早期階段的創(chuàng)業(yè)公司要想拿到融資，就必須要通過成功的項(xiàng)目路演吸引到投資人。但很多創(chuàng)業(yè)者在路演時要么顯得沒有經(jīng)驗(yàn)，要么干脆就搞得一塌糊涂。

身為風(fēng)投家和天使投資人，我聽過的路演不計其數(shù)。我給創(chuàng)業(yè)者們列了一份清單，總結(jié)了路演過程中最容易犯的一些錯誤和需要避免的問題。

錯誤1：莫名其妙地寄來項(xiàng)目摘要或計劃書

對于創(chuàng)業(yè)者“海投”式的電子郵件，投資人一般都不會看，而是直接刪掉。因?yàn)樗麄儠盏匠砂偕锨н@樣的郵件，他們不可能花時間一封封地去看能不能在里面找到寶貝。但你如果是他們這個圈子里的某個人推薦來的，他們還是會加以留心的——比如某位律師，或他們投資的某個公司的企業(yè)家，或者是另一位風(fēng)投資本家。

錯誤2：除非你顯然從事的是我感興趣的行業(yè)，否則不要找我

有些投資人只對某一個領(lǐng)域的項(xiàng)目感興趣，比如生物科技、移動應(yīng)用、清潔能源或互聯(lián)網(wǎng)和數(shù)字媒體等。你在聯(lián)系我之前，最好先做做作業(yè)，確保你的公司從事的恰好是我感興趣的領(lǐng)域。

錯誤3：給我一份50頁的商業(yè)計劃書讓我看

我沒時間先看一份50頁的商業(yè)計劃，再去決定值不值得跟你會面或跟進(jìn)這個項(xiàng)目。請給我發(fā)一份2到3頁的摘要，或是一份PPT。

錯誤4：沒有向我展示為什么你的項(xiàng)目有較大的市場機(jī)會

大多數(shù)投資人都在尋找可以做大做強(qiáng)的企業(yè)。所以你要首先解答為什么你的公司可以做得很大這個問題。不要給我展示任何小點(diǎn)子。如果第一個產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)比較小，那么你可能需要把你的公司定義成一個能催生多個產(chǎn)品和應(yīng)用的“平臺”型企業(yè)。還有，我想知道你真正的目標(biāo)市場是什么，以及隨著時間的推移，你打算占據(jù)多大的市場份額。

錯誤5：帶著團(tuán)隊參加路演，但只有CEO一人在講話

投資者想知道你是否擁有一個好的團(tuán)隊。所以在路演的時候，只讓CEO進(jìn)行講演，絕對是一個錯誤。如果其他團(tuán)隊成員不開口，投資人怎么確定這是一支好團(tuán)隊？還有就是不要讓他們的發(fā)言自相矛盾。

錯誤6：跟我說你還沒有任何競爭對手

如果你跟我說你沒有任何競爭對手，我肯定會覺得你要么不切實(shí)際，要么太幼稚。你當(dāng)然是有競爭對手的，不管這種競爭是直接還是間接的，又或許有其他人能夠提供替代你的解決方案。另外，你對競爭對手的分析，也能表明你對市場是有理解的。

錯誤7：給我看無趣的或不切實(shí)際的預(yù)測

如果你向我預(yù)測道，在五年之內(nèi)，你的公司的收益能達(dá)到500萬美元，我可能還會有一丁點(diǎn)興趣。我想投資的是一家能夠顯著增長的公司、一家令人興奮的公司。但如果你向我預(yù)測道，你的收益在三年內(nèi)就能達(dá)到500萬美元，我只會覺得你不切實(shí)際，尤其是如果你目前的收益是0的話。另外，如果你的預(yù)測中的假設(shè)不能自圓其說的話——比如如果你打算在運(yùn)營和營銷成本只增長20%的情況下，就使收益增長400%，那么這種豪言壯語就不要對我說了。

錯誤8：在跟我分享信息之前，先要求我簽保密協(xié)議。

大多數(shù)投資人都有不簽保密協(xié)議這個不成文的習(xí)慣。既然你要找投資人，為什么要自己給自己設(shè)一塊絆腳石呢？如果你有什么高度保密的東西，千萬別跟我說。

錯誤9：對我的問題給出令人困惑或糟糕的答案。

創(chuàng)業(yè)者在給投資人做講演之前，應(yīng)該先找朋友或顧問練習(xí)一下。你需要對投資人的問題給出干脆利落的答案。另外，你必須提前想到投資人可能會問你哪些比較難回答的問題。如果你跟我說，“我回去了解一下再告訴你答案”，那就很難給我留下一個好印象。

如果我在問你問題，這是一個好跡象，說明我已經(jīng)對你感興趣了。所以，要盡量當(dāng)場回答這些問題。在路演的時候，不要回避那些難以回答的問題，或者告訴我你打算等一會兒再回答。我就是想看看你的反應(yīng)有多快。在路演的過程中，被投資人的問題打斷是很正常的。

