Yes Mr. Future Entrepreneur, This is your Pitch Book.

6. “ REAL Entrepreneurs base their direction on
purposeful innovation in response to consumer
demand and not on the desire to make a quick
”
buck.

8.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?

9.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?

10.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?

11.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?

12.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?

13.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?

14.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?

15.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?

16.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?

17.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?

18.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?
 Can you recognize, admit to, and learn from your mistakes?

19.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?
 Can you recognize, admit to, and learn from your mistakes?
 Are you good at making decisions?

20.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?
 Can you recognize, admit to, and learn from your mistakes?
 Are you good at making decisions?
 Do you have a purpose, focus & direction in your life?

21.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?
 Can you recognize, admit to, and learn from your mistakes?
 Are you good at making decisions?
 Do you have a purpose, focus & direction in your life?
 Do you have the courage to try new things or go against the grain and be
different from other people without working too much about what they think?

22.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?
 Can you recognize, admit to, and learn from your mistakes?
 Are you good at making decisions?
 Do you have a purpose, focus & direction in your life?
 Do you have the courage to try new things or go against the grain and be
different from other people without working too much about what they think?
 Do you like make things happen instead of waiting for things o happen?

23.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?
 Can you recognize, admit to, and learn from your mistakes?
 Are you good at making decisions?
 Do you have a purpose, focus & direction in your life?
 Do you have the courage to try new things or go against the grain and be
different from other people without working too much about what they think?
 Do you like make things happen instead of waiting for things o happen?
 Does pressure feed you rather than get to you?

24.  Do you want to be master of your own financial destiny?
 Are you willing to invest and possibly lose a large portion of your savings?
 Are you prepared, if needed, to lower your standard of living until your business
becomes profitable?
 Have your ever been involved in a business before?
 Do you have the ability to conceptualize the whole of a business – and
connect the dots?
 Are you imaginative, inventive and resourceful?
 Do you constantly re evaluate and adjust your goals?
 Can you sell your ideas to others?
 Are you a person who never gives up?
 Are you always looking for better ways of doing things?
 Can you recognize, admit to, and learn from your mistakes?
 Are you good at making decisions?
 Do you have a purpose, focus & direction in your life?
 Do you have the courage to try new things or go against the grain and be
different from other people without working too much about what they think?
 Do you like make things happen instead of waiting for things o happen?
 Does pressure feed you rather than get to you?
 Do you look forward to a good Challenge?

27. Reasons for Success
 Being at the right place at the right time
 Adaptive to change
 Good people will follow a visionary and a
leader
 Customers will show loyalty when treated
properly and shown the value proposition
 Capital will follow the management team that
can demonstrate the ability to focus on their
model and produce operational excellence

28. Reasons for Failure
 They fail the narrative test (the story doesn’t make
sense) or the number test (the spreadsheet doesn’t
add up)
 They underestimated the competition and how
their model would stand up under pressure
 Retaliation of existing competitors or entry of new competitors
 Substitute products or services
 They fail to adjust to economic, social political,
regulatory, industry, technology, environmental or
competitive changes.

31. Facts you should know!
 Most businesses fail in less than two years
 Fewer than one percent of the business plans
submitted to VCs get funded
 Failures are planned by lack of planning

33. Answer First Five!
 What important customer problem can you
solve with your Idea?
 How are you going to do it?
 How many customers are there that are willing
to buy from you?
 Why can only you provide the solution?
 How can you defend against others?

34. Top level issues!
 Are both market and industry attractive?
 Does the opportunity offer compelling customer
benefits as well as sustainable advantage over
other solutions to the customer needs?
 Can the idea deliver the results they seek and
promise to others?

35. John Mullins

37. What’s That?
1. Market domain – macro level
2. Market domain – micro level
3. Industry domain – macro level
4. Industry domain – micro level
5. Team domain – aspirations
6. Team domain – execution capability
7. Team domain – connections or networks

38. Remember!
 Seven domains are not equally important
 A simple scoring sheet will not work
 Wrong combination of domains can kill a
venture
 Sufficient strength in some domains can
mitigate weaknesses in others – good
opportunities can be found in not-so-attractive
markets and industries

39. Market Analysis
Macro Level
 Overall market – size (number of customers,
aggregate money spent, number of usage
occasions) (Secondary data from trade
publications, business press)
 Where is the market on the “S curve” – is it
nascent, growing or saturating (infer from
historical data)
 Trends in broad categories – demographic,
socio-cultural, economic, technological,
regulatory

40. Market Analysis
Micro Level
 Target segment benefits and attractiveness –
customers buy benefits, not products or features.
 How large is the segment and how fast it is
growing – combination of primary and
secondary data
 Who you would like to be your FIRST customer –
can you name him
 Clearly differentiated solution with value
delivery unambiguously stated
 Does an entry in a segment facilitate lateral
entry in other segments?

