Investors focus most on your management team and sales model during pitches. Introduce each team member's relevant experience upfront, present conservative revenue forecasts in Excel, and be ready to discuss risks and how you'll hit cash-flow neutrality.
Chapters
And the other thing I would say is don't overly focus on your technology. You know, really it's the management team that's the difference maker. So I think emphasizing the management team's ability to execute by doing a brief intro at the beginning of a presentation, letting each person talk about their background, even if it's only the two of you, you can also mention on that part of the presentation anyone else that isn't speaking, you know, what they bring to the table. And then, you know, I know this, most people get this, but you gotta have what problems am I solving? What's my market I'm addressing? And I can't tell you how much scrutiny the sales model will get. I mean, it is amazing to me how many meetings that I've had personally with one particular potential investor time after time that really wants to dig into the sales model. They want to dig into Excel sheets. They want to really understand what's going to drive revenues. And, um, you know, I think I've kind of learned the hard way over my career, um, be as conservative as you think, um, it makes sense to be. Just don't overpromise and be able to discuss risks and how you'll respond if those risks materialize. You know, it seems that, uh, you only got maybe 30 minutes to have this first meeting, but if you can, um, you know, put together a, a presentation that flows, you can normally cover them all. And then, you know, I think use of funds and tying it to your overall strategy and company vision, getting back to that storyline. This is how it's, you know, a cohesive story and vision is important. Timeline to commercialization if you're not already there. And regulatory strategy, I think, is something that people understand quite well. If it's existing DRG codes, if, you know, whatever the case may be, it's important to have that really highlighted. And then obviously key milestones to be accomplished with the current raise. Including things like when does the company become cash flow neutral? And those types of things usually are going to come up in the, anticipate those questions, know how you're going to answer them, but it always comes up at some point. And I think being able to support your perspective on valuation is really important.
