PowerPoint Presentations That Speak to Investors

I was recently contacted by a company that needed to put together an investor presentation. They had a business plan in place, but it spoke all about the companies goals, and not enough about what the potential investor needed to hear, which is how they could make lots of money by investing in this company. There’s nothing wrong with touting your company’s praises, but you need to be careful not to bombard your audience with too much technical information that, as investors, they may not even relate to. Keep it simple, in other words. With that said, here’s a good strategy for how to break down your PowerPoint presentation. First, give a company overview. What is it in the business to do and who are some of the key players? In the third slide, you can talk about your value proposition, in other words, what benefit can you provide to satisfy your customer’s need? In slide 4 start to get specific by stating a problem and set up a market analysis using facts and statistics that prove you understand your customer. Next, you should talk about a solution, which is your business idea. The whole time your developing the idea, think about what your audience is thinking, which is “What’s in it for me?”. Get specific here by outlining three or four benefits you will provide. You need to talk about the competition, but in doing so, you’re setting the stage for what makes your company unique. This is a good place to have a chart or graph such as a matrix listing your company’s capabilities as compared to other similar companies. You don’t want to bash the competition, but you do want to make it obvious that you excel on as many levels as possible. Some examples would be industry expertise, intellectual property, high-level connections, sales, etc. Next, talk about your market strategy followed by your business model. Explain your pricing and costs, and be specific on how you will be profitable. A five year projection proves to investors that you are well aware of the economics behind your business. Outline how you will take in the funding against your key business milestones. Here you can also include your accomplishments to date. For the last slide, summarize your value proposition, but don’t just read it. Get excited about what you have to offer them. This is your last chance to answer their question “What’s in it for me?” so make sure you not only answer their question but get them enthused about taking it to the next level, which is to invest in your company.

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