Aligning Your Business Plan to the VC Requirements
by Bruce Wade on 08/04/10 at 11:45 am
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The Entrepreneur Incubator is now able to offer you as the business owner a template for a business plan together with a pitch presentation guide that meets the requirements for both banks and Venture Capital firms. Adding to this information we are compiling a list of all the VC and Angel businesses who support South African businesses listing their focus and requirements.Some notes taken from our template and Brett Commaille’s presentation last night at Silicon Cape gives us more information on how not to screw up your pitch.
- Always check the criteria for the VC before calling to make an appointment, if you do not meet their criteria do not bother to pitch, you are just wasting everyone’s time.
- Prepare a good business plan
- Present your solution in the context of reality; do not assume your idea is unique or unopposed.
- Be prepared to discuss the issues and dangers of your business idea. You do not need to have answers for all these but do not hide them and pretend they do not exist.
- Display a sense of confidence in both yourself and your team
- Practice your presentation before hand, making sure any working demos and technology is setup to function.
- Present how much you are asking for, how you will spend it and how you will earn enough money to pay it back.
Then pitch and pitch again, it may take a few tries before you find the right match for your business.
Bruce Wade is a survivor of the corporate and NGO world, author, speaker, business owner and entrepreneur, Bruce now runs the Entrepreneur Incubator; a member based organisation dedicated to serving those in the trenches of business through coaching, mentoring and leadership education. View more articles by Bruce Wade.
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