The Presentation to Investors

This week I created my PowerPoint slide show to give a presentation to investors. I practiced on my Advisory Board. They gave me good feedback, but basically it needed a lot of work.

So today I am researching on what a good slide show consists of and how to present it. I am sure others are in the same boat as I am.

So here is what I know. Keep your Powerpoint presentation to 10 slides and between 15-20 minutes for the entire presentation. You want to give them enough that will entice investors to schedule another meeting with you. Don't try to sell them during the first presentation. Just show them the icing, and at the second meeting let them eat the cake (so to speak).

I had some nervous jitters as I was speaking to my board, and I stumbled over a few facts and features. They said if you make a mistake, try to not to bring attention to it because typically people will not notice. But if you do make a mistake, and bring attention to the mistake, it is a negative point against you.

I shared a brief summary of why I chose this business at the beginning of my talk. My story goes like this. Since I was a teenager, I wanted to make a positive impact on society through film and TV. I mentioned I went to college for a Radio, TV, Film degree and worked 10 years in the television broadcasting industry. However, I rushed through my story. Your story is very important to the presentation. Make yourself a real person with real passions and real stories that got you to this point. How committed are you to this business? It should come out in the life story that you tell at the beginning.

Here are the ten main points that should be covered in your Powerpoint.

1. Market Need and Solution. Define the problem or the market need, and outline your solution. Give the “elevator pitch” for your startup.

2. Company & Business Model. Name of the company and organization, product or services, how you will make money, who pays you, and gross margin.

3. Product & Technology. Define the technology behind your product or services (past, present, and future development phases). Make sure to communicate the relevance of your product / services to market needs. Describe your technology patents and “secret sauce”.

4. Industry & Market Sizing. Define the characteristics of the overall industry, market forces, market dynamics, and customer landscape. The investor needs to understand the industry of your company. Use data from third parties like Forrester or Gartner.

5. Marketing, Sales, and Partners. Describe marketing strategy, sales plan, pricing, and partnership plans. Here is also a good place for a rollout timeline with key milestones.

6. Competition and Competitive Advantage. List and describe your competition. Describe some of your company’s competitive advantages.

7. Management Team. Qualifications and roles of the top three executives and top three on your Board of Advisors.

8. Funding Requirements and Use of Funds. How much money (if any) has management put into the venture? What is the level of capital funding sought during this stage? What is the company willing to give in return for the investment?

9. Financial Forecast and Metrics. Project both revenues and expense totals for next three years, and past three years. What is the current valuation of the company? Show breakeven and growth assumptions.

10. Exit Strategy. What is the timeframe of return on investment? What is the planned exit strategy (IPO, merger, sale, etc…)? What is the timeframe for the exit? What is the rate of return expected for the investor?

Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me and I need to practice, practice, practice. I am going to find some friends that do not know anything about my business and pitch the presentation to them. If they can follow? ... great! If not? .... I need to work on my communication.

All the best to you in your presentations.

John Harding

The Humble Beginning

Welcome to an exciting journey of a new start-up company that is adding a new dimension to online entertainment. So I am sure you are wondering what will make us diffenrent from the rest of the online portals like hulu, flixster, netflix, and veoh? Good question.

What if you find yourself home alone watching TV and wishing you had a friend over to share the experience. However you can't connect because they don't have transportation, or they are sick, or they are baby sitting, etc.

Wouldn't it great to have your friends watch the movies that you are watching at the same time no matter where you are? It would be even better if you could chat and play a game with your friend even while the movie is playing.

Why not watch a movie, play a game, and interact with your friend online. You can be at home alone and still connect with friends through the laptop. We are in the development stage right now, so follow us for further updates.

We will need beta tester to try out our games, watch movies, and connect with friends. Your feedback is greatly appreciated because we want to include the users in the development.

More to come.