As a follow up to my last post, I wanted to provide another bit of advice to entrepreneurs of all stages.

I get A LOT of pitch decks on my desk weekly. Are your documents fiction or non-fiction? Early, mid, late stage companies seeking capital, your investment documents must tell a compelling story, in a format that is brief, yet comprehensive. Whether you seek seed funding, or need a PE firm to partner with for growth, it really doesn’t matter. The majority of investors invest in the following criteria:

1) Management 2) Management 3) Management 4) Everything else

Simply put, investors invest in management’s ability to do all of the isht that is needed to grow a company in a risk mitigated manner, that will provide a return on that investment in a defined period of time. Your story needs to fit in that time frame, and so does your business plan and proforma.
Know about Sources and Uses: How much you need, where you will deploy that capital and how will that effect growth. That is the theme of your story
Can the reader determine these simple facts in 5 minutes or less?