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Congratulations!
You have been selected as one of the companies to be featured at the
upcoming Venture Fair. This annual event is focused on promising seed-stage and
early
stage
venture companies. \
How To Make Great Presentations
Understand EGA of Your Audience
Each presenter will have the opportunity to make a 5—8 minute presentation about
his or her company. To support your oral presentation, you have the option to
use PowerPoint, 35 mm slides, transparencies or overheads, charts, or hand-outs.
The distinguished panel of judges will listen to all of the company
presentations before selecting the "Company Most Ready to Receive Funding." The
winning companies (First and Second-place) will be honored at the Reception
(5:30—7 p.m.) along with the company selected as the "Peoples’ Choice" winner.
As a guide, we have developed a specific list of questions in 7 major categories
for you to consider. Eight minutes is not a lot of time. So the best advice is
"Keep it
simple!"
If your presentation were to be written out as text, the maximum length would be
the equivalent of 22 sentences — an introductory sentence plus no more than
3 sentences for each of the 7 major topics. The number of slides or
transparencies that can be handled is probably 14 or less (i.e.,
an average of 2 per topic). This means a new "visual" every 30 seconds.
No presenter will be permitted to exceed the 8 minute limit. At a recent
Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair, some of the most effective presentations were from
people who told their whole story not in 8 minutes but in just 5! They
were relaxed and familiar with what they planned to say, they had obviously practiced out loud (very important), and they did not read
their presentations but instead interacted "naturally" with their visual
materials. Remember: the goal of your oral presentation is not
to be comprehensive. Your goal is to sound interesting and plausible and to
motivate people to talk with you "one-on-one" during the break-out sessions.
Keep these thoughts in mind as you develop your own presentation. And call us if
we can help.
We'd be pleased to hear from you...
BLUE ROCK CAPITAL makes long-term
equity investments in promising seed-stage and early-stage ventures in the
Mid-Atlantic region from the Carolinas to New England. The Fund emphasizes
information technology, business services, and related fields. It does not
invest in biotechnology, invasive medical devices, pharmaceuticals and certain
other situations. For more information, please see
www.bluerockcapital.com.
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Venture Concept
~ In a single introductory sentence, please provide a very, very abbreviated
description of the company’s
basic
market opportunity... its technology... how its technology is or will be
protected... any regulatory approvals that may be required... its manufacturing,
distribution,
marketing and
sales methods... funding to date as well as future funding requirements...
and the general credentials of the
management team.
Here is an example of such
an introductory sentence. To see how such a sentence functions, read it aloud...
slowly... and distinctly:
By adapting proprietary multiplexing software which can be licensed on a
non-exclusive basis from Paul Murkee Research Laboratories ("PMRL")... and
by then utilizing such software (along with proprietary enhancements)... in
conjunction with off-the-shelf vendor circuitry... that is integrated in a
novel way,... the founders of TeleTeen Technology Communications, Inc.
("3TComm") (one founder has left Bellcore after 25 years of technical and
management experience and the other founder has joined the Company after 7
years in national sales for a major office products company)... after having
invested $350,000 of their own cash... now intend to raise $1.4 million...
to support the commercial roll-out,... through both distribution and VAR
channels,... of a plug-and-play black-box component,... in embodiments for
both commercial markets (Year 2 sales forecast: $5 million) and the consumer
market (Year 2 sales forecast: $11 million)... that will allow single phone
lines to carry up to four channels of voice-grade information
simultaneously... which 3TComm's device will route via hard-wiring (i.e.,
standard existing UTP wiring)... to four discrete send/receive devices (all
of which must be on the premises).
Business
Model
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Market Opportunity
–
Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the two most important
(but definitely
not all ) of the following issues:
Identify the specific need or problem addressed by the venture.
Describe
the overall structure, size, and value of the
current
market.
How is this market need now
being met? By which companies?
How strong is each of these companies
in the current market?
What
share of the market does each competitor now hold?
What is the size and value of your
targeted market niche or market segment?
