Event 2/Funding Pitch

Event 2/Funding Pitch

Many entrepreneurs with a great business idea and business plan seek funding to launch their endeavor.  In the RTP community and beyond, we have various investors – accredited investors, angel investors, and venture capitalists.  This event brings these entrepreneurs together with investors to start the funding conversation.  We hope to see every business idea presented here become funded as the next great RTP business!

Topics for Business Ideas

During this event, we are focusing on these hot business topics:

  • Healthcare
  • AI
  • ML
  • Gaming
  • Decentralized Computing
  • Community Care
  • Military
  • Skills Transfer

What’s a Great Business Idea?

A great business idea provides a worthy product/service for an area of great demand in the market.  A great business idea generates revenue significantly higher than the cost of the business (startup costs, ongoing costs).  A great idea produces great revenue through the volume of one-time or recurring sales.  A great business idea not only raises revenue to cover employee and business expenses, but it also raises business value for investors to leverage (cash-out) and capital to develop new products/services.  It takes a team – especially a diverse team – to achieve great success.

How to Present my Idea?

You have 15 minutes to present your idea.  You will have an additional 10 minutes for Q&A.  Use your time wisely.  Your product/service idea is important, but it is more important as to how you will make that product/service a business success.  Plan to have your core management team (management, financial, and product leaders) present, even if only one person speaks.

Preparing to Present

Use minimal slides during your presentation.  Since an investor is considering putting their money into your business and expecting a 5x return on their money, clearly describe the problem space, how the solution addresses the space, timeline to launch, realistic capital required, management team, and growth of business revenue or value.

Ways to Capitalize my Startup

There are many ways to capitalize a startup – self-funded, borrowing from friends & family, line of credit, investor, and more.  You should research these various ways and choose what is best for your business.  Not every business should have an investor; however, this event is for those businesses that do seek investors.

Increasing my Chances of Being Funded

An investor will invest in a great management team with a bad idea, but an investor will not invest in a great idea with a bad management team.  A great management team can pivot from a bad idea to a good idea; a bad management team can ruin a great idea.  Think about ways to increase an investor’s confidence that your business will succeed – what experience is in which role to achieve business success?  If you plan to recruit great industry experience onto your core management team, make sure the investor knows; they may be able to help.

Clear communication is key.  If you cannot clearly articulate your business idea in 15 minutes, an investor will question your ability to clearly articulate your product/service through your marketing or during a sales presentation.

Will this Single Presentation get me Funded?

No, but it gets the conversation started.  A potential investor will want to meet with you for a follow-up presentation where they seek more detailed information.

Not every investor is interested in your space or level of funding.  Investors often have a target amount they invest (e.g ~$250K, ~$500K, ~$1M, ~$5M, ~$10M+).  Investors often have a target industry (e.g. healthcare, AI, ML, gaming, etc.)  And investors often have a target stage of development (early, starting to scale, etc.)  The right investor for your business idea is not guaranteed to be present.

Summarizing my Business Idea

Each idea must be concisely submitted for an information packet available the day of the Funding Pitch event.  The info pack will contain:

  • Business idea name
  • Key contact name and contact information
  • Target market
  • Target industry category
  • Estimated size of demand
  • Estimated 5-year revenue
  • Problem solved
  • Estimated time to market

Investor Registration

Each investor must be provide a general profile, submitted for an information packet available the day of the Funding Pitch event.  The investor info pack will contain:

  • Company
  • Key contact name and contact information
  • Investment strategy
  • URL to your site

What Happens at the Event?

Entrepreneurs pre-submit their business ideas.  Seven (7) of the business ideas will be presented at the event.  Each idea will have 15 minutes to present followed by 10 minutes of Q&A.

Investors will consider the presented business ideas.

Both entrepreneurs and investors will have time to network together after the presentations.

Food and drinks will be available, sponsor provided.

What Happens after the Event?

Investors will contact entrepreneurs for follow-on presentation and discussions.

If no investor at the event takes an interest in your business idea, no worries!  Consider researching all the available local investors and investors beyond RTP; make sure the investor’s investment goals match your expectations; provide your pitch to them.  It often takes many pitches to find the right investor match.

Sign up to present your business idea.

Sign up as an investor attending.

Who else can attend?  Entrepreneur support organizations (including incubators), and others with an interest in helping entrepreneurs achieve their business success are welcome.  Register as a general attendee.

Remember to sign up for Event 3/Job Fair next!