錯誤10:不告訴我你的公司解決的是哪些問題。

你的公司到底解決的是哪些問題？它重要嗎？

錯誤11：對你的公司懷有不切實(shí)際的估值預(yù)期

如果你的公司剛剛成立三個禮拜，或者你的業(yè)務(wù)還沒有什么起色，你就跟我說，你對你的公司的估值是1億美元，那么咱們之間的對話可能很快就會結(jié)束了。通常來說，在和投資人第一次會面時最好不談估值，只說你對估值是理性的就可以了。

錯誤12：陳詞濫調(diào)

在言語間要避免以下這些話：

“我們需要的只是1%的市場。”（你未必能達(dá)到。）

“使用量會相當(dāng)火爆。”（除非有早期的證據(jù)能夠證實(shí)，否則這番話很難讓人相信。）

“這個產(chǎn)品自己就是活廣告。”（不，它不是。）

“連谷歌都會想要收購我們。“（或許吧，反正我看可能性不大。）

“我們的預(yù)測數(shù)字比較保守。”（但是只有在這時候，我才想聽到創(chuàng)業(yè)者對我說：“我們的預(yù)測數(shù)字極為樂觀。”）

錯誤13：PPT超過20頁

你的路演最多只有一個小時時間。所以如果你的PPT做得太長，就會影響路演的明快感，而且你也根本沒有時間講解到最后幾頁。如果投資人對你的項(xiàng)目產(chǎn)生了興趣，你可以事后再向他提供更多信息。

錯誤14：忘了強(qiáng)調(diào)團(tuán)隊成員的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和資歷

很多投資人都認(rèn)為，對于一家創(chuàng)業(yè)公司來說，它的團(tuán)隊要比它的創(chuàng)意或產(chǎn)品更重要。投資者很想知道，你的團(tuán)隊是否擁有正確的技能、動機(jī)、經(jīng)驗(yàn)甚至脾氣秉性來推動公司的成長。我想看到的是你的團(tuán)隊是否有熱情去做一件真正獨(dú)特和偉大的事。所以你在講演中可能會問被到以下問題：

公司的創(chuàng)始人和核心團(tuán)隊成員是誰？

你的團(tuán)隊在相關(guān)領(lǐng)域有什么經(jīng)驗(yàn)？

在短期內(nèi)，你的團(tuán)隊需要加入哪些核心成員？

你的團(tuán)隊有什么獨(dú)特之處，能夠執(zhí)行好公司的商業(yè)計劃？

你有多少名員工？

創(chuàng)始人的動機(jī)是什么？

在接下來的12個月，你打算如何擴(kuò)大你的團(tuán)隊？

錯誤15：不重視細(xì)節(jié)

首先，要確保你的演示文稿里沒有錯別字或自相矛盾的地方。其次，要制作一份文筆流暢、視覺效果吸引人的演示文稿。要記得給你的PPT標(biāo)上頁碼，讓我能輕松地回顧某一頁的內(nèi)容。為了保護(hù)你的合法權(quán)益，你可以在PPT末頁底部寫上版權(quán)聲明，加上“保密與隱私”這種話。

錯誤16：沒有樣品

“樣品勝千言”。請向我展示你的原型產(chǎn)品，或者是你的產(chǎn)品、應(yīng)用和網(wǎng)站的演示效果。這能讓我更好地理解你究竟想做什么。請盡量保證它的運(yùn)行效果良好，不要有bug。另外，要盡量用它的外觀和感覺來征服我。

錯誤17：對投資者和他的投資組合不做調(diào)查

如果你向我表明，你對我的背景和我投資的公司有所了解，會對我們之間的談話有一定的裨益。另外最好向我表明，你已經(jīng)針對此會面做了一些盡職調(diào)查。

錯誤18：沒有看過其他演示文稿和項(xiàng)目摘要

參考一下其它的演示文稿和項(xiàng)目摘要，可以有助你改進(jìn)你自己的作品。你可以請你的律師、其他創(chuàng)業(yè)者或是做天使投資人的朋友為你提供一些樣品。另外網(wǎng)上也有很多樣品可供參考，比如Mint.com上就有一些，這家創(chuàng)業(yè)公司最后以1.7億美元的價格被財捷集團(tuán)（Intuit）收購。

錯誤19：不了解招攬顧客的成本和顧客的長期價值

如果你了解關(guān)于如何招攬顧客或用戶的問題，我可能會對你產(chǎn)生興趣。也就是說，如果你想招攬到一名顧客，需要付出多少成本？這名顧客的生命周期價值是多少？你打算使用什么渠道來招攬用戶或顧客？這將給你造成多少營銷成本？從與顧客初次接觸，到最后達(dá)成銷售，中間的銷售周期一般是多長？如果你對這些問題準(zhǔn)備得不充分，會讓我覺得你對你的商業(yè)計劃考慮得不周到。

