2. TODAY’S
BIG PROMISES
Nothing Held Back
The Critical Stuff to Get Your First Meeting
One Time Opportunity at The End
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3. Are you in the right place?
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4. If you’re...
Starting or grow your own business
Pursuing your passion for a new business
Creating or growing a real business
Building a world class business
Finding business funding
...then you are in the right place!
www.TheFundingGuru.com
7. Beginning: Before the key discoveries -
Two parts of the puzzle
Great idea
Passion to start my own business
I was working a 18 hour a day job whole I was putting it together
www.TheFundingGuru.com
9. Beginning: Before the key discoveries -
Two parts of the puzzle
Great idea
Passion to start my own business
I was working a 18 hour a day job whole I was putting it together
www.TheFundingGuru.com
16. Created an email survey
Went to the stores to check out the competitors products
Created a prototype
Wrote a business plan
Sent emails to everyone who I thought could help
Made calls
Then I waited....
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17. ...then sent more emails...
and more....
and....
Well, you get it...
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26. I went from no investors
To raising $250K in a few months
...then another $250K
...then $6M
....then Ms more
27. WHY AREYOU DOING IT?
www.TheFundingGuru.com
Why theTwo Jobs?
WhyThe Sacrifice?
Why take the Hard Way?
WhyTake the Risk?
28. SOME OFTHE REASONS OTHER
FOUNDERS HAVE GIVEN ME
www.TheFundingGuru.com
You have aVision ForYour Future
To Create Wealth forYou,Your Family andYour Community
To Have Freedom to Live LifeYour Way
To Have a Fantastic, Exciting, Contributing Life
To Create Jobs
BecauseYou Have a Burning Passion to Do Something
29. WHY AREYOU HERE?
Get Your First Investor Meeting...
You Want Investors To:
‘Get’WhatYou Do
Understand How GreatYour Opportunity is
Are Compelled to MeetYou
30. SO LETS DO ITTOGETHER
How?
You Need A
Kick Ass
Executive Summary
To Make Sure Investors
Are Desperate to MeetYou
31. #1 GOAL
A Kick Ass Executive Summary Should:
Cover the Key Elements ofYour Opportunity (And No More)
Help Qualify the Investors (In & Out)
MoveYou Quickly to the First Meeting with Qualified Investors
#1 Goal: Get You Your First Meeting
32. WHAT IT IS
A Kick Ass Executive Summary Is:
The ‘Essence’ ofYour business in 1-2 pages
The Most Compelling Elements ofYour Business
A succinct way to communicate the info investors
most often want to read to qualify initial
opportunities
33. WHAT IT ISN’T
A Kick Ass Executive Summary Is NOT:
Your One Chance to ‘Sell’ an Investor
The Opportunity to tell them EVERYTHING
about your business
A license to bore them (every word needs to
count...)
34. WHY LEARNTHIS?
Why bother?
Executive Summaries are relatively ‘standard’ - learn it
once and use it forever
Its a recognized way to get your foot in the door -
know the formula and you can engage any investors
Its a No BS doc to help you connect with the Right
Investors forYou - and securing a life long business
partner
35. NEXT
Executive Summary - Winning Best Practices
Format
Key Elements - Broken Down
Best Practices
36. CRITICAL
There’s a format that works...
Executive Summaries cover JUST the key elements Investors want to know before they’ll take the next step
We’ll cover the key elements of a what a Kick Ass Executive Summary should include
Get It Right - and the Right Investors forYou will WANT to meet for your First Meeting
Get it Right - and the Wrong Investors WON’T WANT to meet so you won’t waste your time pursuing them -
NB: its better this way...because you either can’t or shouldn’t ‘close’ the wrong investor - its just bad news...
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39. KEY ELEMENTS
Company Overview
The Opportunity
The Solution
The Market
The Competitors
You Business Model
TheTeam
Current Progress
Capital Requirements
Call to Action
www.TheFundingGuru.com
For a Kick Ass Executive Summary
40. COMPANY OVERVIEW
This is Your Introduction
Outlines WhatYour Business Does with Impact
HowYou Address a Key Demand or Need
Hook the Investor by addressing how Big an idea or Market this could be for the right
Company andTeam
...with as little hyperbole as possible
....avoid a gazillion dollar market estimates
www.TheFundingGuru.com
41. THE OPPORTUNITY
This Tells Them What and How Big Your Opportunity Is
Key Elements to Communicate:
This is a Huge Opportunity (Size / Gap / Problem / Need)
You Really Understand the Space (Interactions / Experience)
You’ve DoneYour Homework (Ref. Customer feedback)
Don’t Get Caught up in the Data or showing your expertise (Entice the Investor)
Don’t BoreThe Investors
Succinct but Impactful
www.TheFundingGuru.com
42. THE SOLUTION
This Tells Them How You and Your Team will Address the Huge
Opportunity
Key Elements to Communicate:
Summary ofYour Solution (Sound Bite / Big Idea)
Your Key Elements Addressing Need/Problem/Opportunity
Strong Close andTransition to Market Size
Don’t Get Carried Away with the “HOW”, emphasize the “WHY”
Good to reference Initial Customer or Consumer Feedback / Market Insights
www.TheFundingGuru.com
43. THE MARKET
This Tells Them What Space You Will be Competing in and
Reinforces the Opportunity
Key Elements to Communicate:
How BIGYour Market Is; HowYou Calculate it
Market trends - Hyper Growth? Growth? Decline?
