Startup Funding

March 3, 2022

Presenting Your Pitch Deck

2 min read Congratulations: You’ve landed a meeting with a prospective investor. It’s now time to prepare for your first meeting where you’ll present your pitch deck and hopefully convince the investor your startup is worth a gamble. To do this successfully, you’ll need to know what investors are looking for and how to prepare a solid pitch deck presentation. Continue reading below to learn more about how to do just this. What Investors Want One of the most important things to understand as an early-stage startup is this: The investor doesn’t care about the side of revenue. What they do care about is the predictability of the revenue. Investors look for systems in startups regardless of the size of the company.  As a startup, ask yourself:  Do you have a process for finding customers?  Does that process introduce them to your product?  Does that process also include closing? If you have a sale funnel, it is helpful to share that with the investors. This is key because the investor can then see the traction you have in your sales prospecting process. Use the funnel in multiple investor updates to show how prospects are moving through it.  Purpose of the Pitch Deck A pitch deck is a brief presentation that provides your audience with an overview of your business. Ideally, the deck should answer any questions an investor might have. The basic goal of the pitch deck is to introduce your deal to an investor. Additionally, the pitch deck should also serve as a way to show exactly what is essential to an investor who may be considering an investment in your startup. Tips for Pitch Deck Success An ideal pitch showcases the proposed outcome of the business is going to happen with or without the investor. In other words, your pitch deck should show that the outcome is inevitable. Ideally, you want to use your pitch deck to show the potential investors that the results are there. Put those results up for everyone to see and show, what you have accomplished so far. The slides of your deck serve as the presenter, not the other way around.  When pitching, avoid discussing multiple scenarios. Investors will find it difficult to keep track of what you’re trying to accomplish.  Most importantly. focus on the core message.    Read more on the TEN Capital Guide: Presenting Your Pitch Deck Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

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Raising Funding for Startups

2 min read Most startup organizations are running on limited resources, a vital one being funding. Successfully raising rounds of funding for your organization can make or break the business, therefore it is important you know how to do it well. Part of successful fundraising includes knowing how much capital to aim for and when to begin your raise. In this article, we provide some insight to help your organization better decide on these two factors. How Much Funding Should You Raise? Every day I ask entrepreneurs how much they are raising. Most begin with the big number; the full and complete raise they anticipate running. This ranges usually between $1M and $10M. It’s good to have the big picture in mind, but some entrepreneurs are anticipating to raise this big number all at once because “they want to get the fundraising out of the way.” I remind them that raising too much money around will cost you the equity you don’t have to give up. Your valuation is low at the beginning. It’s best to raise only the funding you need to reach the next milestone and no more. As you grow the business, your valuation will go up and you’ll give away less equity. With this in mind, it can be helpful to consider breaking your fundraise into tranches.  This approach will save you time as well as make each fundraise easier. When Should You Raise Funding? When considering how much funding to raise, consider your funding requirements. To start, calculate your cash burn and estimate the need for new cash. Next, consider the preparation and timing issues. Start your preparation six months in front of the launch. Launch you’re fundraise six months before you need the funding. Use this six-month preparation time to introduce the deal to the investors and educate them on your current status. Finally, there are seasonal issues to consider. I wouldn’t start in early June, but rather wait until late August to kick off a campaign.   Read more on the TEN Capital Guide: How to Prepare for a Fundraise Hall T. Martin is the founder and CEO of the TEN Capital Network. TEN Capital has been connecting startups with investors for over ten years. You can connect with Hall about fundraising, business growth, and emerging technologies via LinkedIn or email: hallmartin@tencapital.group

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