41. Industry Analysis
Macro Level
 Standard Industry Classification
 Positioning is not obvious
 Michael Porter – “Competitive Strategy” -- Five
Force Framework
 Suppliers, Buyers, Incumbents, New Entrants,
Substitutes
 Competitive rivalry, threat of entry and
substitutes, bargaining power of buyers and
suppliers
 Which of these forces are favourable and
unfavourable (SWOT analysis)

42. Industry Analysis
Micro Level
 Sustainable competitive advantage – How long
will your edge last ?
 IP Protection – patents, copyright, trade secrets
 Superior organizational processes that are
difficult to replicate
 Economically viable business model –
availability of finance for long term and
working capital, contract enforcement and
revenue collection cycles

43. Team Analysis
 Financers give as much importance to team as
ideas.
 Accepted wisdom – Ideas come dime a dozen,
who will execute?
 Aspirations, motivation and propensity for risk
taking
 Ability to execute on critical success factors
(CSFs) – unique to each industry market
segment – better, cheaper, faster
 Connectedness up, down and across the value
chain – ability to move from Plan A to Plan B

46. Venture
Characteristics
*Typology of
Ventures
Heuristics Heuristics
Iterative
Strategy to
Exploit
Entrepreneurial *Research&
Fit Analysis
*Personal goals *Process
*Entrepreneurial Heuristics *Resources
Capacity *Growth

47. Venture Typology
 Revolutionary ventures
 Niche ventures
 Ventures that are propagators of new
technology or innovations
 Hustle ventures
 Speculative (deal) ventures

48. SWOT Analysis
 Strengths – identifying existing organisational
strengths
 Weaknesses – identifying existing organisational
weaknesses
 Opportunities – Identify existing and emerging
market opportunities
 Threats – Identify threats to the future success of
the business

49. PEST Analysis
 Political: local, national and international
political developments – how will they affect
the business ?
 Economic: what are the main economic issues
– both nationally and internationally – that
would have a bearing on the business.
 Social: Identify existing and emerging social
trends that would have impact on the business
and their implications for future planning
 Technological: Technological changes and
their implications to competitive advantage.

50. PEST Analysis
 Political: local, national and international
political developments – how will they affect
the business ?
 Economic: what are the main economic issues
– both nationally and internationally – that
would have a bearing on the business.
 Social: Identify existing and emerging social
trends that would have impact on the business
and their implications for future planning
 Technological: Technological changes and
their implications to competitive advantage.

51. Potter’s Five Force Model
Determinates of Profitability
Current
Suppliers
Competitors
The Company
Potential Substitute
Competitors Products
Customers

52. Bob Fabio’s “WHAT”
 What messages . . . to reach
 What market(s) . . . with
 What product(s) . . . distributed through
 What channel(s) . . . against
 What competition . . . with
 What pricing and packaging . . . to deliver
 What value . . . in
 What time frame?

53. Bob Fabio’s “WHAT”
 What messages . . . to reach
 What market(s) . . . with
 What product(s) . . . distributed through
 What channel(s) . . . against
 What competition . . . with
 What pricing and packaging . . . to deliver
 What value . . . in
 What time frame?

54. Market Opportunities / Validations
 How will the product or service be priced?
 How will you reach the target customer?
 How much does it cost to acquire a customer in
time and Money?
 How much does it cost to produce and deliver
the product or service?
 How much does it cost to support a customer?
 How easy (expensive) is it to retain a customer?

55. Competition
 Who are the current competitors?
 What resources do they control and what are
their strengths and weaknesses?
 How will they respond to our decision to enter
the business and what can we do?
 Who else might notice and enter our market?
 Can we build barriers to competitors by forming
alliances?

56. Effective Strategy Implementation Requires

59. In just about 12 slides
1 2 3 4
Intro Company Problem buy- Your solution
overview and in; Market and and products;
What $ you elevator opportunity
pitch; size with benefits
are after
5 6 7 8
More Marketing
solution details Technologies Competition and leverage
points
9 10 11 12
How you Status; Recap;
make money; Management Timeline; Call-to-
How much? Team Use of funds action

60. Venture Capital
Early Stage Financing
 The SEED Stage – In this stage relatively small
amounts of capital is used to prove concepts &
finance feasibility studies.
 The START-UP Stage – In this stage funding is
done for product development and initial
marketing, but with no commercial sales yet
(basically to get operations started).

61. Venture Capital
Development Financing
 The SECOND Stage – In this stage working
capital is used for initial growth phase, but no
clear profitability or cash flow yet.
 The THIRD Stage – In this stage financing is done
for major expansion for company with rapid
sales growth, at break even or positive profit
levels but still private company.
 The BRIDGE/PRE-PUBLIC Stage – In this stage
Bridge financing is done so as to prepare the
company for public offering.

64. Mind Your Business
shiftHAPPENED