Communication Tools: How to make your idea credible and understandable - Entrepreneurship 101

COMMUNICATION TOOLS: How to make your idea credible and understandable

¤ 1. Why do you need the toolkit?

¤ 2. How to create and use your toolkit?

¤ 3. What is in the toolkit?

AGENDA

Who should see? What information? When to give it to them?

You are asking people to give you $, energy and time

Explain how your business will work

South  Park  Clip:    From  18  min18  sec  -­‐>  To  19:00  min  

Meaningful Milestones=3Ps

1.  Founders with domain knowledge

¤  Problems that the customer actually has and cares about

2.  Early indications of the marketing equation (cost of customer acquisition & customer lifetime value)

¤  Path to success for customers to investigate, compare, test and purchase

¤  Revenue model

¤  Demo or prototype technology

3.  How to scale the company

¤  Proof that the results, outcomes and value are real

¤  Team that has its key team members

¤  Scalable working solution

The Value Proposition

Technology Product

Market Value

Proposition Problem Benefits

Management

Investment Opportunity

Clear Message

Focused Company & Strong Management

Repeatable Sales

~40% of users will be very upset

if your product does not exist

You have two audiences: Investors and Customers

Investors must understand: a) what you do and who cares, b) how much $ is needed to achieve appropriate milestones;

Customers need to understand how you solve a problem that they have;

Selling vs. Planning

VS.

How to create your toolkit?

¤  Do not start by building your business plan ¤  You will not have the information you need ¤  You will examine issues out of priority ¤  You will expose lack of understanding

¤  Use the PowerPoint Deck as receptacle for all ideas and information that comes to light – easy to manipulate, organize and adapt

¤  Build your executive summary and eventually your business plan based on your PowerPoint deck

How to create your toolkit?

¤  Use your Business plan to communicate tactical priorities to your team

¤  Develop two versions of the executive summary: ¤  1-page abstract include Technology, Customer, Pain, Revenue,

Team ¤  3-5 pages detailed summary with supporting data, commercial

risks and milestones

¤  Give investors your exec summary and offer to walk them through the PowerPoint slides in person or on the phone

¤  Develop visual assets (diagrams, videos) to use on-line and in your pitch deck

¤  Develop metaphors to make your innovation “real”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MYElhUkyIA. 19 sec-48 sec 

MRI-guided trans-urethral ultrasound treatment for localized prostate cancer  

Better…easy to provide relevant comments and voice-over

Not bad….but difficult to digest quickly

Develop Visual Illustration to Explain Technology

There is currently no quick, inexpensive, yet reliable tool that a person can use to indicate whether they are experiencing normal age-related cognitive problems or those possibly indicative of a more severe impairment, such as MCI. This is in sharp contrast to other common medical conditions, such as the bathroom scale for obesity and the blood pressure cuff for heart disease. Even pregnancy has an easy to use home test. Cognitive impairment has historically had no such fast, easy and reliable home screening test. 

XYZ Inc. is developing a cognitive health online self-assessment for consumers. This will be an inexpensive, yet reliable tool that a person can use to indicate whether they are experiencing normal age-related cognitive problems or those possibly indicative of a more severe impairment, such as MCI.

Better……Connects to an everyday object

Not bad….Factual description

Develop Metaphors: Connect your innovation to a familiar product

Construct your message

Tailor to audience

Outline body

Add spice

Design visuals

Create opening

Design Close

Define objectives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAv06agj87Y&feature=related 0.0sec-0.24sec

Create Opening

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAv06agj87Y&feature=related 0.25sec-0.48sec

an Outline

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAv06agj87Y&feature=related 1:59 min -2:18min

Make statistics meaningful

¤  What is my objective?

¤  How will I close? When it is all over, what will they remember?

¤  How will I open the presentation?

¤  How will I organize the body?

¤  How will I get their attention?

¤  How will I keep their interest?

