April, 2006
|
How to Talk to Money:Tailor Your Elevator Speech By Craig Harrison |
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. Thus your Elevator Speech to VCs should focus on the following:
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:
Ayes and EarsHere 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.
Craig Harrison founded Expressions of Excellence!™ to provide sales and service solutions through speaking. Visit www.ExpressionsOfExcellence.com for speaking, training, consulting and coaching resources and solutions for you and your firm. Inquiries: Craig@ExpressionsOfExcellence.com. Toll-free by phone: (510) 547-0664.
|
|