies. Use bold ideas to present new concepts. Draw an analogy from an unrelated product. For instance, TIVO for the Web, podcasting for cell phones, or eBay meets CNN.
Number seven, power points. Power points: over kill or over fill? How many slides to get the message out? My answer is the baker’s dozen. You know, five minutes per slide makes the case. By the way, don’t read it to them. They can read it for themselves. Tell them your story.
Number eight, know what you don’t know and admit it. This is very critical. Our investors don’t expect entrepreneurs to know everything. So, be upfront about it if you make a mistake. If you don’t know the answer, do three things. One, admit it. Two, make a note of that question and after the meeting, follow up, find out, and get back to that person. Do not, and I repeat, do not fake it with an evasive, oblique, or indirect attempt at an answer. Our investors want to know that they can trust the entrepreneur.
Number nine, competition. Know who they are and what not to tell the capital provider. What not to tell them. Don’t ever say the dreaded words, “We have no competition.” That’s a death warrant. Capital providers know that it’s rare for any company to have no competition whatsoever. They’ll know that you haven’t done enough homework on your deal, and the company is going to be sort of lacking, and it’s probably not worth backing either.
And number ten, control the meeting. Don’t spend too much time on a particular point or line of questioning. Politely but firmly move on, follow up, and set a meeting to satisfy their concerns.
So, we welcome questions from entrepreneur when they’re preparing to pitch our investors. They can us at call The Capital Match Point because ultimately we want to have your deal funded, and have success with our investors. If you need assistance to find investors, raise money, angel investors, or with your business plan, call or visit us on the web.

Duration : 0:3:20

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