¤  What questions will they ask?

¤  What questions will I ask?

¤  How will I tailor the presentation to the audience?

¤  What notes do I need?

¤  How many times should I rehearse?

Blueprint for successful presentation

Make your message memorable

¤ ENGAGE your audience

Make information meaningful to them

¤ Case studies, testimonials, personal stories (Example: Alex Levy video, 03sec-35 sec)

¤ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKU-SqrnqX0

Understanding ‘Honest Signals’ in Business

¤  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmhOjPTk6wU&feature=related

“These social signals are not just a back channel or complement to our conscious language; they form a separate communication network that powerfully influences our behavior. In fact, these honest signals provide an effective window into our intentions, goals and values.”

Alex Pentland, MIT

Know your audience

q  Speak to your audience in language that they understand:

§  Institutional investor – do not speak ‘techie’,

tie everything back to money

§  Angel Investors - access their background; understand their interests

Prostate Cancer in U.S. Prostate Cancer

1.2M Cases

192,000 New Cases

96,000 HRPC

18 Months Survival

1.2M Cases

192,000 New Cases

27,000 Deaths

$2 Billion

Know your audience

§  Strategic investor – may be more technical; will be interested in your ideas as they impact their business

§  Strategic Partner – mix of technical and business;

understand how a relationship will be mutually profitable to both parties

§  Customer – understand their industry and pain points

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Source: The Waren Company, an Andersen Consulting Alliance

Operational Fit How complementary are the business models?

How compatible are the management

teams and cultures?

Cultural Fit

Strategic Fit

Strategic Fit

Operational Fit

Cultural Fit

How well aligned are the partners' objectives?

Achieving Value Through Partnership: Foundational Framework for Alliance Success for STRATEGIC INVESTORS

3 Dimensional Fit

Social Media Tools

¤ Create an informed dialog with peers, partners, journalists and investors

¤ Ask people to engage in the conversation, cultivate the audience with # and streams

¤  Plan your social media presence, for example ¤  Month 1-2: Twitter ¤  Month 3-4 Facebook or Quora ¤  Month 6: Google+ ¤  Month 8: LinkedIn

Social Media: How to start

¤  Find your community: start with one , follow, the see who they follow;

¤  Resources ¤  MASHABLE.COM

¤  Guidebook to Facebook,Twitter@danodigital|www.danodigital.com

¤  http://www.slideshare.net/danodigital/

¤  develop-your digital roadmap-guide

¤  Guide to Twitter by KevinA.Magee@unmarketing

Create Context

Idea# 1: “Don’t Dive Straight into the Technology” (Value Proposition) ¤  Don’t start with technology. Everyone has this. Instead create context. ¤  Understand your customer’s pain points and show them how you offer a

value proposition that is FASTER, CHEAPER, BETTER Idea #2: Maintain A Degree of Focus & Consistency in your Message (Brand) ¤  Focus on just a few of the really good things you can do and lead with

these points. Idea #3: “Personify your People” (Profiles) ¤  Profile Managers Backgrounds - Creates context for potential clients and

investors. Idea #4: “Provide Proof of Results” (Case Studies) ¤  Tell a story. Focus on Results and the overall customer Experience.

Use testimonials.

Principles for Business Planning and Communication

•  No hype. Let investors become enthusiastic on his/her own FACTUAL

•  Business planning is an iterative and adaptive process DYNAMIC

•  A clear, precise structure is a courtesy to those investing their time in reading the proposal

VISUALLY COMPLELLING

•  The storyline and all the facts presented must fit together and generate a well rounded impression

CONSISTENT, CONCISE, CLEAR

•  Acknowledge style, recognize knowledge gaps and biases

AUDIENCE-CENTRIC

•  Financial decision-makers rarely are technical experts

EASE OF UNDERSTANDING

WHAT IS INCLUDED IN THE TOOLKIT?

