I’ve looked at thousands (tens of thousands?) presentations pitching new businesses since the mid 1990’s. The vast majority of them suck. Unfortunately, it’s not Powerpoint’s fault (no – it wouldn’t be better if Freelance has become the standard).

It’s the content creators fault. Edward Tufte – a master of The Visual Display of Quantitative Information , thinks Powerpoint is evil and corrupts absolutely . Blogs like Beyond Bullets help reduce the corruption, but given that I’m trying to get a very specific set of information in a short period of time (usually 30 – 60 minutes), more specificity about what I think is “good” is probably helpful.

Several years ago, Chris Wand (one of the guys that works with me at Mobius Venture Capital) put together a list of questions that a pitch to a VC should address. The world would be a better place if all entreprenuers could automagically incorporate this outline into their pitches – at least to me.

Following are the questions to address.

  1. WHAT IS YOUR VISION?
    – What is your big vision?
    – What problem are you solving and for whom?
    – Where do you want to be in the future?

  2. WHAT IS YOUR MARKET OPPORTUNITY AND HOW BIG IS IT?
    – How big is the market opportunity you are pursuing and how fast is it growing?
    – How established (or nascent) is the market?
    – Do you have a credible claim on being one of the top two or three players in the market?

  3. DESCRIBE YOUR PRODUCT/SERVICE
    – What is your product/service?
    – How does it solve your customer’s problem?
    – What is unique about your product/service?

  4. WHO IS YOUR CUSTOMER?
    – Who are your existing customers?
    – Who is your target customer?
    – What defines an “ideal” customer prospect?
    – Who actually writes you the check?
    – Use specific customer examples where possible.

  5. WHAT IS YOUR VALUE PROPOSITION?
    – What is your value proposition to the customer?
    – What kind of ROI can your customer expect by using buying your product/service?
    – What pain are you eliminating?
    – Are you selling vitamins, aspirin or antibiotics? (I.e. a luxury, a nice-to-have, or a need-to-have)

  6. HOW ARE YOU SELLING?
    – What does the sales process look like and how long is the sales cycle?
    – How will you reach the target customer? What does it cost to “acquire” a customer?
    – What is your sales, marketing and distribution strategy?
    – What is the current sales pipeline?

  7. HOW DO YOU ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS?
    – What is your cost to acquire a customer?
    – How will this acquisition cost change over time and why?
    – What is the lifetime value of a customer?

  8. WHO IS YOUR MANAGEMENT TEAM?
    – Who is the management team?
    – What is their experience?
    – What pieces are missing and what is the plan for filling them?

  9. WHAT IS YOUR REVENUE MODEL?
    – How do you make money?
    – What is your revenue model?
    – What is required to become profitable?

  10. WHAT STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT ARE YOU AT?
    – What is your stage of development? Technology/product? Team? Financial metrics/revenue?
    – What has been the progress to date (make reality and future clear)?
    – What are your future milestones?

  11. WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR FUND RAISING?
    – What funds have already been raised?
    – How much money are you raising and at what valuation?
    – How will the money be spent?
    – How long will it last and where will the company “be” on its milestones progress at that time?
    – How much additional funding do you anticipate raising & when?

  12. WHO IS YOUR COMPETITION?
    – Who is your existing & likely competition?
    – Who is adjacent to you (in the market) that could enter your market (and compete) or could be a co-opted partner?
    – What are their strengths/weaknesses?
    – Why are you different?

  13. WHAT PARTNERSHIPS DO YOU HAVE?
    – Who are your key distribution and technology partners (current & future)?
    – How dependent are you on these partners?

  14. HOW DO YOU FIT WITH THE PROSPECTIVE INVESTOR?
    – How does this fit w/ the investor’s portfolio and expertise?
    – What synergies, competition exist with the investor’s existing portfolio?

  15. OTHER
    – What assumptions are key to the success of the business?
    – What “gotchas” could change the business overnight? New technologies, new market entrants, change in standards or regulations?
    – What are your company’s weak links?