XLerate Solutions is a San Diego based strategic marketing and business consulting firm. Here is a deck with do's and don't, success factors, and a template of 13 slides for investment pitches.

1. Investor Pitch
How to get a second meeting
Ignite Business Growth
Brant Cooper
David Kaplan
www.xleratesolutions.com
XLerate Solutions

2. The Goal
Use your network to get a 1st
meeting.
No one ever received a check at their 1st
meeting
Your goal is to get a second meeting!

3. Success Factors
Quality of Idea
Depth of Knowledge
Strength of Character

4. Unrealistic objectives
Unclear value proposition
Half-baked business plan
Poor homework
Arrogance
Failure Factors

5. Have This Prepared
for the 1st
Meeting
10-15 slide deck
10 Back-up slides
Intimate knowledge of your proposed business

6. It Doesn’t Hurt to
Also Have This
Product Milestones achieved
A tested business model
Evidence that the model can be monetized
Customer ROI validation
Relevant Board of Advisors

7. Do’s
Simple, but defendable
Talk to the slides in15 minutes
Defend vision, but demonstrate flexibility
Expose assumptions

8. Don'ts
Be unprepared
Make claims you can’t substantiate
Discuss valuation
Underestimate competition
Overestimate market

9. Deck Template
You’re telling a story
 Change flow if necessary for your story
 Don’t confuse narrative w/ slide content
Less is more, especially for each slide
 Add another slide before inundating one slide
 But, do you really need another slide?
“Quick hits” nice to have, but not musts
Ice, Ice, baby: Concise, Precise, Entice

10. Slide 1
Introduction
“Elevator Pitch”
 What business you are in?
 What market do you compete in?
 What will your business accomplish?
Quick hit: Significant company milestone or proven
metric to date
[Slide Objective: Positioning of proposed business in viewer’s mind]

11. Slide 2
Market Need
What’s the pain you are solving?
 Who is ideal customer?
 How are they faring without you?
 What is the pain costing them?
• Revenue? Expenses? Market Share? Time? Risk?
 Why is your solution a must have?
 How will you overcome the inertia coefficient?
Quick hit: Personal appeal to viewer; can you evoke
personal experience in audience?
[Slide Objective: Answer why are you in business?]

12. Slide 3
Your Solution
What is your solution to the problem?
 What is unique?
 What is your exceptional value to the paying
customer?
 What is your exceptional value to customer
influencers?
 What is the paying customer’s result after your
product?
• Revenue? Expenses? Market Share? Time? Risk?
Quick hit: Provide an real life ROI example
[Slide Objective: Answer why you?]

13. Slide 4
Technology
How does your solution work?
 In laymen’s terms, what is your unique mix that
produces your claimed benefits?
 Where do you fit into the existing market ecosystem?
 How does the product fit into customer processes?
 What is protected IP?
Quick hit: Demo or show something compelling
[Slide Objective: What is the secret sauce?]

14. Slide 5
Market
 What is the total addressable market (TAM) [provide
data sources]?
 What is the growth trend?
 What are other relevant trends?
 What is the small*
niche you will first target and how
much is it worth?
*Small is better than big.
Quick hit: Evidence that you can dominate small niche
[Slide Objective: What is the long & short term size of the opportunity?]

15. Slide 6
Business Model
How does your customer buy?
How much will they pay?
How will your business scale?
Do you have a channel strategy?
What are your key performance metrics vs.
competition?
Where is break even?
Quick hit: Have real metrics that support model
[Slide Objective: How will you make money?]

16. Slide 7
Competition
Diagram competitive landscape
Where do you fit in?
 Compare based on customers’ decision making
criteria (Price, Quality, Convenience, Technology,
Brand)
Re-iterate what you have that they don’t
[Slide Objective: How will you crush competition?
Quick hit: Customer quote

17. Slide 8
Go-To-Market
What segment are you focusing on and why?
Show specific tactics to acquire leads and move
them through the pipeline
Demonstrate knowledge of buyers’ process
Demonstrate how you will test and validate go-
to-market assumptions
[Slide Objective: What are your tactics out of the gate?]
Quick hit: Expose acquisition and conversion metrics
assumptions

18. Slide 9
Company Team
Team
Management team members key strengths
and achievements
Board of advisor members (if this is a
strength)
OK to mention needs
Quick hit: Tie experience to opportunity: why did this
team come together for this opportunity?
[Slide Objective: Right team for the job?]

19. Slide 10
Financials
Realistic financial plan
5 Year estimates – graph is a must
Define critical milestones
Do not copy and paste spreadsheet!
Quick hit: Expose key assumptions and key revenue
drivers
[Slide Objective: Realistic revenue projection]

20. Slide 11
Funding
How much investment are you seeking?
Where will the money be put to use?
(i.e. Pie: 35% R&D, 25% Marketing, 15%
production...etc)
How long will the money last?
What specifically have you already achieved?
What specifically will you achieve with money?
[Slide Objective: How much to achieve what?]
Quick hit: What will you achieve with this round that will
make investors want to participate in 2nd
round?

21. 2009 2010 2011 2012
Strategic
Planning
Phase I
Development
1st
Customer
Ship
Pilot Test
X Customers
2013
IPO
Mass
Production (I)
Project
Milestones
Financial
Milestones
Fund
Raising (I)
US$ 1 M
Fund
Raising (II)
US$ 1.5M
Slide 12
Corporate Development
[Slide Objective: Development over time]
Market
Milestones

22. Slide 13
Summary
List the strengths unique to your company
3-5 points that you want from your
audience to remember when they leave
the room
Ask for another meeting
Leave something behind, e.g., copy of
deck
[Slide Objective: Close!]
Quick hit: Leave login to demo/beta

23. About XLerate
Business Planning
Marketing and sales support
 XLerate is:
David Kaplan, Founder and Principal
Brant Cooper, Principal
• Blog: http://market-by-numbers.com
• Twiiter: http://twitter.com/brantcooper