Montreal Start Up

Standout Jobs, Cozimo and Xtranormal have recently been pitching their businesses at DEMO. These pitches were all well received by the audience - and one of the key reasons for that is that they were prepared specifically  for that audience. In other words, to deliver a good pitch it is essential to understand the motivation and objectives of your audience.

Knowing your audience is also important when it comes to pitching potential investors. Some time ago Brad Feld published a list of questions that a pitch to a VC should address. We have developed a set of questions that we think are more applicable to pitching angel investors:

• Set the scene - Explain why the space your business operates in is interesting to you and should be interesting to an investor.
• What is your vision for the business? How will you be perceived?
• What is the need you are trying to fulfill? Who specifically has this need? What is the intensity of demand? ( ie are potential customers/users willing to invest time or money to satiate the need?)
• How many potential customers/users have this need ? (ie How big is the market?)
• What is your offering? How does it fulfill the need of your potential customers/users? What stage is it at (idea, beta, in production)?
• What are you competing against? What differentiates your offering from others and why does it matter to your users / customers?
• How do you generate revenue?
• What is your strategy for attracting and retaining customers / users?
• What relevant experience or insight does your team have for executing this strategy?                       
• In addition to money, what other resources are you lacking right now? (e.g. key hires, key relationships, etc)
• How will this investment fit in with the overall financial plan of the company? (e.g.Enough funds until profitability (no further investment anticipated) or Interim financing round (how long will this funding last))
• What business milestones will this investment enable you to reach? Why are these milestones significant? What key perfomance indicators can you use to track progress towards the milestones?
• Are there any other material matters ? e.g. Outstanding debts, important contracts, specific timing requirements for an investment etc.

Whilst some of these questions might appear to invite broad sweeping answers - that is not the idea. Be tight, be concise and debate each question thoroughly before you answer it.

We will continue to refine these questions based on feedback from entrepreneurs, Reseau Anges Quebec and NAOQ.