So you made it to the “full partnership pitch.” You have already had one (or likely multiple) meetings with a subset of a firm’s investment team, including a principal and perhaps a general partner. You’ve impressed your point person (or people) sufficiently so that you have been invited to present to the broader partnership. What do you do now? Here are five things to keep in mind.
1. Focus on Style, Not Just Substance
This may sound counterintuitive. However, if you have been asked to come in and present to the full partnership, you have already done a good job defining, defending and articulating your business plan, and addressing many questions and concerns. Your initial contacts from the firm have likely already written up one or more memos introducing your company, and have had multiple internal discussions about your company’s compelling prospective investment.
Now it’s showtime! Most likely, the partnership will already be familiar with the facts around your team, market, business model, product, customers, competition and financial projections. They are now looking for the “X factor” — your ability to present with pizzazz, to capture and sustain the attention of the room, to project a degree of informed enthusiasm and to showcase your natural leadership and sales abilities with a healthy spark of charisma.
2. Balance Confidence With Thoughtful Introspection
You know your business better than anyone else. It is important for you to project confidence and conviction around the viability, magnitude and trajectory of your business. It is the job of those in the room to challenge your assumptions or to present perspectives that counter your thesis. It is your job to respectfully but credibly convey what you are doing and how you will actualize your plan.
At the same time, be introspective. The best CEOs and entrepreneurs know their strengths but also recognize where they need help. This is a good time to demonstrate that you are open to coaching and help from your prospective investors. For instance, talk about where there are holes in your team, where you need help and what keeps you up at night. Investors prize their ability to add value to their portfolio companies — help them help you.
3. Dream the Vision, But Live the Numbers
CEOs and entrepreneurs are typically good at communicating their big-picture excitement for their company and its market opportunity. In fact, this ability to “sell” others on your big vision probably played a key role in your initial success with employees and investors.
During the partnership pitch, be sure to complement your qualitative vision with a firm grasp of your key numbers. As companies evolve and grow, investors expect them to become increasingly data-driven and grounded in quantitative facts. As my colleague Dan Nova is fond of saying, “You can fly an airplane at low altitudes by looking out the window, but when you’re above the clouds, you need control panels and instrumentation to avoid veering off course, or worse, crashing into a mountain.” Demonstrate your data-driven management by exhibiting fluency in the key numbers of your business. What constitutes “key numbers” will differ depending on the nature of your business, but it is safe to say that historical and forecasted financials, capital structure, important operational metrics, terms of key contracts, major expense categories, etc. are fair game.
Goodness! I almost fell for it if not for reading this article.
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