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Creating Your Business Plan, Slide
Deck & Elevator Pitch
George Karutz, Jr.
October 2, 2009
Karutz Flavin Wells Investment Bankers, LLC.
Center for Innovation
and Technology
Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
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Overview of the Presentation
• Overview & Conclusions
• Elevator Pitch Fundamentals
• Slide Deck Basics & Rules
• Business Plan
–
–
–
–
Pitfalls
Business Model Questions
Claims versus Evidence
General Advice
Center for Innovation
and Technology
Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
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Overview & Conclusions
• Three “must have tools”: Business Plan, Slide
Deck & Elevator Pitch
• Makes sense to develop in the following order:
Elevator Pitch – Slide Deck – Business Plan
• Lots of resources exist to help prepare
thoughtful documents
– Websites
– Books
– Individuals – peers, friends, angels, etc.
Center for Innovation
and Technology
Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
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Realities You Will Face
• Investors have limited time, lots of
commitments, and shrinking attention spans
• Many investors will not be industry or subject
matter experts in your area of focus
• Investors are interested in maximizing returns
and minimizing risk, and have minimum return
hurtles
• Only family and friends are likely to take a leap
of faith on you or accept less than market
returns
• One chance for first impression is true
Center for Innovation
and Technology
Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 4
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Elevator Pitch Fundamentals
Definition: Elevator Pitch is a verbal overview of an idea for a
product, service, or project that can be delivered in the time
span of an elevator ride (e.g. 30 seconds and ~150 words)
What your "Elevator Pitch" should contain:
1. A "hook" - get the Investor's attention with a statement or
question that piques their interest to want to hear more
2. About 150-225 words and no longer than 60 seconds
3. Passion - energy and dedication from entrepreneurs
4. A request - you should ask for something, like their business
card, to schedule a full presentation, or a referral
Center for Innovation
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Entrepreneurship
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Other considerations:
• May vary depending on your audience (Know Your Target)
• It is usually the first impression and sets tone for discussions /
interest level
• Practice and Prepare
CITE BootCamp October 2009
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Slide Deck Basics
Purpose and Key Uses:
• Covers key points of the business plan and
investor participation
• Great opportunity to integrate supporting
graphics and photos
• Typically serves as the key method to
communicate with investors
– During meetings
– Pre & Post meetings
• Present electronically and provide hard copy
• Should support the presenter but not be a
crutch
Center for Innovation
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Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
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CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 6
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Slide Deck – Guy Kawasaki’s Rules
10/20/30 Rule
– 10 slides
• Title
• Marketing and sales
• Problem
• Competition
• Solution
• Team
• Business Model
• Projections
• Underlying Magic
• Status and timeline
– 20 minutes
– 30 point font
Center for Innovation
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Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 7
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Business Plan
Purpose and Key Uses:
• Fairly standard format and structure
• Covers details and support of the business
• Provides investors with map of future plans
• Whether reviewed in detail or not, the document
is expected by investors / capital sources
• Often serves as proxy for commitment and
competency
Center for Innovation
and Technology
Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 8
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Business Plan - Pitfalls
• Irrational financial expectations
• Irrational investor expectations
• Business model built on perception and
emotion versus facts and experiences
• Lack of confirming and supporting detail
• Sloppy content and/or look & feel
• Fails to build investor enthusiasm or catch
one’s attention right up front
• Overly technical
Center for Innovation
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Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 9
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Business Plan –
Quick Test: Four Key Questions
A business model has four elements:
1. What compelling reason exists for people to
give you money?
2. How do you acquire what you're selling for less
than it costs to sell it?
3. What structural insulation do you have from
relentless commoditization and a price war?
4. How will strangers find out about the business
and decide to become customers?
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Source: Seth's Blog : Thinking about business models
CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 10
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Business Plan –
Make Claims & Use Evidence
There are Claims and There is Evidence
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Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
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Source: UCBerkley’s Business Plan Competition Resource Center
© Tyler Elliston
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Business Plan –
Make Claims & Use Evidence (cont’d)
Claims:
•
•
Make sure they are detailed.
Move them from “Opinion” to “Fact” (i.e. be confident with
evidence)
Kinds of Evidence:
• Company Traction: great for illustrating problem & solution
• Personal Experience: valuable for arguing customer pain, scalability, fast
adoption, and ability to execute (depends on experience)
• Comparables: great for scalability, fast adoption, pricing
• Experts: good for anything, great for competition
• Primary Research: great for customer pain and solution, willingness to pay
• Secondary Research: great for market size
Center for Innovation
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Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
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Source: UCBerkley’s Business Plan Competition Resource Center
© Tyler Elliston
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Business Plan – General Advice
• Don’t Write it Sequentially
• Iterate Often & Get Feedback
• Never stop asking “why” for claims
• Focus on Traction, Comps, and Primary Research
• Pay attention to detail, especially with the executive
summary
• Longer is not better; be concise, but thorough
Center for Innovation
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Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
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Source: UCBerkley’s Business Plan Competition Resource Center
CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 13
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Sources of Reference
• UCBerkley’s Business Plan Competition website http://bplan.berkeley.edu/index.cfm?section=Resource%2
0Center
• Guy Kawasaki’s website - http://www.guykawasaki.com/
Center for Innovation
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Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
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CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 14
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Questions and Contact Info
Contact Information:
George Karutz, Jr.
210-804-4240
[email protected]
Center for Innovation
and Technology
Entrepreneurship
UTSA Colleges of
Business and Engineering
CITE BootCamp October 2009
Slide 15