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I have a great company- it's going to be huge once I get some capital. Whenever I pitch to investors, they are never interested? What am I doing wrong?
I hear this very often – no entrepreneur ever pitches his company as ‘its going to go out of business!’ Everyone’s company is going to be huge, right? Well, the ones with good management anyway.
Without hearing your pitch, I can guarantee that you are not giving a good one. We recently did a series of events that taught entrepreneurs how to give a good pitch – This was an excellent series we did in 5 states with like 60 something VCs and Angels.
Here is some insight on what NOT to say:
We are going to be the next Microsoft or Google.
Maybe you will, but you have a better chance of winning the lotto. Aim high, but not that high.
We have no competition.
Translation – I don’t know my market very well at all. Can you still give me a check? Everyone has competition – Maybe there isn’t a similar product out there, but there’s someone doing (or trying to do) something close. Even not using anything is competition!
I need you to sign an NDA before I tell you my idea.
No investor I know will sign an NDA before you pitch them. Maybe down the road before you tell them the secret formula and they give you a check – but never on an initial meeting.
We are pre-revenue this year, and in 2 years we will do $100M in sales
Maybe if you recruit Bill Gates as your CEO, but otherwise, its pretty unlikely.
Ill do $XX in sales next year and grow by 40% next year – but those numbers are conservative.
Any time an investor hears that your numbers are conservative its spells bullshit. Every single entrepreneur says that. I know you want to say it too, but Don’t – if anything it will set you apart.
That’s all for now –
There are a lot of things to learn about pitching an Investor. You should never expect to get a check after pitching someone over a cup of coffee. You should aim for getting a meeting. Every entrepreneur who attended our pitching event completely changed their pitch before they gave it.
If you want to hear how to give a great pitch directly from Investors, check out this video:
http://www.fundingpost.com/products/Item.asp?refer=iq&item_id=488
I know, I promote my products often, but I work really hard on them! If they sucked, I wouldn’t sell them.
If anyone has any war stories (or tips!) on pitching Investors, let me know – I love to hear em.
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