The Channel Composition:Where’s the Power?
Market Size - Big enough to show upside, not too big to be unrealistic
Overview key Competitors as part of landscape discussion - go into depth on competitors in the next Section
www.TheFundingGuru.com
44. THE COMPETITORS
This Tells Them If The Market Is Worthwhile and The Difficulty
of Penetration
Key Elements to Communicate:
Top 3- 5 Competitors (Size / Longevity / Offerings)
Competitor Weaknesses (Ideally from Customer Feedback)
Barriers to EntryYou Can Create After Launch / Growth
Common Mistakes: Telling the Investors there are no real competitors.There are always competitors, even if its just for mind share
or share of wallet
Competitors are good - they validate a market.
www.TheFundingGuru.com
45. YOUR BUSINESS MODEL
This Tells Them How You Create Value and Extract it from Your
Market
Key Elements to Communicate:
Business Model Overview (Value Proposition Sound Bite)
HowYou Make Money (Focus on 1, mention others)
Who Will BuyYour Product or Service (Target Consumers / Customers / Partners)
The More Real ProofThat People are Prepared to Pay - the better yourValuation (Risk MitigatorsVs. RiskTakers)
www.TheFundingGuru.com
46. THETEAM
This Tells Them Who Is Going to Achieve Your Vision, Goals and
Milestones
Key Elements to Communicate:
WhoThey Are (Name, Function, Snapshot of Experience)
Why the Investor Should have Confidence / WhyThisTeam?
Track Record (Esp. in the Space/Market)
Note: Negatives can be positives
Gaps: ShowYou Are Aware and Have a Plan to Fill
www.TheFundingGuru.com
47. CURRENT PROGRESS
This Tells Them How Far You Have Taken This Business So Far
Key Elements to Communicate:
Progress Overview
Customer Progress: Contract? Commitment?Test? First Meet
Consumer Progress: Paying? BetaTesting? Letters of Intent?
Product Progress: Concept, Prototype, Beta,V1, Finished
Team Building: Key Hires, Outstanding Hires
www.TheFundingGuru.com
48. CAPITAL REQUIREMENTS
This Tells Them How Much You Will Raise and Key Milestones to
be Achieved with Funds
Key Elements to Communicate:
Capital Funding Required
Key Milestones to be achieved with Funds: Customer / Consumer / Product /Team /
Infrastructure
Common Mistakes: IncludingYour ExpectedValuation
Common Mistakes:Allocating a significant amount to marketing in an effort to ‘create the market’
www.TheFundingGuru.com
49. CLOSE
This Tells Them You Will Follow Up to Schedule The First
Meeting
Key Elements to Communicate:
WhenYou Will ContactThem (Within the next 7 Days)
How (Call / Email)
If they would like to follow up -Your Contact Details
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50. 3 COMMON MISTAKES
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Why Some Executive Summaries Aren’t Kick Ass
Try to Cram InToo MuchText
Create your Draft (using our Software if you have it), make sure you meet the format guidelines
PayYourself $5 for every word you can cut out without changing the meaning
The Pay Someone Else $5 to do the same :)
Every word is an excuse to stop reading - cut out BS. If its 8 pt font, this isYOUR problem!
Not Enough ‘Proof’ i.e. too theoretical
Focus on proof e.g Paying customers, beta testers, experienced team, market expertise
Without these (Ideas): Customer surveys, strong advisory board, letters of intent, customer verbatim / meetings
You Forget the Goal
Your #1 Goal is to Get a Meeting Scheduled! NotTo Close!
52. WHATTODAY GAVEYOU
The Critical Elements to Create Your Own Kick Ass Executive
Summary:
This is a MUST HAVE!
Once You Know How to Create a Kick Ass Executive Summary:
You can Now get a Face-To-Face meeting with Any Investors - if they’re potentially the
‘Right’ Investors
You Now Can Successfully Start the Fund Raising Process for the Rest of Your
Entrepreneurial Career
You Can realize your entrepreneurial Ambitions andVision forYour Future
www.TheFundingGuru.com
53. CONGRATULATIONS!
You’ve Done It!
You Have Covered all the Key Elements:
You know what’s included in a Kick Ass Executive Summary
The Winning Best Practices and Format
3 of the Common Challenges to Avoid
If you have Questions or Follow Up Requirements, we’ll outline a couple of additional options next...
www.TheFundingGuru.com
54. REMEMBER WHYYOU’RE DOING
IT...
www.TheFundingGuru.com
You have aVision ForYour Future
To Create Wealth forYou,Your Family andYour Community
To Have Freedom to Live LifeYour Way
To Have a Fantastic, Exciting, Contributing Life
To Create Jobs
56. ADVICE
This Kick Ass Executive Summary Information is the Core of
What You Need
Additional Help is Available
Kick Ass Executive Summary Software
“Done ForYou” Choices:
Choice 1: We’ll Work withYou to CreateYour Executive Summary
Choice 2: I’ll Work withYou to CreateYour Executive Summary
www.TheFundingGuru.com/dfy
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57. I WANTTO WORK WITHYOU
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CreateYour Kick Ass Executive Summary Together
www.TheFundingGuru.com/dfy
Kick Ass Executive Summary Software
www.thefundingguru.com/go/kicksoft