How to prepare a presentation for investors and partners

In the previous article, I began to look in detail at the various ways of using presentations in business. This time it will be about presentations, the purpose of which is to sell not a specific product, but the company as a whole. The word “sell” means not only the actual sale of the company, but also the receipt of investments or the conclusion of profitable partnerships.

Preparatory work

Any work on the presentation always begins with the definition of the main goals and audience. As already mentioned, the purpose of such a presentation may be to obtain investments for the development of the company, enter into contracts with partners, receive an invitation to various accelerators or sell the company. There are more options for using such presentations, but usually in Slidary we encounter such goals.

No less important point is the understanding of the audience. Before you make a presentation, you should learn as much as possible about the people who will see this presentation and are the decision makers on the topic in question. It is important to understand that the decision is always made by specific people, and not just by the company, so they should find out all the necessary information and understand that working with you will bring them the greatest benefit. A very important factor is the level of awareness of these people in your subject. Explaining in detail the things that are already known to everyone, you can create a negative background and only waste your audience’s time. On the other hand, the use of a large number of unfamiliar terms for the audience also does not lead to anything good.
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Another factor to think about during the preparation process is the presentation format. As in the case of a commercial offer, a presentation for investors or partners can be held with the participation of a person who speaks, where the slides only reinforce his speech, or are designed for independent study by the target audience. The second option can be used for the first contact with investors or accelerators, on the basis of which the main selection of works is carried out for a personal meeting with a live performance. The format will affect the amount of information on the slides, the design and structure of the presentation.

Problem statement and solution

If for the selling presentation this item is simply very desirable and is used depending on the situation and the author’s goals, then the success of the presentation for investors and partners directly depends on the problem being solved by the company / service. No one will invest in a company that solves non-existent problems or does not understand at all what good it can do for its users. Ideally, the problem should affect the investors themselves or partners who see the presentation. If this option is not possible, it is worthwhile to back up the importance of the problem with statistical data about the target audience and the difficulties it faces. Here terrible images perfectly characterize all the horrors of the current situation.

Solving such a problem should give a clear idea of ​​what the company does, how it helps people and creates value for customers. This may indicate the company's unique competitive advantages. A description of the solution to a problem can be performed from the client’s point of view (example: the user contacts our company, sets a task, gets results and leaves satisfied) or from the point of view of the company's business processes (example: the user contacts us, we recognize the task, we perform such action, present the results to the user and he leaves satisfied). It is difficult to say which of these options is better. If in the selling presentation it is more logical to use the first option, then in the case of a presentation for investors and partners, the second option also has every chance of success. It is possible to use a combined scheme when the interaction process is described on both sides to create the most complete picture.

Monetization

This block is also of great importance for such presentations, because it shows how the money of investors or partners invested in the company can be returned. The main essence of this block is to show how the company will make money solving the problems of users. There are many ways to monetize a company: from fully paid products and services, to providing free services for the user and making money in third-party markets (for example, using user data to sell targeted advertising). Depending on the monetization methods used, the feasibility of the company’s development and its prospects are evaluated. For visualization of various ways of monetization simple and understandable schemes may be suitable.

Inside Company Information

This block includes all information that is not usually disclosed to users, but will be of interest to a person who is willing to work with the company. These include: the size of the market in which the company operates; marketing channels that are or will be used in the future; competitors; current sales; sales forecasts; key performance indicators of the company and employees; team. When describing all these points, you should be as honest with the audience as possible, because if the presentation is successful, any deception will quickly be revealed and this can lead to a failure of the deal. Do not be afraid of the weaknesses of the company, for example, if the team lacks qualifications in some areas, it is better to write this way, thus showing investors or partners where their experience and knowledge can be applied. Also, do not be too harsh about competitors. The presence of competition must be shown, because even in the absence of direct competition, there will almost always be companies that can indirectly replace your goods or services (for example, if a company sells ice cream, thereby solving the problem of people who are hot on the street, their sellers can be waters, pools and other companies solving the same problem). It will be much more pleasant for the audience to hear about why you are better than similar companies, and not why they are bad.

All these slides do not have to be together and be at the end of the presentation; they can dilute the previous blocks to create a really interesting story about a company that will be pleasant to listen to. It is difficult to give general recommendations on the design of such slides, because they are all radically different. Somewhere there are better schemes (for example, in marketing channels), somewhere graphs (in sales volumes and forecasts), and somewhere the use of photographs (for example, when you need to show a project team).

General recommendations

There are many templates that describe what specific information should be placed on each slide for different purposes (for example, to receive investments). The disadvantage of such templates is that they are often quite different from each other, therefore they cannot be an example of a universal presentation structure. On the other hand, such templates are sometimes published by the investors themselves, therefore, when making a presentation for them, such templates can work. In any case, they can always be adapted to your specific situation.

Special attention is given to the rule 10/20/30, which was described by Guy Kawasaki in his book. Its essence lies in the fact that such a presentation should consist of 10 slides, the presentation should last 20 minutes, and the minimum font size on the slide should be 30. This approach can be used to speak to an audience when the slides play the role of supporting the speaker.

On the design of slides in presentations for investors or partners, it is difficult to give any specific recommendations. Usually we advise you to visualize as much information as possible, because it is easier to perceive it this way, but it is important not to overdo it. There are plenty of examples when the author of the presentation uses too many visual effects, ineptly visualizes the data, turning them into something very complex and incomprehensible. To avoid such situations, it is worth exploring the basics of the design of presentations or contacting professionals. We are in the Slidary presentation studio, always ready to help with this and give free advice on any issues related to presentations.