Presenting to VCs
Building the Perfect Company Presentation
July 30, 2009 | 6:00-9:00 PM | Two Palo Alto Square | Palo Alto
Event Sponsor: Morgan, Lewis& Bockius, LLP

Your company presentation is the single most important fundraising document. Delivered at a VC partner meeting or shared over email, your company overview defines who you are, what you do and the extent to which your firm sounds like an attractive investment opportunity for angels, VCs or strategic investors.

The VC Taskforce is pleased to offer a Company Presentation workshop for CEOs and other executives responsible for crafting and delivering the company's core presentation. Learn what the key 'must have' elements are in a 'perfect pitch'. Learn what the most serious red flags are that lead to early disqualification. What makes a great story? How do VCs distinguish a great technology from a great company and a great company from a great investment? Do you have a 'winner's circle' or an 'San Quentin' management team? How do you mitigate early stage risk and build credibility? How do you deal with VC Attention Deficit Disorder? What are the five key elements that tip the scales during your pitch from fear of failure to VC greed?

The session will be highly interactive.  A key success factor to raising money is successfully pitching to a VC partnership.

Sections:

• Presentation: Best practices in pitching to the partners of a VC firm.
• Developing your Presentation: Attendees will be asked to develop and deliver various presentation topics.    
  • The points for a slide on the company's focus
    • A slide describing the team
    • A slide describing the company's business opportunity
    • A summary slide discussing why this company represents a good investment
• Coaching: A workshop where attendees are coached on the key elements of investor pitching and content.

Dr. Ronald Weissman, our session leader, has been an active Silicon Valley VC (Apax Partners) and angel investor (Band of Angels) and has trained many companies in the art of successful pitching. As a VC, he has critiqued hundreds of pitches and has read thousands of presentations. As a former executive, he has delivered hundreds of pitches himself in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street. Ron will share the lessons he has learned in developing the story that investors want to hear. He will be joined by several VC colleagues who will share their experiences in listening to some of the best as well as some of the worst pitches on the planet.

Marc Burch, our session coach, is an angel investor and executive entrepreneur with extensive experience providing early-stage capital to start-ups in San Diego and Silicon Valley. He is a subject matter expert / judge / mentor for funding grants for the Center of Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CCAT) and the von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology. He also develops ideation and product strategy for Facebook and OpenSocial applications.  Additionally, he has over 20 years of marketing, sales, business development and executive management experience in technology companies, including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Actra (Netscape & GE Joint Venture), and MarketFirst. While at Actra, he managed an aggressive sales channel that led to the Netscape acquisition. At MarketFirst, he helped grow the company to over 240 employees with a $450 million valuation.

Presenter & Coach: Dr. Ronald Weissman,  Apax Partners and Band of Angels (rweissman@gmail.com)
Coach: Marc Burch, Angel Investor and Center of Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CCAT) Advisor.

PROGRAM
Doors open: 6 PM
Program: 6:30-9:00 PM
Registration Fee:
$55 VC Taskforce Members,
$65 Affiliate Organization Member
$85 General