Strategic Marketing: Judy Bishop

Autumn may cool mornings, but it heats up the annual ramp-up of companies pitching their opportunities to potential. This annual rhythm of business life can be as entertaining as it is productive.

Presenting opportunities to individual or institutional investors is a specific skill. Doubly so for live presentations, where speakers must capture attention and generate enthusiasm for the company.

Continuous but partial attention is the default mode of investors attending presentations. So speakers are challenged to keep them fully engaged as they lapse into “BlackBerry prayer” and naturally ponder their own business realities.

Here are eight deal-killers that scream “delusional entrepreneur” to investors:

•The big unknown: Promising you’ll get “1% of a huge market” is like pumping laughing gas into the room. Better to show you have granular understanding of how to capture realistic market share.

•Imaginary traction: Report results, but don’t fluff market momentum. “Humongous Corp. will sign a purchase order next week” is bogus. Substance trumps hope; historical beats projected. Ditto for “expressions of interest” about “strategic alliances.”

•Best and brightest: Management makes or breaks companies. In time, big-league talent may be enticed to join, but investors rarely buy the claim that “key employees will join once we’re funded.”

•Alone for a reason: Whether it’s an inability to do market research or because there’s no real market for the idea, when a pitcher says, “We’re the only people doing this” or “No one else can do this,” investors’ eyes glaze over. There are a lot of smart people and good ideas out there. The question is knowing other players and where you’ll fit in the ecosystem.

•Protect, a little: Intellectual property matters, but its value only appears when defending a challenge. Refer to patents and trademarks in passing; they’re but a small element in business success.

•Bad openings: Pitches that launch with inappropriate data usually lose the audience. Common pitching errors include bragging about business accomplishments, droning on about market size and launching into detailed product specs without context.

•Unproven: Sure, company founders worked at a big-name firm, but can they scale down and start something new? Only state: “We have a proven management team” if you can prove they’ve generated big investor returns. Better to acknowledge skill gaps and show you’ll surround the team with top directors and professional advisers.

Now, five solid presentation tips:

•Start right: A pitch’s first 30 to 60 seconds are critical to engaging people. Anything visually splendid works, just ensure it’s truly compelling to others, not just you.

•Stay present: Active and inclusive words draw in and engage audiences. Rely on inclusive words (“we, our”), use present-tense verbs and vary voice pitch to prevent monotony.

•Show, don’t tell: This is the most important rule of demos. It’s annoying and time-wasting to describe product functionality. Just show the product doing its thing.

•Driver and navigator: Never switch presenters mid-stream. You risk audience disengagement or worse, appearing as if you’re locked in an ego struggle for face time. The most capable speaker talks, while the other demos or moves what’s on screen to crisply reflect the speaker’s talk.

•Demo bombs: Companies routinely blow demos – and investor interest. It’s painful to endure a panicky presenter who fidgets and babbles “uhh .... browser crashed …. this is a new machine, it worked before … Oh man ... uhhh ... I can make this work, hang on a sec.”

Practice, practice, practice; don’t use new equipment; don’t assume Internet connectivity.

If a demo bombs, be sure to have a story or useful distraction ready. Keeping your cool will help bag a cool investor! •

Judy Bishop ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) is a veteran speaker, writer and leader in B.C.’s technology industry. Her column appears monthly.

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