The keys to designing the most effective investor presentation

Daniel Glickman is the CMO at emaze, an online presentation platform used for content marketing.

Presenting your product to investors isn’t your average walk in presentation park. Not only is there huge pressure to deliver effectively, investors are a different breed. You’ve got to know what they are looking for in order to present effectively. 

Here are the key points in making sure you are giving investors the best presentation you can put together.

Set your presentation up so there is no question they will “get it”

First of all, jump to the point. You need to make a good first impression, so don’t waste time getting to the meat of the matter. Your pitch is priceless, and you need to perfect it.

Be clear on the problem your service or product solves and how you do it best. Then, jump into a high-quality demo so they can see what you have to offer in action.

Be sparse with words on the screen, and instead use visuals to demonstrate your point succinctly. Let visuals say what words cannot, so you can use your time presenting in the most effective manner.

Make yourself impossible to turn down

You know that you need to present your product or service as valuable to investors, but you also need to do your research to understand what valuable means to them. Don’t give a generic value proposition to every investor– tailor it specifically to the audience at hand. Remember that it’s better to be clear about what your product delivers now than include ambiguities about possibilities of future features.

Your investors want to know concrete evidence of what you have to offer now – they will decide whether it’s worth it to invest into future stages. This is obvious, but don’t try and talk yourself up or make promises you can’t keep. Investors are looking for what you have accomplished, not what you might.

Back yourself up with concrete data

Use deliverable data in the wider context of your competition to show investors why you matter. For example, instead of saying that you have helped X amount of clients reach Y number of goals, show how you helped X more clients than your competition reach a goal quicker, more effectively or more conclusively.

Don’t waste their time – or yours

We know you want to tell investors absolutely every reason about why your business model is the best, or the great things that are to come with your product, but this is a waste of precious time you should be using to demonstrate to them exactly who you are, what you offer, and why it matters.

Stick to the most pertinent facts about what they are investing in, because if they are taken with your product, you have plenty of time to mull over your business model and proposed future plans later.

These tips can help you create a presentation to excel in front of investors, but remember, how you present matters too. Practice your presentation, and continually cut out repetitive points or excessive information that isn’t crucial to your cause.

During the presentation, put one person in charge of delivering and another in charge of handling technology and back up in case the presenter needs support.

Remember to be confident and sure of what you offer, because your belief in the product will make the investors more confident in you. Let us know if you have any more tips about creating the best presentation investors have ever seen; we would love to hear your experiences and input!

Read next: How to cure stage fright: The science behind public speaking

Image credit: Shutterstock/Brian A Jackson