Startups

Does this belong in my pitch deck? VCs weigh in (Part 2)

Each year, one courageous startup takes to the podium at the Ohio Venture Association’s annual […]

Each year, one courageous startup takes to the podium at the Ohio Venture Association’s annual summit to pitch the business to three investors and dozens of others watching from the crowd. It’s part of a fantastic, interactive panel that’s meant to give the entrepreneurs on stage and in the audience insight into what investors are looking for during a presentation.

After seeing the panel last year, I wrote a post summarizing the investors’ feedback that seemed to resonate with a lot of readers. This year’s panel was just as insightful.

This time the brave souls were Tony Lammers and Mike Cousino, CEO and COO of BOOM Nutrition. They recently acquired the assets of a sports nutrition company and are looking to bring its popular energy gels back to the market.

On the other side of the table were investors Mike Stubler of Draper Triangle Ventures, Karen Spilizewski of RiverVest and Steve Haynes of Glengary. Below are some highlights.

I have a personal interest in my company/product. Should I talk about that? In this case, the entrepreneurs included a slide with photos of them participating in endurance events, and they explained that they’re both athletes who use the product. The investors liked that. “You want people who really know the market, so it’s encouraging when they’re involved it in,” Stubler said.

Should I keep my slides plain and simple, or try to fancy them up a bit? Stubler mentioned that he liked the colorful logos and backgrounds in the slides, so long as the text was still easily readable. He also cautioned against using more than a paragraph or so of text on a slide. “Most of the time you’re able to speak about your business well, so too much text becomes a distraction when we’re trying to listen,” he said.

How much explanation of the technology do you need? It’s easy for passionate founders and inventors to talk endlessly about their work, especially in healthcare where the product could potentially save lives. It’s important to be brief for the sake of leaving time to talk about the team, the market, the strategy and the ask. But Spilizewski said that she wants to understand the company’s proprietary position and hear about barriers that prevent other companies in the same space from capturing market share.

How far out should my financial projections go? That’s not as important as explaining how you will get there, the investors said. “I’m going to assume any forecast is wrong, so I’m looking for the rationale behind it,” Spilizewski said.

Shares0
Shares0