How to Pitch to a Venture Capitalist: Part 3

The Ask

When you pitch to a venture capitalist, the ultimate goal is to get money. But even if your idea is great and your presentation rocks, you could still fumble the ask and lose your chance. To help you avoid failure at this stage, here are some pitch-closing tips from entrepreneur and investor David S. Rose:

“I hope you invested personally. Because I’m following on. If you can’t invest in your own thing, why should I invest in it?”

“I like to know if you have friends and family, or angel investors in there, of if you’ve had more VCs before.”

“What’s the capital structure up until this point?”

After all that, you must bring your presentation to its conclusion. The best way, Rose says, is “you take me back to your logo. Just your logo on the screen.”

Why?

“I look at your logo — okay, good. Now I come back to you. Nothing else to look at, right? And now, you’ve got to wrap it up and tie it all together here. You’ve got to give me the final, you know — boom! — the final pitch that’s going to send me into space.”

Top 5 Presentation Tips

To wrap this blog series up, we’ll leave you with 5 of Rose’s top presentation tips:

1. 1. Always user presenter mode, or Ovation, or presenter tools, because it lets you know exactly where you’re going. It helps your pacing and provides a timer so you can end on time.
   2. Always use remote control.
   3. Handouts should not be the presentation. Your presentation should be very spare and Zen-like, which is great for conveying who you are and getting people emotionally involved. The handouts should have a lot more information to supplement your pitch. It has to stand on its own without you there to explain it.
   4. Don’t read your speech.
   5. Never, ever look at the screen. You want to make a one-on-one connection with your audience. The screen should supplment what you’re doing, not replace you.