April,
2006
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How To Talk To Money: Tailor Your Elevator Speech to Investors and VCs (Venture Capitalists) |
With your new venture idea in tow you arrive at Trump Towers lobby and spy the bank of elevators. The reality: only one of twelve will elevate you to the rare air where angel investors reside…in the penthouse. Your elevator speech — your sixteen-second sound bite — must push all the right buttons or your ride will end far from the top of the building. Simply put: Do you know how to talk to money? To get your venture funded, your Elevator Speech to investors, including Venture Capitalists (VCs), needs more than the usual qualities of a standard elevator speech:
It's not enough! Investors, and especially VCs, listen with a different set of values, need different questions answered and play for far higher stakes. Indeed their requirements for doing business are very different.
So whether you've a built a better mousetrap, found a cure for cancer, or simply designed a product that is faster, cheaper or easier to manufacture, keep these tips in mind for your sixteen-second sound bite:
Ears And AyesHere are some additional questions VCs ask, explicitly or implicitly, whenever you pitch them with your elevator speech. Regarding your venture, investors and VCs wonder:
While you needn't, nor shouldn't, answer all these questions in your elevator speech, know that they form the background for your dialog with investors. Knowing this, you can push the right buttons to obtain the funding you need, whether from angel investors or your friendly neighborhood banker.
When you push the right buttons with your elevator pitch you will find doors and purse strings open for you!
Professional speaker Craig Harrison founded Expressions of Excellence!™ to help professionals express their sales and service leadership. Order his tips booklet on elevator speeches through www.ExpressionsofExcellence.com His elevator speech: "I turn aspirations into achievements. I am a motivational humorist and an evangelist for better sales, better service and improved communication. I help people express their excellence. Tell me, how are you expressing yours?"
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