Company Name Motto Confidential and Proprietary By viewing this document, you are bound by the ethics of your own professionalism and sound judgment Presentation template available from

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from NOTES (to be deleted)  As a result of my thesis available at I'm getting many requests to review and advise new ventures, incubators, and networks. In order to help me review your opportunities, please put your concept in this format. Feel free to use this template for your VC submissions.  This template is provided “as-is” – and is only a suggested structure – customize as you see fit. No warranties exist – use at your own risk.  Feel free to re-organize the slides so as to highlight your strengths (e.g. a strong name brand team, should have the “team” slide near the front). Add/modify/delete as you see fit.

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from NOTES (cont.)  Be sure to read the thesis, especially the sections on how venture capital works  Recall from my thesis, I note what VCs care about: Getting a return high enough to justify the risk and effort of the investment, as well as the opportunity cost of an alternative investment with the same capital Ensuring that the capital deployed to the investment is being used in the best possible manner Ensuring the ability to achieve a “liquidity” event, i.e. being able to sell the company at the IPO or thereafter, or in a merger/trade-sale

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from NOTES (cont.)  Venture capitalists often look for some combination of the following criteria when evaluating deals: Industry: Timing in the industry is everything to the venture capitalist. Their sweet-spot is the industry in its adolescence, not at peak and not at the decline. This means that the venture capitalist must also be able to predict with success where the market for a certain technology will be heading. The team and their vision: The founding team of the venture is extremely critical to the venture since they will be running the venture and creating the value. If the team doesn’t work out, the venture capitalist doesn’t want to be the one left holding the bag and running the company. A team needs a combination of venture specific smarts, passion, and internal ability to attract the talent essential for success. Innovation: Essential to the mix is the product or new capability of value that can be filled or to create a need. Market size: Venture capitalists determine whether the market is fragmented or owned by a few large players. The dynamics of the buyers and seller are important. The total market size often must be in excess of $1 billion with potential to own a large portion of it. Product and defensibility: Hardware, software, service, infrastructure, or …? Determine if the product or service offers a defensible position with a patent or some other means of protecting the potential market share.

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from Concept  Concept here – be concise

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from The Team  Current team positions, brief background  Include deficiencies in the team – who needs to be recruited  Members of Advisory Board

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from What Does it Fix?  What question does your solution answer?  What’s the need?  Creating a new space?

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from Competitive Advantage  What’s the barrier to others entering?  How are you different?  How easy is it for others to duplicate?  E.g. patent, industry figure head, committed clients, existing revenues,existing market share, etc.  Current assets? E.g. developed technology, relationships, etc.  When was the patent filed? How long is the license for? Specifics about the grants/contracts?

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from Competitive Landscape  Who are the competitors?  Who are potential competitors?

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from Market Space  What’s the market look like? How big. Is it a fragmented market? What’s the share of other players?  Cultural and language issues?

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from Strategy/Architecture  What’s the strategy?  How will you approach the market?

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from Partnerships or Potentials  Current committed or pending partnerships, clients, suppliers, etc.  Other relationships as “assets” to the venture

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from High Level Financials  Revenue, EBIT, etc.  Time to break-even, etc.  Valuation, ROI, etc.

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from Current Status  What’s the status of the venture now?

Confidential and Proprietary Presentation template available from What We’re Asking For  What you’re looking for in terms of services, capital, etc., and in exchange for what?