7 Tips for Pitching Your Entrepreneurial Idea, Whether to Angels or Sharks - Forbes

10/25/13 7 Tips For Pitching Your Entrepreneurial Idea, Whether To Angels Or Sharks - Forbes

www.forbes.com/sites/mattsymonds/2013/10/24/7-tips-for-pitching-your-entrepreneurial-idea-whether-to-angels-or-sharks/?ss=smbiz-strategies 1/5

12 Stocks to Buy From 3 Investing Giants Help|Connect|Sign up|Log in

Most Read on Forbes

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions

expressed are those of the w riter.

LEADER SHI P | 10/24/2013 @ 7:58AM | 766 views

7 Tips For Pitching YourEntrepreneurial Idea, WhetherTo Angels Or Sharks

Are you ready for the Shark Tank? Learn where to

look, and how to pitch, to secure funding for your

entrepreneurial idea. (Image credit: Getty Images

via @daylife)

Are you ready to present your

business idea to the wealthy

investors on the Shark Tank? Just

remember that the five successful

Sharks sitting across from you (or

Dragons in the UK, Lions in

Finland, or the original Tigers in

Japan) were once in your shoes,

and have all learned where to look,

and how to pitch, to secure funding

for their entrepreneurial ideas.

Baybars Altuntas is a shark, or

rather a dragon on the Turkish

version of the reality TV show. He is also a successful entrepreneur, and as an

Ambassador of the World Entrepreneurship Forum, a global think tank

dedicated to entrepreneurship, he has contributed a chapter to the book

Planet Entrepreneur, with advice on where to find potential investors, and

how to pitch to them.

Not that he has always got it right himself. As with

so many entrepreneurs, the learning curve can be

steep, and he has his fair share of inspiring and

funny stories. Back in the days before the Internet,

for example, he tried to put together a list of

franchise companies wanting to do business in

Turkey. Pre-Google GOOG -0.58% , remember, you

would have to turn to books for such information.

So he used a book he found in an old bookshop and

discovered later, when furious readers reacted, that

it had been written in 1922 and all the franchises

had long gone out of business!

But in the digital age, he reminds would-be

entrepreneurs that there are no borders any more.

So whether you find yourself in front of five sharks

and a TV audience of millions, or with five minutes

NEWS People Places Companies

Matt Symonds

Contributor

Follow (69)

I am the chief editor of MBA50.com, a website

dedicated to the world's top business schools

(@MBA50news), and co-director of Fortuna

Admissions, a boutique MBA admissions

consultancy firm (@fortunaadmit). I am the

author of the bestseller "Getting the MBA

Admissions Edge", sponsored by Goldman Sachs

and McKinsey . I co-organize international

media conferences that bring together business

MA T T S Y MO N DS PO PU L A R PO S T S

The Best Business Schools of 2012 - The Rankingof MBA Rankings 288,418 views

Does An MBA Make Y ou Happy ? The MBAHappiness Index 2013 67,734 views

Follow (69)

Matt Symonds, Contributor

I cover business ed, MBA admissions, entrepreneurship and management

Focus On SolvingThe Next BigProblem, NotFinding The NextBig Thing

Matt SymondsContributor

+ show more

+ show more

After Insurance Industry Pow-Wow,

White House Delays Obamacare's

Individual Mandate By Six Weeks

+149,083 views

Icahn To Apple's Tim Cook: Buy Back

$150B In Stock, Now +47,720 views

Top 100 Inspirational Quotes

+40,514 views

5 Things Super Successful People Do

Before 8 AM +28,037 views

Obamacare's Website Is Crashing

Because It Doesn't Want You To Know

How Costly Its Plans Are +24,049 views

Comment Now Follow Comments



It doesnt matter if you are from

the Americas, Europe, Asia, or

Africa; the world is waiting for your

good ideas." Baybars Altunta,

entrepreneurial dragon and co-

author of Planet Entrepreneur

and an angel investor audience of one, a big part of

their decision is going to be based on the quality of

your presentation, and the people involved. Here is

the advice from an entrepreneurial dragon who has

listened to plenty of pitches.

1. Prepare yourself, not just your idea. Angel investorsinvest first in the entrepreneur not in the business plan.Its important that the investor and entrepreneur can getalong. They will want to see that you are fast, thoughtfuland efficient, and can sustain the project through itsconception and growth.

2. Capture the essentials. Angels care more about thepresentation than the business plan. Can you, in less thanfive minutes, explain the project, the return oninvestment and the growth strategy?

3. Have a plan from day one. Angels are very interested inyour exit strategy. Many investors tire after about sevenyears with a company and look around for newopportunities. So what is your exit strategy? Are yougoing to sell all your shares to a new entrepreneur? Gopublic with the company? Sell to venture capitalists?Franchise?