The tools

http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/workbooks/financing-workbook-1-developing-a-financing-strategy-for-your-company

Developing a financing strategy for your Company

The Elevator Pitch

¤  What: ¤  A 30 second overview of your business concept

¤  Why: ¤  To get a follow–on meeting

¤  When: ¤  In a cold call to an investor, customer, potential partner, etc. ¤  Good for networking at trade shows, business functions,

etc. ¤  Dos and Don’ts:

¤  Do not spend forever practicing and refining this – should come naturally;

¤  Figure out a few key messages you would like to get across to use as a loose script

¤  Distribute key messages to outward facing employees – standardize message

ABC Inc. is a location-based advertising company focused on bringing hyper local targeting to any website.

Through a unique privacy architecture, Inc's technology allows media companies and advertising agencies to accurately reach the most relevant and responsive demographics online.

The Elevator Pitch

The Executive Summary

The Executive Summary Template

http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/Investor-engagement-Executive-summary-template

The Executive Summary

¤  What:

¤  3-5 page summary of your technology, product, sales plan, revenue path and

financial requirements

¤  Why:

¤  A ‘teaser’ document meant to generate a request for more information

or a meeting

¤  Readers will want to get their head around the concepts quickly

¤  When:

¤  When you have a ‘warm’ intro or an invitation to contact someone

¤  Integral first interaction with an investor

¤  Rides the line between confidential and non-confidential – some degree of trust

¤  Dos and Don’ts: ¤  Has to have the right emphasis given the maturity of the business concept

¤  Keep it current

The Whitepaper ¤  What:

¤  A fairly concise layman’s summary of your technology, product(s), the uniqueness of the technology and products and the value proposition

¤  Why:

¤  Helps investors to understand how a concept or technology works

¤  When:

¤  After investors are curious about details or have bought into the big picture business vision

¤  Dos and Don’ts:

¤  Put the whitepaper on your website ¤  Don’t go so deep as to give away all of your trade secrets/IP –

consult your IP professional ¤  Keep it as short as possible and fully explain all acronyms

The PowerPoint

Elements of a Pitch Deck http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/Investor-engagement-Elements-of-a-pitch-deck

Building a Strong Presentation http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/Investor-engagement--Building-a-strong-presentation.html  

The PowerPoint ¤  What:

¤  A ~15 slide outline of the key aspects of your business plan ¤  Why: ¤  Provides an overview of the business plan in point form ¤  Allows people to absorb a lot of key information

¤  in a short period of time ¤  When: ¤  Usually the second piece of information an ¤  investor receives after the executive summary ¤  Investors love these because they can flip through

¤  them very fast and get highlights ¤  Dos and Don’ts: ¤  Critical document in the fundraising process – ¤  present a sound story; make it look good ¤  Practice speaking to it, preferably in front of friendly people who will ask lots of questions

¤  Use graphics as much as possible

The Business Plan

The Business Plan Template

http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/Investor-Engagement-Business-Plan-Template

Business Plans for SE and SPBs http://www.marsdd.com/entrepreneurs-toolkit/articles/Business-plans-for-SEs-and-SPBs

The Business Plan ¤  What:

¤  A rigorously prepared and executable description of how you

will build your business

Why:

¤  This is your roadmap for how you are going to build your business

¤  Describes roles and responsibilities for building various aspects of

¤  the business

¤  When:

¤  When you have assembled enough solid information to write it

¤  Highly proprietary; later stages of diligence

¤  Wait for the investor to ask for it

¤  Dos and Don’ts:

¤  Often made a condition of financing or a board action item

¤  Re-write with every major change in strategic direction

¤  Avoid the temptation to turn this into a sales tool – preserve its integrity as an execution plan

Business Plan

PowerPoint/InvestorDeck

Executive Summary

Veronika Litinski Advisor, MaRS Discovery District T 416-673-8113 E vlitinski@marsdd.com W www.marsdd.com

12-02-16

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