Describe what the market will be like
five years from now.
Identify likely customers (either by
type or, if possible, by name).
What are their specific buying habits
today?
How will the company establish its own
position in this
evolving
market?
Surprise To Win
Value Innovation
Differentiation Strategies
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Technology
– Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the two most
important (but definitely not all) of the following issues
What is the present state
of the technology in this field?
What is
limiting in the current situation that makes improved or new technology
desirable?
What
competing technologies now exist?
What
competing technologies are known to be under study or development?
What would be the relative
advantage of the company's technologies?
What are the specific goals and
objectives of the company's project?
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Protecting Proprietary Rights
– Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the two most
important (but definitely not all ) of the following issues
If proprietary technology results
from this project, who will own the discoveries?
Is there a suitable technology
"assignment" agreement in place between the partners of the company and the
company itself?
Between the
company and its employees?
Between the company and its outside collaborators?
In order to undertake this project in
the first place, are there any
existing
patents,
copyrights,
licensing agreements,
trade
secrets, or other types of
protection that must be considered?
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Manufacturing
– Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the following
issues
How will the resulting products be
produced? In-house manufacturing and assembly? In-house assembly of
components that have been manufactured by outside sources? Commercialization
by out-licensing production and distribution
entirely
by others?
Regardless of the method, how will Quality Control be handled?
8 Rules for Quality Management
Kaizen
Mindset
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Marketing, Sales and Distribution
–
Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the following issues
How will the company take its
products to the market (direct sales vs. rep-based selling vs. a marketing
arrangement that is contracted or licensed to a third party)?
Given the selected approach, how will
this process be managed?
How will the company establish and
support its distribution functions?
Does the project require lengthy
clinical trials and FDA certification before market introduction can begin?
Is some other kind of approval
required (UL, trade group, etc.)?
Does the company understand what is
involved?
Has the time required for obtaining
these approvals been estimated realistically?
Does the budget include adequate
provision for such approval procedures?
Do the company's sales and
cash-flow projections reflect these considerations?
Selling Is Problem Solving
Buzz Marketing
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Management Team
– Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the following
issues
What is the experience of the
members of the
management
team?
What are the specific credentials of
the team members? Affiliations?
What roles will each member play? What
specific responsibilities?
Entrepreneur
8 Key Entrepreneurial Questions
Business Architect
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Funding
– Please provide one or two sentences (at most) on the
following issues
How has the project effort been
funded to date?
What funding will be required over
time to support the venture?
What will such funding be used for?
What type of sources are most
appropriate? Most likely to be interested?
What is the company's strategy
for obtaining funds from such sources?
What are the financial results that
are anticipated by the company?
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Venture
Financing
Complete "A to Z"
Smart & Fast guide
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►
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►
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Do-it-Yourself Entrepreneurship 101
Take a company that interests you. Using the space provided below, compose a
sentence that fairly and accurately and completely describes this
company.
As a test, keep in mind that this sentence should be meaningful both to the
company itself (i.e., to "insiders") and also meaningful to someone who would
first be exposed to the company strictly through your written description of it.
In addition to factual information, can you write a sentence that conveys the
company’s opportunity in the marketplace and how it will
operate
in order to fulfill this opportunity? Try it.
Neatness.
These simple little sentences often turn out to be not-so-easy to write. Please
feel free to make this written exercise as messy as it needs to be. Cross-outs,
arrows, marginal insertions, etc. are wonderfully helpful and are encouraged. In terms of legibility and neatness, when you’ve got the
words, the sequence, and the concept right, the only requirement is that you be able to read the sentence. It can always be made neater later.
Virginia G. Bonker
230 Lackawanna Dr.
Andover, N J 07821-4113
Tel 973 426-1767 Fax 973 426-0224
virginia@bluerockcapital.com
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Terry Collison
5803 Kennett Pike, Suite A
Wilmington, DE 19807-1195
Tel 302 426-0981 Fax 302 426-0982
terry@bluerockcapital.com
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