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Presenting yourventure

Nuts and Bolts of New Ventures

January, 2020Bob Jones

Different audiences, different goals

What do people invest in?This includes customers, employees, & investors

A good idea isn’t the same as a good product

A good product isn’t the same as a goodbusiness

People want to work with promising businessesGreat team

Skilled at execution

Understand their business

Idea Product Business

Bob Jones-Nuts & Bolts-New Ventures

Can you describe it clearlyand persuasively?

2

Agenda:

What’s a presentation? What do you want it to do?

Sidebar: fundamentals of selling – technical founder

Let’s give some presentations Customers, prospective hires, other target audiences

Prospective investors

Distillation: are there guidelines we can extract?

More presentations, using what we’ve learned

Your turn – Questions? Conclusion

Bob Jones-Nuts & Bolts-New Ventures 3

My background

CEO – Scientific Nutrition Products, Inc.

Principal at Scientia Advisors – managementconsulting

CEO of Vitasoy USA (turn-around)

Founder & CEO: three medicalcompanies

Executive positions at Baxter, Abbott,other companies

Princeton, MIT Sloan (MSM)4 Bob Jones

Potential audiences:your presentation

Customers

Potential employees and team members

Current employees and team members

Channel partners/retailers/etc.

Family members

Investors


Two requirements:successful presentation

The idea is appealing to the audience

Examples: good fit

Examples: square peg, round hole

They believe you

“Your description is true”

“You can do what you say you can do”


Volunteer Di: sample pitchRecruiting team members


Volunteer Emre: sample pitchRecruiting team members


Understanding your audienceThis takes thought and research

Which do they care more about? You?

Themselves?

Should your goal be to persuade them that: You’re really smart?

Your technology is really awesome?

Your vision is really compelling?

Answer: Yes, but only if it is a Reason to Believe

Benefits first, then Reason to Believe

Remember: their 1st priority is, “How will this help me?”


A few guidelinesPresenting to your audience

Invest the time to understand whatthey want: ask & listen carefully

I know it’s corny, but it helps if youactually care about their needs

A sequence that is often effective is: Introduction

Ask them what they’re looking for in a (job, service…), orconfirm that you know what they’re looking for

Tell them why this will be great for them: BENEFITS

Support: Reasons To Believe

Ask for feedback. If it’s encouraging, ask for the order


A few more guidelinesPresenting to your audience

What helps you be believable?

Conviction/enthusiasm/passion (but notlunacy)

Supporting evidence

Brevity

Be clear

Be brief

Stop talking


How much information is right?Should you tell them everything?

What do you want them to remember?

Turn your computer off

Ask yourself what you want them to say whenthey describe your pitch to someone else

Three points is all that most people retain

Probably the three that have the mostrelevance to them personally

Be ruthless in your editing…


Is this like “Sales?” (Eeek…)

When you think, “Sales person,”do you think of this?

When you think, “MIT”…

My view:

Neither is quite accurate…

“Selling” is an essential skillBob Jones-Nuts & Bolts-New Ventures 13

My views: learning to sell

“Learning to sell” is like “learning to swim”

It’s not natural or innate

It’s terrifying

It’s learnable: it just takes techniques and practice

Balancing act:

Analyzing “where to sell” vs. “learning how to sell”

That can be like “analyzing where to swim” vs.“learning how to swim”

Both are necessary. Is one more important?

Fundamentals you must know

Are you talking to the right person?

What does that other person care about?

“Benefits” first, then “reason to believe”

The role of “trust”

Ask for the order

The role of “follow up”

Qualifying and WIIFM

Qualifying:

More people can say, “No” than “Yes”

Which one should be your priority?

What’s In It For Me?

People put this first, even if they don’t say it

Addressing this may require some finesse

Can you give a relevant example?

Sell benefits, build trust

Benefits, followed by Reason To Believe

If they don’t want the benefits, stop right there

Examples?

Why are people suspicious of overly technicalexplanations?

Trust

More is required for more important decisions

What builds trust and credibility?

Ask for the order; follow up

People rarely volunteer you’d better ask

Classic sequence:

How do you feel about this? (probe for objections)

That makes sense (I hear you). If we addressedthose concerns, how would you feel? (trial close)

Address them, then ask for the order (I did what youasked me to do…)

Follow up: probably 80% of selling

Builds your credibility, shows your interest

Keeps you “top of mind”

Using a microphoneAn often-overlooked detail

Some mics are “omnidirectional.” Theyamplify sounds from all sides.

Most of the mics you’ll use are moreunidirectional. They amplify what youpoint at them and ignore backgroundsounds

Therefore: speak down the barrel of themic, not over the top, and within 2-4inches of the microphone

Speak more slowly than usual; enunciate clearly. Thisgives your audience time to process your golden words.


Let’s pitch potential executivesYou need her, so do others with more $$…

Guidelines for presenters:

Set the stage – tell us: What’s your business? Whatposition are you trying to fill?

Two minutes for the interview pitch

Guidelines for you in the audience

Listen attentively

Offer guidance that will help the presenter improve

Incorporate the feedback into your own presentation

Volunteers?


Let’s pitch prospective customersInfluencers, clients or customers


Set the stage: Who are you? Who are we? (briefly…)

Two minutes What are you selling? Why should we care?

Address our potential concerns

Guidelines for the audience – same as before

Volunteers?


So what have we learned so far?

Different audiences may requiredifferent pitches

Examples?

Why?

But in every case, what matters is:

That your topic matters to them

They believe you


The 8-letter word everyone hates

PRACTICE Sometimes you have to work very

hard to make it look easy

You’re retraining yourself: these are new habits

Give your talk to an empty room

Use a timer

For the brave: record it (Oh God…)

See the first bullet on this page…


VentureCapitalist

Getting to see a venture capitalist

Intro byVC friend

Find theVC friend

Ask forintroduction

Cold call(200/wk)

Is it agood fit?

Make melook bad?

No Yes

2/wk


Preparing for an investor pitchSome of the questions they’ll have

What kind of capital are you looking for?

How much?

How far will that take you?

How will our firm make money from ourinvestment in your business?

How much? How long will that take?


Basic questions about your businessEasy to ask, not so easy to answer…

What’s broke that your company will fix?

How many people/companies have this problem?

How are they addressing this problem now?

Why/how is your solution better?

Who will be your first customers?

How will you find them and let them know about yoursolution?

How will you make money?


Let’s pitch prospective investorsVolunteers?


Set the stage: Who are you? Who are we? (briefly…)

Two minutes

Tell us about your investment? Why should we care?

Address our potential concerns

Guidelines for you in the audience

Listen attentively

Offer guidance that will help the presenter improve

Incorporate the feedback into your own presentation


A few words about pitch decksShort, clear, accessible, intriguing

Many entrepreneurs overload their decks: toolong, too technical, too much jargon

The best decks describe the problem and theopportunity in the first slide or two:

Focus on the unmet need and how they are meeting it

Show proof or support for their value

https://piktochart.com/blog/startup-pitch-decks-what-you-can-learn/




Your turn

Any last questions?

Summary You will need to make many presentations to many

audiences: customers, employees, partners, investors and

more

Presentations are not “one size fits all.” Find the places

where you and your audience are in harmony

Who is your audience? What are their greatest fears & interests?

If they do what you want them to do, why will THEY be better off?

Two of the most important components are:

They want what you’re presenting

They believe you

With luck, your presentation will

capture lightning in a bottle

Good luck!


Bob Jones-Nuts & Bolts-New Ventures

THANK YOU

[email protected]

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