Packt+ | Advance your knowledge in tech

You're reading from StartupPro: How to set up and grow a tech business Practical guidance on how to turn your passion, idea, and technical skills into a successful business

Product type Paperback

Published in Dec 2014

Publisher

ISBN-13 9781783001422

Length 238 pages

Edition Edition

Concepts

Business Management

Author (1):

Martin C Zwilling

View More author details

Table of Contents (15) Chapters

StartupPro: How to set up and grow a tech business

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewers

Preface

1. Do You Have What It Takes to be an Entrepreneur?

2. Does Your Dream Idea Have the Potential to be a Business? FREE CHAPTER

3. When, Where, and How Do You Formalize a Technical Business?

4. Does a Technical Entrepreneur Really Need a Business Plan?

5. When and How Do You Find Funding for a Technical Business?

6. After the Funding, How Do You Survive the Execution Risks?

7. Are You Ready for All the Leadership and Team Challenges?

8. Do You Understand How Social Media is Changing the Business Landscape?

9. If You Build It, Will They Find You, and Will They Use It?

10. Can You Build the Relationships Needed to Succeed in Business?

Structuring your investor presentation

As a member of the local Angel group selection committee, I have seen a lot of technical entrepreneur presentations to investors that are too long, but I've never seen one that was too short—maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is 10 slides, with the right content, which can be covered in 10 minutes. Even if you have an hour booked, the advice is the same.

Remember that the goal is an overview presentation that will pique the investor's interest enough to ask for the business plan and a follow-on meeting, but not close the deal on the spot. If you can't get the message across in ten minutes, more time and more charts won't help.

Every startup needs both a business plan and an investor presentation completed before you formally approach any investors. The approach I recommend is to build the investor presentation first, by iterating on the bullets with your team, and then fleshing out the points into a full-blown text...