Post by URBAN FARMING on Sept 14, 2015 14:48:37 GMT -6
--From an article on: www.entrepreneur.com/article/236201 --Written by Ricky Pelletier
"Pitching investors, customers and vendors can scare even the most confident of entrepreneurs. It can be a petrifying experience talking about your passion project in front of people that may not be as enthused as you are. So when presentations arise, panic ensues.
And while there’s plenty of advice available for entrepreneurs preparing their pitch the majority of I’ve seen is focused on putting together decks and the finer points of PowerPoint.
But as the vice president at OpenView Venture Partners I’m still on the receiving end of some serious faux pas during presentations.
Here are nine pitching no-no's:
1. Committing without a plan. What I have seen over and over again is a CEO or founder talking about projections without having a real plan. For example an entrepreneur will claim they’re going to hit a certain customer number, ship X new products or do X new bookings in a certain period of time.
Why does this bother me? Because it’s a really difficult way to start a relationship. If any or all of those claims don’t play out, I’ve got to wonder why the CEO was so confident it would happen.
Your projections don’t have to be exact (odds are, you’ll build a model and the only thing that is guaranteed is that it will be wrong), but before you announce near-term objectives you should have a better idea of not just where you’ll land but how you plan to get there.
2. Lying or exaggerating financials. This is a crystal clear issue, but it happens more often than you might think. While it might be the case that the presenter just doesn’t understand the nuances of financials -- bookings vs. revenue, Annual Contract Value bookings vs. Total Contract Value bookings, net income vs. cash flow, to name a few -- it becomes a bigger issue if founders are knowingly providing false information. So I’ll ask a lot of questions, because I want a clear understanding on what the numbers I’m seeing really mean and to make sure we’re on the same page.
Your best tactic is to be upfront, straightforward and clear -- and if you don’t know the answer, go find someone who does and figure it out."
For the rest of the tips and more helpful information, please take a moment to visit (Quoted from): www.entrepreneur.com/article/236201
"Pitching investors, customers and vendors can scare even the most confident of entrepreneurs. It can be a petrifying experience talking about your passion project in front of people that may not be as enthused as you are. So when presentations arise, panic ensues.
And while there’s plenty of advice available for entrepreneurs preparing their pitch the majority of I’ve seen is focused on putting together decks and the finer points of PowerPoint.
But as the vice president at OpenView Venture Partners I’m still on the receiving end of some serious faux pas during presentations.
Here are nine pitching no-no's:
1. Committing without a plan. What I have seen over and over again is a CEO or founder talking about projections without having a real plan. For example an entrepreneur will claim they’re going to hit a certain customer number, ship X new products or do X new bookings in a certain period of time.
Why does this bother me? Because it’s a really difficult way to start a relationship. If any or all of those claims don’t play out, I’ve got to wonder why the CEO was so confident it would happen.
Your projections don’t have to be exact (odds are, you’ll build a model and the only thing that is guaranteed is that it will be wrong), but before you announce near-term objectives you should have a better idea of not just where you’ll land but how you plan to get there.
2. Lying or exaggerating financials. This is a crystal clear issue, but it happens more often than you might think. While it might be the case that the presenter just doesn’t understand the nuances of financials -- bookings vs. revenue, Annual Contract Value bookings vs. Total Contract Value bookings, net income vs. cash flow, to name a few -- it becomes a bigger issue if founders are knowingly providing false information. So I’ll ask a lot of questions, because I want a clear understanding on what the numbers I’m seeing really mean and to make sure we’re on the same page.
Your best tactic is to be upfront, straightforward and clear -- and if you don’t know the answer, go find someone who does and figure it out."
For the rest of the tips and more helpful information, please take a moment to visit (Quoted from): www.entrepreneur.com/article/236201