There will be at least two presentations you make to a Venture Capitalist. The first is the “elevator pitch” or rather the quick, get their attention and interest presentation that will lead to the sending of the full business plan, if all goes as planned. Then comes the “Get the Money” presentation.

A good bit of time needs to go into creating these presentations. Let us first discuss the “Get Their Attention” presentation.

At this point you have written your business plan and have pulled out the Executive Summary for sending out to the Venture Capitalists, etc. You then need to create a cover letter that will go with that Executive Summary outlining how much money you want, how you want to use it (remember, the Executive Summary, while it will have the financials that outline how the money will be used in a spreadsheet, does not necessarily do so) and what you would look for from the Venture Capitalist after the money. You also ask for a date to do discuss the Executive Summary and to pursue rather they are interested in going forward.

Once the Venture Capitalist accepts your Executive Summary and agrees to meet with you, you should have a presentation that is geared to that Venture Capitalist. This presentation should be from fifteen to twenty slides, and should cover an overview of your product(s), and be sure to show the proof of concept version of the product(s), a rough breakdown of your industry, the market, the competition, and your Executive Staff. You should know enough about the Venture Capitalist to know what the triggers are for this person to peek their interest. In most cases, you can figure this first presentation will be done in less than or about thirty minutes, and leave about five to ten of those minutes for Questions and Answers. You want to be sure to have on hard a copy of your full business plan, should they be interested in going forward to the next steps. Most will request a few days to review your presentation and look at other factors as well before committing to going forward or backing out.

The next presentation is often about one and a half hours to three hours long, depending how long the Venture Capitalist gives you. At this point your presentation will be from thirty to 50 slides, going over the same items as above, but in more detail, and paying strong attention on how the money is going to be spent, your production time line, and your key competition. It should track to the business plan you have already given the Venture Capitalist. Expect to spend at least thirty minutes and probably a lot more on questions from the Venture Capitalist. Be sure to close it off with asking for the money!