1. How to Present Your Company as an Investment Opportunity Presented by Jacob Segal, Investors Research Group

2. Company Information

• • Name

• • Contact person and title

• • Contact information--address, phone, e-mail

• • Web site URL, if applicable

3. Product/Service

• • What is the product/service you are selling?

• • What are its specific components, features and functionalities?

• • At what stage of development is the product?

• • Are regulatory approvals required before it is able to be sold?

• • What additional products/services could be created based on your technology?

4. Value Proposition

• What problem will your product/service solve?

• How is that problem being solved today?

• How will your customers benefit from your solution?

• What evidence do you have of customer interest?

5. IP Position

• Is the product/service patentable? Have patents been filed?

• What rights does the company have to the IP? What restrictions exist on its use by company?

• Is the technology being licensed from another institution? If so, what are the terms?

6. Market

• What is the total size of the market for your product/service? How did you determine that size?

• What are the key drivers for continued growth and underlying demand in your market?

• What are the key supply and sales channels to access your end markets?

• Are there additional target markets that your product could address?

7. Target Customers

• Who are your target customers?

• How are the target segments defined and identified?

• How large are the target segments?

8. Competition

• Who are your major competitors? What is their stage of development and resource level?

• Are there other players trying to enter the market?

• What approaches are others using to address your target problem?

• What competitive barriers do you face to entering this market?

• How sustainable is your business advantage?

9. Collaborations

• Do you have any strategic partnerships, alliances, or research collaborations in place?

• What is the nature of those collaborations?

10. Financials: Revenue Model

• When and how often will a customer pay you for product/service (once, recurring revenues, multiple uses, etc.)?

• From whom will you collect revenue for your product/service? (direct from customer, 3rd-party reimbursement, other)

• What is your pricing approach?

• What is your estimated market share/penetration?

11. Financials: Cost Structure

• What are the principal cost elements in the next 3 years?

• How will they change as business grows?

12. Financials: Projections

• Year One - detailed statement of Profit and Loss Operations, Cash Flow, and Balance Sheet

• Five Year Projections - Profit and Loss, Cash Flows, EBITDA.

13. Management Team

• Who are the key management team members?

• What skills, experience, and track record do they bring?

• What key positions need to be filled?

14. Financing Profile

• Who are the current investors, and how much have they invested?

• What is the current cash position of the company?

• What is the burn rate?

• When is the next financing event, and how much will you have to raise?

15. Near-Term Milestones

• What are the near-term, major milestones for the company?

• When will they be achieved?

• Is your current funding sufficient to reach next major milestone? If not, what is needed?

16. Technology Addendum

• Is it more than a concept?

• What is the evidence that it can work?

• What is its stage of development?

• Does the data indicate that it is much simpler, faster, cheaper, more accurate, or better in some way than existing technology?

• Is the data reproducible?

• Are there, or could there be, alternative ways to achieve similar results?

• What commercial products would the technology create or impact?

17. Patentability Addendum

• Is the technology new, useful and not obvious

• Was it publicly divulged? If so, when and how?

• Would patent infringement be detectable?

• Could a patent be enforced?

• Would the available patent claims protect a developers investment in marketing a product?

• Who holds the rights to the technology?

• Are international patents necessary to derive value from the technology?

18. Economic Value

• What commercial needs are addressed by this technology?

• Does it have multiple applications?

• Will it create a new market or is it an improvement on an existing product?

• What is the size of current and future markets?

• How many products that incorporate the technology will be needed to satisfy market demand, both now and in the future?

• What competes with the proposed product?

• What are the competitive advantages of the proposed product?

19. Risk Factors

• Will a licensee or other investor find this technology more attractive than other investments?

• What are the legal, regulatory and physical barriers to market entry?

• Can the technology be scaled up or proven safe and effective in the anticipated end use?

• How much financial commitment is necessary to bring the technology to market?

• Are there sources of capital to develop technologies in this scientific area?

• How much time will be needed to bring a product to market?

20. Top 10 Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make When Raising Capital

• Think they can set valuation, dont understand valuation or have unrealistic valuation assumptions.

• Fixate on their ownership.

• Cant articulate their business strategy or have the wrong business strategy.

• Havent thoroughly researched the competition.

• Miscalculate market size, market share and segmentation.

21.

• Dont pre-qualify venture capitalists in their industry or dont know the back- grounds of the investors theyre talking to.

• Dont understand their long-term capital needs.

• Make weak presentations.

• Focus on building wealth rather than delivering value to customers or creating businesses.

• Dont recognize their correct position within the company or have an incomplete or improper management team.

22. Top 10 Business Plan Blunders

• Write a poor lead paragraph in the Executive Summary.

• Present off the wall numbers by pulling numbers out of the air.

• Provide information that is unclear, inaccurate, inconsistent and/or incomplete.

• Underestimate expenses.

• Assume revenue will materialize too early.

• Offer a simplistic market analysis.

23.

• Fail to articulate their value proposition or demonstrate the return on investment from the clients perspective.

• Fail to focus on the business risks and provide a plan that proactively addresses them.

• Use techno-jargon so that no one understands what they are saying.

• Make grammatical mistakes or submitting a poorly written business plan.

24. Top 10 Sure-Fire Ways to Irritate an Investor

• Lie to investors or fail to be totally forthright.

• Fail to answer direct questions with direct answers or give unfocused answers that ramble on.

• Be inconsiderate, e.g., show up late to a meeting, leave cell phone on, expect more time than allotted.

• Engage in constant name dropping.

• Demand excessive secrecy and expect the investor to sign an NDA.

25.

• Bring four or five people to the meeting, but only one of them talks.

• Over-hype or exaggerate claims and come across as a promoter rather than an entrepreneur.

• Present surprises such as hidden liabilities, undisclosed debt or obligations, and references that dont match.

• Act arrogant, insulting and/or argumentative.

• Present a story that changes from week to week regarding key aspects of the business.

26. As you prepare your pitch, please keep in mind:

• You will only have 30 seconds to make your pitch

• You will be speaking to investors with considerable experience

• Your goal is to garner their interest from an investment standpoint

• Do not read your pitch--KNOW IT!

• Speak simply and concisely and use a more personal tone

• Do not use jargon or technical language whenever possible

27. 30 Second Presentation Suggested Outline:

• Provide your name, title and company name

• Briefly introduce your product/service

• Briefly state the market opportunity/need

• Briefly state why your product/service is different (i.e. value proposition)

• Briefly list major wins or alliances

• Close with a factual statement about you and/or your management team that will leave the investor with the comfort level that you know what you are talking about (e.g. weve done this before or weve had many years of combined experience in this industry)