A Successful Angel Investor Presentation (Part 1/4)
Angel investors are a unique breed when trying to obtain financing for your venture. They listen to your presentation, challenge every loophole and bottleneck in your strategy, they are due diligence experts in their respective fields, negotiators of investment terms, and mostly importantly (to you) the ones who sign on the dotted line to fund your company. Before presenting to individuals like this, you must realize up front (and be honest with yourself) that mostly likely you’re not ready.
As an entrepreneur, you only have previous experience presenting to (and being in front of) your family and friends. Whether you want to believe it or not, they are somewhat biased toward your venture- whether good or bad- and they’re probably not even close to seasoned veterans in the space you’re looking to enter. On the other hand, angel investors are experts in the field you want to enter, they encompass specific competencies which add value to the overall pool of angels you’re presenting in front of and they’re an unbiased 3rd party. What you also must realize is that although angels may be hard to crack (and rip you up one side and down the other), in the end it boils down to the fact that they enjoy helping promising entrepreneurs who encompass a great vision for their industry. They were once just like you- ambitious, forward thinking, but lacking the resources they needed. They’re successful men and women who’ve been there, who now enjoy giving back to those with unique and disruptive ideas by opening up their rolodex and resources (ideas, funding, etc).
My point in writing this continuing 4 part series is to let you, the early-stage (angel round) companies, know exactly what investors like this are expecting from you. I would estimate at least 80% of early-stage companies don’t know what an angel investor needs to become an active participant (and financier) in your company. Within 2 minutes of a CEO first opening their mouth I can tell whether they’re ready to tell me what I need to know. If so, I listen. If they bore me and don’t cater to what I’m looking for, they’ve already lost me in those first 2 minutes and I’m now thinking about the other 20 or so deals I’m on during my day jobs. Thus, the point in this series is to help you become a successful and confident presenter.
You’ll have roughly 10 minutes to pitch your idea with a follow-on 10 minute period to answer questions. Throughout the following series of blogs I will provide specific suggestions on how to efficiently and effective organize your presentation so that your delivery is within the top 10% of all presenters. In addition, I will detail and explain some of the more common mistakes early-stage firms make. I intend for these suggestions to be enlightening but also encouraging so that you’ll soon have the tools necessary to be not only prepared, but overly prepared, and more importantly- confident. By following my suggestions, I can estimate that you’ll be within the top 10% of all presenters. Obviously I cannot guarantee investment by angels in your venture if you follow these guidelines (because that’s all they are- guidelines). However, at the very least you’ll have increased the likelihood that many of the angels listening to your presentation will be significantly more engaged and attentive.
This is the goal: peak their interest first and foremost- be a salesperson, a darn good one who can clearly articulate every aspect of your business. If you can do that, you’re half way home to getting funding already. What I detail going forward in this series will help you with the other half.
