Venture Capital For Dummies
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It is very important to choose your lead presenter wisely, the fact of the matter is that everyone — all team members and founders — should be prepared to pitch at any time. Here are the times when you’ll be glad your whole team is ready to pitch:

  • Your usual presenter isn’t available. When you are invited to give a formal presentation to investors, you usually don’t have weeks to prepare. You’ll usually have a few days to prepare your pitch after you secure a meeting with an investor. If the usual pitch presenter is out of town or has the flu, you don’t want to give up an opportunity to present your company to an investor.

  • You face a scheduling conflict. Pitch events (where many companies are invited to pitch to investors on the same day) are often seasonal, occurring in the fall and spring. You may be invited to pitch at two different events on the same day on different sides of the country (a pretty common occurrence, in fact, because attractive venture companies become very popular when they are poised for investment).

    If multiple members of your team are prepared to pitch, you can divide and conquer both pitch events. Half the team can make waves in the Bay Area while the other half takes a bite out of life in the Big Apple.

  • You want to take advantage of any spur-of-the-moment opportunities to pitch your company. When you’re seeking venture capital for your company, you must act opportunistically. People who may invest in your company are all around you, and they don’t wear signs identifying themselves as investors.

    You may get an opportunity to pitch your deal in an odd place without a PowerPoint presentation or any preparation time at all. You could bump into an investor in an elevator, at a networking event, in the bathroom… even at your child’s 4th-grade presentation of The Nutcracker.

    By preparing all team members to present your company’s deal whenever they bump into someone who’s interested, you can ensure that your company is getting all the exposure possible.

When your company is fundraising, everyone on the team must be ready to pitch all the time.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book authors:

Nicole Gravagna, PhD, Director of Operations, and Peter K. Adams, MBA, Executive Director for the Rockies Venture Club, connect entrepreneurs with angel investors, venture capitalists, service professionals, and other business and funding resources.

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