Effective methods of project presentation to attract investors

More than 40,000 start-ups are operating now in India and very few of them are able to obtain financial support from various firms as most of them had a poor presentation strategy that failed in attracting the attention of the investors.

The US based organization Sequoia Capital has shared some useful tips on their blog to overcome this flaw and these tips could be used in the Indian context, subsequently remedying presentation imperfection. So far, Sequoia Capital has funded many vanguard companies like Baijus, Gofers and Zomato etc.

Aaref Hilaly, one of the partners of Sequoia explains that in the initial stages, even Sequoia failed to impress the investors and Hilaly attributed this flaw to the lack of effort and attention put into the presentation of their projects.

Repeated thumbs down lead Hilaly and team to identify the importance of presentation and to focus on their presentation strategies. Consequently they comprehended that they lacked some important imperatives in their presentations to impress and influence the investors.

According to Hilaly, if the meeting extends up to one hour, the attention graph should be the same as shown in the graph.

Within the first five minutes of the presentation the investor must be informed of the possibilities of your project so that they endorse their interest in your firm. The first three slides of the presentation are extremely important.

Make sure that in the first five minutes, you describe how much it is beneficial for them to invest in your innovation in terms of the growth and possibility.

Also elaborate on the crucial factors about the company briefly and before the first five minutes end, ask for their feedbacks before moving on to the next session.

If you are able to hold their attention for more than five minutes, they would be interested in listening to you for the next 15 minutes. Try making these fifteen minutes to focus on the things that could attract their attention for further 30 minutes. As you go forth, make sure that your elaboration is clear and precise.

It is always desirable that you present your fact and figures using charts or graphs and be careful enough not to present any of such reports without having adequate support data. You should also have a thorough knowledge about your competitor. Your USPs should be clearly communicated and if time allows, also provide details about the founders of the organization in not more than 3 minutes. Illustrate the statistics in and use a time line to show the economic condition of the firm.A good presentation will provide you 20 to 30 minutes to discuss the pros and cons of the project.