We would like to raise money from a specific company backed venture fund. (Details cannot be given for anonymity). 1. We would like to practice our pitch in front of other Angel investors. How can we do that? 2. Any one in this group willing to listen to our pitch for 20 mins and willing to give us feedback? 3. What should we keep in mind before the pitch?
I would be more than happy to address this question, I actually had a really interesting talk with someone on Clarity yesterday about pitching B2B to angels.
I would say the biggest mistake I see in SaaS B2B is over pitching the product. Or simply 'pitching the product and it's features', rather than the benefit to it's users.
Also, another massive turn-off for investors is hiding behind jargon and acronyms. Often entrepreneurs worry that by being clear and to the point and daring to draw simple analogies they are underselling their product. However, you are being judged just as much on your ability to sell, you are selling your investment - how you do this (in the eyes of an investors) will reflect how you sell your product.
I've helped raise money for about 125 companies at AIN in my time. When we've pitched B2B we will often lead with social proof over product.
- Customers
- Client Testimonials
- The Team delivering the product
- The Advisory board backing it
Why?
If you're clients are Mercedes Benz, AT&T and Disney - an investor will automatically assume those companies have done more diligence than he'll ever do. For them to take a punt on you trumps any technical understanding of your product.
This is the same for client testimonials - often they will highlight the exact point of pain you are fixing and can be the best sales tool. It says 'this product is working'.
With the team, if you were ex-Google and PayPal well we've all heard of the PayPayl Mafia and we saw how well those guys did, plus you would have dozens of connections.
You probably get the point. Basically the points above will earn you time. The average deck (we track opens and page views) gets about 3 minutes with our investors. The investors stop on the team section, the client list and anything with big images (on the first comb through).
Drilling down a bit deeper, this is where I would want to understand a bit more about the product, the IP, contract lengths, anticipated churn and sales cycles.
I hope this helps, more than happy to hear your pitch or give any feedback. Just DON'T bore people, we managed to generate 6 leads for a waste collection comparison site (so anything can be polished).
Ed
Angel Investment Network.
Answered 9 years ago
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