The Business Plan Pitch

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The Business Plan Pitch

• Kirstie Chadwick
• Director

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Very Important Point

• You are NOT pitching a great idea, team or
  product
• You ARE pitching what your business will do for
  investors and for customers
• SO, pitch how your business will solve a tangible
  problem that exists TODAY!!

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Example

• WRONG
• We are the smartest telecom guys in the world and
  we are gonna install high bandwidth wireless
  telecom infrastructure in really tall downtown
  buildings in big cities all over the world
• BETTER
• We enable you to use your cell phone anywhere
  inside every building in all major U.S.
  metropolitan areas

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Elements of the Pitch

• The Hook- pain point or heart grabber
• Brief description of product/service
• Brief market description with opportunity
• Brief description of competition
• How you are different from other solutions
• How you will make money - biz model
• Partnerships and alliances
• Sales and distribution plan
• The experience of the team, board, etc.
• Five year financial forecast with milestones
• Investment request with ROI expectation

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Elevator Pitch Must Haves

• Hook statement or question that immediately
  piques interest of recipient
• Passion if you are not excited about your
  business, no one else will be either
• Request Ask recipient for permission to call, a
  referral to others, or feedback
• Short assume you have less than a minute, and
  sometimes only time for a few sentences

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The Hook

• The hook should simply ID the pain you solve
• We make Napster legal
• Have you ever had your cell phone fail inside a
  building?
• Imagine a rubber coating that conducts
  electricity.
• We will change the way people invest their money.
• Tag lines can be used as a form of a hook
• GE brings good things to light
• NY Times All the news that is fit to print
• Venture Lab Where education is a venture

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The Product Pitch

• KISS Keep It Simple, Stupid
• Kill the geek speak
• Focus on customer benefits, not technical
  benefits
• Tell a story that paints a personal picture for
  your audience

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The KISS of the Devil Too Much Information

• WRONG
• Our technology is the first integrated and
  automatic book scanner that will scan and
  digitize bound documents at a speed of 1,200 PPM
  at a fraction of the cost of existing solutions
  based on a disruptive digital imaging technology
  initially developed at Bell Labs and protected by
  12 patents.
• BETTER
• We capture the future of knowledge by seamlessly
  digitizing physical libraries at a very low cost.

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Geek Speak Is Boring

• WRONG
• We provide non-penetrable intrusion detection
  for digital voice, fax and wireless communication
  devices with our 2048-bit Hellman encryption
  algorithm that is combined with the latest
  168-bit Hellman DES.
• BETTER
• We allow you to communicate safely on a broad
  range of digital devices.

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Customer Benefits, Not Technical Benefits
Technical Benefits
Business Benefits

• Seamless integration
• Scalable, adaptable
• Secure networking
• Improves network performance
• SO WHAT???

• Increase your revenues
• Reduces your risk
• Cut your costs by 30

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The Market Pitch Tie to a Burning Need!!

• ID the problem or need you solve in 1-2 sentences
• We allow any cell phone to work anywhere inside
  buildings that utilize our wireless network
  solution.
• Reference a brand-name customer that is using
  your product (or that has expressed interest)
• The FAA has determined that we are the only
  security system that is able to rapidly move
  people through security check points while
  exceeding their security needs
• Quantify your market size with numbers that are
  from a trusted 3rd party source
• According to the American Hospital Association,
  there are 4,000 hospitals in the U.S. that need
  the ability to visualize MRI images in 3D

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Know Thy Competition Acknowledge It
Microsoft
You
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Neutralize Your Competition

• Pitch 1-2 Unique Differentiators that paint a
  picture
• We use the same insulin compound provided in
  Mercks drugs, but we allow children to take an
  oral dose instead of a shot
• There are many flavors of PDA keyboards, but ours
  is the only one that folds into the PDA device
  when it is not in use
• While there are many wireless router boxes on the
  market, ours is able to send signals through
  cement and steel walls

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So, How Will You Make Money?(Optional depends
on time and uniqueness of business)

• Simple description of your business model
• Recurring revenue models are ideal
• We will install the wireless network in a
  building at no charge, and then charge a usage
  fee for all calls that we carry
• We provide free access to our medical information
  website for consumers, and charge advertisers for
  each exposure
• Our portable fuel cells will be installed in
  laptops, and we will receive a royalty from Dell
  for each installation

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Why Invest in You?

• Fact investors invest in people, not products
• Our founders have over 20 years of combined
  experience in the telecom industry
• Our board includes two top executives in the
  restaurant franchise industry
• Our technical staff has a combined portfolio of
  over 30 medical device patents
• We just recruited John Smith to run our sales
  team. You may recall that John took Google from
  3 million to 100 million in sales in two years.

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Will You Help Me?

• Always end with a request
• Could I follow up with you at a more convenient
  time to present our company in more depth?
• Given your background, I would greatly appreciate
  your feedback. What do you think of our business
  model?
• I know you have a lot of contacts in the energy
  utility business. Who would you recommend for us
  to ask to join our board?
• Could I have your card? I would like my CTO to
  follow up with you on your technical questions.

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Top 3 Elevator Pitch Mistakes

1. Focus on selling a cool product/idea instead of
   on the viability of the business
2. Take too long to get to the pain/problem that you
   are solving
3. Dont engage the recipient via questions that
   request them to engage with you

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An example

• Have you ever had your cell phone fail inside a
  building?
• We provide a communications network that enables
  any cell phone to work anywhere inside all types
  buildings, while ensuring your communications are
  secure.
• The FCC has determined that over 60 of the 5
  million commercial buildings in the U.S. inhibit
  wireless or cell phone communications from
  within. The percentage is even higher in
  international markets
• While there are many vendors that provide
  internal wireless networks, we are the only
  vendor that enables communications to penetrate
  steel and other high density construction
  materials, which significantly reduces the cost
  of installation
• We will install the wireless network in a
  building at no charge, and then charge a usage
  fee for all calls that we carry on our networks
• Our founders have over 25 years of design
  experience in communications systems, and Bob
  Marriott has recently agreed to join our Board of
  Directors.
• It is my understanding that you invest in young
  communications companies. Can I follow up with
  you next week to discuss our business in depth?

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Questions?