text: When planning your presentation for an investor you need to think more along the lines of business than you would normally do for your event presentation. The reason for this being that you have to cater each and every slide deck for every scenario. It is no good going into an investor’s meeting with lots of pretty images and text. They need hard-hitting facts and figures that will make them want to invest in your company. If this is all new to you and you are concerned on where to start, here are my top tips on how to get your investor deck presentation just right:
  Think about the investors who walk into Dragon’s Den. The first questions asked always relate back to figures and if they can’t relay these or, even worse, if they have incorrect calculations the investor is usually very quickly out. Don’t cover up any poor figures, just have a plan in place on how you are going to improve on these and a timescale for doing so.
  It’s all well and good going in and asking for x amount of money for x amount in return but they want to hear where their money is going, how well it is going to be used, how far it will go to help your company and be precise about which departments will benefit. Finer details are essential in these slides.
  You need to be showing the prospective investor that you can think much bigger than where your company is currently at. You want to prove that you have big ideas that can and will go somewhere. Stay away from pie in sky ideas, these won’t win you any fans but if you can show that what you have in mind IS possible, let them see this within your presentation.
  The company isn’t just you and it isn’t just about numbers, you also have a team behind you. By talking about their value, their commitment and their skills you will be further adding to reasons for the investor to be confident in you and your business. If you are planning on investing money into training events, hiring the right people, developing your team, then talk this up. The team are the ones who drive your business and are the ones who will be bringing in the money.
  Honesty is the best policy here. An investor needs to know the ins and outs and if anything is hidden from them it could impact on their investment contract further down the line. If you are aware of current issues show that you have plans in place on how you are going to tackle these and make improvements. A competent business owner is one who knows every area of their company and this includes the weaker points.
  Make the presentation on the whole run smoothly and consistently. When planning your speech, include the order of the slides into this. Stick to one topic and then move seamlessly into the next. For example, if you are introducing figures on how well you are doing, don’t then jump to speaking about the team. You want a clear introduction of who you are, where you are from, how your company functions and what investment you are after. I would then move onto what the product/service provides and how you can benefit others. From there all of your facts and figures will tie in nicely. An appropriate length for your presentation will be around 30-60 slides.
  Rehearse yourself speaking, learn your speech inside out and double check you have all you need within it. Ensure that your presentation is grammatically correct, that there are no spelling mistakes and that all of your text and graphics are visible on the screen. I would most definitely perform a dry run in front of friends or family and take their feedback on board before the big day. It is best to make mistakes prior to the meeting as any during it could result in no investment being offered. You cannot over prepare. Remember the saying ‘By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail’.