Posts tagged Business Plan Competition
Tips for Investor Pitches
Apr 19th
This past Friday I had the opportunity for the second year in a row to Judge the UCF Joust Business plan competition. This competition, one that I previously won two different times, is organized by UCF’s college of business and numerous successful business leaders and investors are invited to judge various team’s business plans, venture viability, and pitch.
I learned a large amount by participating in the competitions as a contestant when I was in school, however being on the other side of the table teaches you a great deal and is a fantastic learning experience as well. For the record…I like being on the investor side much better 
Here’s 5 quick tips on helping you successfully pitch your business to investors, or judges in a business plan competition.
- Strong Attention Grabbing Opener- Try opening your presentation in a way that relates to your audience. Asking a question or utilizing a “Picture this” or “Think back when” statement is one that I often used in the past….Have you ever (been in this bad situation or felt like this)…well millions of others do every day. But we have come up with a solution…I’ll get to that momentarily. My name is (X) and I’m with (X company).
- Follow a Logical Sequence- The sequence I usually use is a modified version of “Monroe’s Motivated Sequence”. Attention Grabber–>Market–>problem–>solution (your product/service)–>Team–>Marketing plan–>Sales–>Financials–>Ask
This keeps your presentation on track and flowing smoothly. - Don’t Read Directly from the slides! The first two teams who presented on Friday read directly from the slides. This is not only very boring, but it also shows that you’re not very knowledgeable about your business. Reading from the slides also prohibits your passion for your venture from showing. Showing your passion is a very important part of selling your audience on a concept. The first two teams that presented this past Friday read from their slides and I wanted to slap some sense into them!
Please don’t make this same mistake. - Utilize Visuals- This tip goes with my last point and makes your presentation more engaging. Don’t simply put massive amounts of text on your slides. If your presenting about an actual product, bring your product or a beta in to share it with your audience. The other option is simply adding graphics to your presentation:
- Add pictures of your market
- Add images that represent the pain they are facing
- Add graphics of your product or service offering
- Add images showing your marketing initiatives
- Show a graph of your financials (revenue, expenses and break even - Make sure your financials are solid! One team that presented in the competition didn’t even have financials! One of the other teams had financials that were very incomplete. The team spoke a large amount about their marketing and how they would capture 5% of a large market and didn’t even allocate a marketing budget! Don’t make this mistake! I would recommend having an income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and financial assumptions. If you are very early stage everyone is going to know these are not 100% accurate, however you need to be able to defend these financial statements….hence the reason for your financial assumptions.
Now there are a lot more tips that can be said, but these were the five that really stuck out in my mind after judging the competition Friday.
I wish all of you the best of luck in your various entrepreneurial endeavors. If I can be of any assistance let me know!
If there are any other tips my readers would like to share feel free to drop a comment.
Cheers,
David
Business Plan Competition- Sitting on the other side of the Table
Apr 14th
Over the last two years I’ve won the Joust Business plan competition for two different ventures. In 2007 my business partner Scott Wall and I presented our niche real estate publication for lease purchase properties and took first place winning $5,000. Then in 2008 I won again presenting GroupTable with another business partner Carl Henderson that time winning $12,000. I was pleasantly surprised when this year they asked me to return as a judge in the finals which took place this past Thursday.
This year’s winner was Helping Hands Healthcare, a service-based firm committed to providing superior consulting and installation of daily living aids to families with in-home healthcare needs.
Other finalists included: Mercury Mobile Software, a firm developing a home screen replacement application for smart phones; Orlando Search Engine Marketing, a search engine optimization (SEO) service provider; and Ski Florida, an indoor snow ski, snowboard and kids’ snow play facility.
It was truly a great experience for me being that I got to sit on the other side of the table with judges much older and more experienced than me.
Just to run through some of the other judges:
Rick Walsh
Mr. Walsh is President of the KnobHill Group, an investment and strategic counseling company. Prior to establishing the KnobHill Group, he served as Senior Vice President Corporate Affairs of Darden Restaurants Inc. (DRI) and was a founding member of the leadership team that took Darden public in 1995.
Mr. Walsh has been recognized as Orlando Business Journal’s “Businessman of the Year”; one of “Florida’s 100 Most influential” by Florida Trend Magazine; “25 Most Powerful People in Central Florida” by the Orlando Sentinel; and “50 Most Powerful People in Orlando” by Orlando Magazine.
Thomas Bland
G. Thomas Bland, Jr., serves as Chairman of the Board,CEO and president of AquaFiber Technologies Corporation.In 2004, Mr. Bland was inducted into the UCF College of Business Administration Hall of Fame. He currently is a member of the UCF College of Business Administration’s Dean’s Executive Council, and serves as a board member for the Florida Hospital Diabetes Foundation. He also established a home healthcare business, TenderCare Professional Assisted Living Services, Inc., for which he concurrently serves as Chairman of the Board.
Charlotte Williams
Charlotte Williams founded SummerHill Homes, a sucessful construction company, and then became a leading local real estate professional. Charlotte is now a top real estate agent and owner of ERA Williams Real Estate Group.
David Pape
Serial entrepreneur and investor with four successful start-ups and over 30 years of experience. Mr. Pape has developed a keen eye for lucrative market niches and an innovative ability to develop opportunities.
The competition was sponsored by Steven Felkowitz, CEO of Atico International. His company, Atico International is a full service sourcing and product development company that provides retailers, wholesalers and distributors with the insight and worldwide relationships to build a successful import program. I heard they generate over $600M a year in revenue…I guess he could afford to sponsor the prize money and event over the last few years.
Getting to know these extremely successful business professionals and investors on a more personal level was a great experience. I was the youngest judge by far and was judging students I went to school with less than a year ago, as well as students currently enrolled in the MBA program. Being a judge gave me a taste of where I want to be eventually (sooner than later), which is an angel investor sitting on the other side of the table listening to entrepreneurs pitch, investing in companies I like and working with them to help them grow.
This was truly a great experience.
