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what do you have to do to present a business to an invester.

I want to start a business but I don't know how to present it to an investor.
#business-management #finance #entrepreneur #business

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Kent Taylor’s Answer

I would suggest that you develop a business plan. Once you have a business plan for your business you will be able to develop your presentation to investors
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C’s Answer

On top of everything that Kathy said, know your stuff! Have all your facts and be able to answer any question that may be thrown your way. That's so important for your credibility.
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Kathy’s Answer

It's awesome that you are thinking about starting your own business! You will want to prepare a business plan for any investors - including for bank loans. While I have never started my own business, I have worked as an executive in several start-up businesses, and the information below is what I learned from those experiences. A business plan usually includes information that answers questions like the ones below:

  • Describe the product or service.
  • What is the need that your product or service is trying to fill or the problem it is going to solve. (For example. "With so many dual income families, people don't have as much time to mow their lawns, and I am seeing a growing need for more lawn services in my city." - OR - "Technology waste is a growing environmental issue. Also it is expensive to replace broken technology. My technology repair business will give people a low cost option to keep their phones/computers working while saving the environment from more trash when they have to throw broken items in the garbage".)
  • How is your product different from others already in the market? Who will you be competing with and how will you compete with them? THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Any investor needs to know that your company can generate revenues. Think about how you plan to get customers (i.e. what will you do to market your product (flyers? coupons? social media? trade groups?) and what resources will you need to sell (usually telemarketing or people). Your answer may differ depending on if your product will be bought by consumers or other businesses.
  • How do you plan to develop/build/deliver it? Will you manufacture in the US or offshore? Do you need a storefront or warehouse, or can you use your garage or living for now? Will you be able to find skilled people to employ or can you easily teach them. Investors will want to know that once you sell your product or service, you can deliver on it.
  • Finally, you should put together a financial plan that explains how much money you will need to get started before you even start to generate any revenue (like equipment you might need or expenses to build a website), and then a three year projection for what your revenues and expenses will look like once you start to deliver your product or service. This will help investors understand cash flow and profits. Both of these measures tell your investor how long it is going to take them to get profits from their investment or repayment on the loan.

Kathy recommends the following next steps:

First write down a description of your product or service and why you think there is a market for it. Try to use as many facts as you can.
Make a list of competitors and customers and see if you can find out what they are doing to market their products today. Make a list of all the ways you find out about the things you want to buy. Talk to local business owners you might know to see how they source their products. Explore social media marketing (which is something I don't have lots of experience in, so I cannot offer advise on it). This will help you identify goods ways for you to reach customers.
Make a list of what you would need to do today if you were going to produce a product. Where would you get your supplies, employees, etc.? How much would they cost? In order to get started, how much can you do on your own out of your bedroom or garage so that you can keep costs down? Add all of these costs together, and those will be your expenses.
How much will you sell your product or service for, and how many can you sell. Multipy the price times the volume and that's going to be your revenue.
Use the information from above to create your written business plan.
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