4. Do your investor research. You should find out as muchas you can about your angel investor. Who has he or sheinvested in before? Have they been successful? How welldo they know your industry? How much time can theydevote to you and your idea?

5. Take care of due diligence upfront. It takes mostinvestors 3 months to do due diligence on your idea. Make sure that it is not awaste of their time.

6. Negotiate a term sheet offer. Lack of experience can make this a very painfulpart of the whole project. You can go to the websites of the Angel CapitalAssociation (ACA) or European Business Angels Network (EBAN) to learn more onthis step.

7. Learn the vocabularyits all there on the Internet.

Altunas suggests preparing four different

presentations for the potential investor:

Business plan of no more then 50 pages

Business plan condensed into PowerPointpresentation of no more than 20 slides

This Powerpoint should be condensed downto a 2-page brief

A 5 minute elevator pitch

In Planet Entrepreneur, he then gives a list of

8 things that will turn OFF your investor, and

points out that only 25% or propositions make

it past the first phase. But on a hopeful note,

he concludes by saying It doesnt matter if you

are from the Americas, Europe, Asia, or Africa;

the world is waiting for your good ideas.

Getting the M.B.A. Admissions Edge 66,790 views

10 Tips for Acing the MBA Interv iew37,662 views

10 Traits of Women Business Leaders: They 'reNot What Y ou Think 34,236 views

MO RE F RO M MA T T S Y MO N DSCanEntrepreneurshipBe Taught To BigBusiness?


Starting AndGrowing aBusiness - TheEntrepreneur'sGlobal Guide


New Posts

+3 posts th is h ou r

PopularA Wa lk Dow n Silk Roa d

ListsTV 's Hig h est-Pa id A ctor s

VideoA m er ica 's Rich est Wom en



Tips for Entrepreneurs

Starting Web Businesses

Examples of Business Plans

How to Write a Business Plan

Best Investments for 2013

Good Leadership Skills

How to Promote Your Business

Small Business Grants

See Also:

A DV ERTISER V IDEO

Print Report Corrections Reprints & Permissions

From Around the Web

New Exercises Can

Strengthen Brain

The Secrets to

Making Money with

Penny Stocks

How to Get

Freakishly Long

Ey elashes in 7 Day s

How Small

Investors are

Making Huge

Returns Trading

Penny Stocks

Tricks Car

Insurance Agents

Don't Want Y ou to

Know

5 Dumb Mistakes

That Will Destroy

Y our Retirement

How New iPads are

Selling for Under

$40

These 5 Signs Warn

Y ou That Cancer Is

Starting Inside Y our

Body ?

Post Your CommentPlease log in or sign up to comment.

Comment Now Follow CommentsAlso On Forbes

Walmart: What Happened in India?



Channels

Business

Investing

Technology

Entrepreneurs

Op/Ed

Leadership

Lifestyle

Lists

Company Info

Forbes Careers

Advertising Information

Forbes Press Room

Forbes Newsfeeds

Investment Newsletters

Reprints & Permissions

Terms and Conditions

Privacy Statement

Affiliate Sites

Forbes China

Forbes India

Forbes Israel

Forbes Mexico

Forbes Middle East

Forbes Poland

Forbes Romania

Forbes Russia

Forbes Conferences

Forbes Asias Power BusinessWomen

Forbes Womens Summit

Forbes 400 Philanthropy Summit

Global CEO Conference

Forbes Healthcare Summit

Forbes CMO Summit

Forbes Asia's Best Under A Billion

Techonomy

Publications

Free Trial Issue

Subscriber Services

Buy Back Issues

Inside Forbes

Enter Your Comment

Forbes writers have the ability to call out member comments they find particularly interesting.

Called-out comments are highlighted across the Forbes network. You'll be notified if your comment

is called out.

CommentsCALLED-OUT Expand All Comments Follow Comments

Forbes ranking of MBA programs found that the degree still

pays off at our top 25 U.S. programs--just not as fast.

FORBES' List Of America'sBest Business Schools 2013

The Top Hiring EmployersIn Metro Areas Right Now

Ask For Big Bills, Other LifeHacks For Your Wallet

see photos

Meet The Top-EarningDead Celebrities Of 2013

Real-Time Billionaires

+ expand 1 comments



Contact Us

Sitemap

Help

Forbes Ukraine

RealClear Politics

RealClear Markets

RealClear World

RealClear Sports

Forbes Innovators

Forbes and NAPFA AdvisoriConference

Forbes Reinventing AmericaSummit

Data Partners

Market Data by Morningstar

Thomson Reuters

AdChoices

2013 Forbes .com LLC A ll Rights Reserved

Documents

7 Tips for Pitching Your Entrepreneurial Idea, Whether to Angels or Sharks - Forbes