Investors get many investment opportunities each month, so before meeting with you, they want to know something about your startup or company. At the same time, you need to know something about them before you approach them with your investment idea. Learn what their profile is, what they invest in, the average amount of investment they make, what industries and products interest them.  This familiarity will save you and them a lot of time. They are all risk-takers but at the same time, risk-averse to investments outside their area of expertise. Think about sending your potential investors a one page summary of your investment opportunity.

If there is interest in your opportunity, investors would like to learn about the following things.

1. An Executive Summary: an overview of the material in the package
2. The Opportunity: the problem you are solving and the resulting opportunity
3. The Context or Background: the product(s) and the services you offer
4. The Value Proposition: Why your product/service outperforms what’s available now
5. Current status: the progress you have made and present position
6. The Market: description and characteristics (archetype) of your customers
7. Sales Plan: how you will reach, sell and keep potential customers
8. Competition: current competitors, indirect competitors, any potential new competitors
9. Management: Leadership, experience, and knowledge of product and industry
10. Business Model: The critical elements of your business model, including value proposition, revenue streams, costs, resources needed, partnerships, etc.
11.  Financials: Current and future sales, costs, and profits
12. Investment: The amount of money required to get to the next milestone
13. Exit: How and when investors will get their money back
14. Conclusion: Summary, benefits, and Call To Action

Once you get an in-person meeting, you will be able to give your pitch and be able to discuss all aspects of the offer in great detail. We go into the presentation in-depth in the presentation module.

Then, as part of the investor’s due diligence, there will be many additional meetings and requests for specific information.