Pitching for early-stage investment with Dan Madhaven

Play trailer - 1:38

Craft a compelling pitch for a new project: including a pitch deck and starting a prospect list of the right investors.

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~1 hours over 10 videos

About 2 hours of work to do it solo

Wuwundjeri land, Kulin nation

tag: money tag: pitching tag: entrepreneurship

Resources Lesson Further reading

Lesson resources

1 Define your problem.

Before even opening a slide deck, it's important do define your problem: What are you solving, for whom? What right do you have to solve it, how will you solve it and what potenial damage might you do?

Define your problem.

Will takes you through the define the problem section of the template using a made up example - an electic car retrofit company.

2 Making a prospect list.

Once you've defined your problem, it's time to start research who cares about this problem - this forms the start of your prospect list. The prospect list is a method for keeping track of who you are trying to pitch to and how interested they are.

Making a prospect list.

Will starts his prospect list including doing some desktop research.

3 The pitch deck, story.

Now it's time to start the actual pitch deck. Using your prelimiary work from the define your problem template, start the pitch deck by talking about your story in a few slides.

The pitch deck, story.

Will starts his slide deck by talking about the story behind the car company.

4 The pitch deck, financials.

In someways the most important part of the slide deck: The finanicals. Investors have seen a million hockey stick graphs of profits. The importance here is about the spectifics of your project and realistic targets.

The pitch deck, financials.

Will works on the finances of the car company.

5 The pitch deck, the ask.

Finally, the slide deck ends with 'The ask'. It's not a pitch if you're not asking for something at the end. Again the key here is about specifics: How much do you actually need, or what else do you need other than money?

The pitch deck, the ask.

Will finishes his slide deck for the car company.

Pitch practice and a story of failure.

Practice makes perfect. An extra video showing how Will uses the pitch deck and his laptop to practice his pitch deck, to insure he nails it when the time is right. Plus the truth behind the electric car retrofit company and why it's probably not something you should try.

Further reading

Teaching guide

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