I have written a few blogs about pitches for investment. Your pitch (all your documents combined) must read like a novel. You are telling a story to investors that you have a plan to create / grow / exit an investment. You are going to create a solid investment by deploying capital (monetary and intellectual) in such a fashion that creates a strong and viable company that will grow in value, in a defined period of time.

What everyone seems to overlook is this simple fact; You are not pitching your company. You are pitching an investment. You MUST concentrate on these facts. What do you need ($$)? How will you use it? What effect will the $$ have on the company? Can management do it? Exit strategy and timeline? If these segments are not perfectly clear on every piece of media, then your chance of a meeting, let alone an investment are minimized.

Who is your Exit buddy? Do they like you? Is the pool of Exit buddies in the single digits or are there hundreds of potential Exit buddies? Have you spoken to any? Market research, multiples, comparables.

If you seek investment, please change your mindset to the following: “Our team’s goal is to create a sold company that will grow to provide a quality return to our investors.” WIFFM.