錯誤20：不了解公司的潛在風(fēng)險

在講演中，我會想測試一下，看你知不知道你的公司的潛在風(fēng)險是什么。我想了解你的思考過程，以及你會采取哪些措施消彌這些風(fēng)險。任何商業(yè)計劃都不可避免地存在一定的風(fēng)險，所以你要仔細(xì)考慮如何回答以下問題：

你認(rèn)為你的公司有哪些主要風(fēng)險？

你的公司在法律上有什么風(fēng)險？

你的公司在技術(shù)上有什么風(fēng)險？

你的公司在監(jiān)管上有什么風(fēng)險？

你的公司是否有任何產(chǎn)品責(zé)任風(fēng)險？

你打算采取哪些步驟消彌這些風(fēng)險？

錯誤21：不能解釋你的預(yù)測中的主要假設(shè)

為了讓我相信你的財務(wù)預(yù)測，我會讓你詳細(xì)解釋你做出的一些主要假設(shè)，并且你還得讓我相信這些假設(shè)是合理的。我會針對這些假設(shè)中的數(shù)字提問，而且我希望你能給出令人信服的、經(jīng)過深思熟慮的答案。

錯誤22：沒有解釋清楚為什么你的產(chǎn)品和技術(shù)與競爭對手存在差異

我想知道相比現(xiàn)有競爭對手的產(chǎn)品或技術(shù)，你的產(chǎn)品或技術(shù)強(qiáng)在哪里，或者有哪些差異。要知道，我很可能對競爭產(chǎn)品和技術(shù)有一定的了解，所以你必須要好好回答。比如：“我們跟Instagram相比有以下三個重要的差異：1.我們更易于使用；2.我們有比它更好的編輯功能；3.我們生錢的速度比它快。”

錯誤23：不能講述出一個清晰的營銷戰(zhàn)略

能夠做出一個好東西，并不代表你就能把它賣出去，或是用戶就會用它。所以我會關(guān)心你打算怎樣對你的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)做營銷。你打算使用哪種展示渠道？你打算怎樣以具有成本效益的方式接觸到目標(biāo)客戶？你打算怎樣使用Facebook、Twitter、LinkedIn和Pinterest等社交媒體？你打算怎樣做內(nèi)容營銷，在BusinessInsider.com、Fobes.com和AllBusiness.com這些網(wǎng)站上發(fā)軟文？你會去做搜索引擎營銷嗎，你能證明它有效果嗎？你打算采取哪些步驟讓你的產(chǎn)品快速賣出去，或者讓用戶迅速采用？

錯誤24：不告訴我你的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)取得了哪些早期反響

別忘了向我展示你的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)獲得了哪些早期反響，尤其是知名網(wǎng)站或出版物上的評價。請在一張PPT頁面上附上這些文章的標(biāo)題，并且注明有多少篇文章、多少份出版物提到了你的公司。

錯誤25：不告訴我你的公司已經(jīng)獲得了哪些上升動力，或是目前擁有多少顧客

對我來說，最重要的一件事就是你的公司是否已經(jīng)有了上升動力，或是有了受顧客歡迎的跡象。如果你做了一款手機(jī)應(yīng)用，那么你的下載量是多少？每周新增的下載量又是多少？如果你是一家軟件公司的話，是否已經(jīng)有某家知名公司成為了你的用戶？你的早期上升動力能夠如何加速？你獲得這種上升動力的主要原因是什么？記住，要向我展示你打算如何擴(kuò)大這種早期的上升動力。

錯誤26：不能告訴我你打算將我的資金如何進(jìn)行投資，以及需要多長時間

我肯定想知道我的錢是如何被投資的，以及你計劃的燒錢速率是多快（這樣我就能明白什么時候你可能需要下一輪融資）。同時我也能根據(jù)你的資本需求來了解你的融資計劃是否合理。另外，這也能使我結(jié)合對其他公司的投資經(jīng)驗(yàn)，評估你的預(yù)期成本（比如工程人員聘用成本、營銷成本、辦公成本等）是否合理。

錯誤27：沒有向我兜售你的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)

對于很多公司來說，他們的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)都是公司能否成功的一個關(guān)鍵因素。投資人會特別注意你對以下這些問題的答案：

你的公司擁有哪些核心知識產(chǎn)權(quán)？（如已有專利、正在申請的專利、版權(quán)、商業(yè)秘密、商標(biāo)、域名等）

你有哪些法律依據(jù)表明你的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)沒有侵害第三方的權(quán)益？

你的公司的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)是如何開發(fā)出來的？

有沒有可能你的某個團(tuán)隊成員之前任職的企業(yè)會對你的知識產(chǎn)權(quán)提出要求？

錯誤28：對產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)解釋得不夠好

創(chuàng)業(yè)者必須清晰明確地闡述產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)的構(gòu)成，以及它的獨(dú)特之處在哪里。所以你很可能會被問到以下問題：

用戶為什么會注意到你的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)？

對于你的產(chǎn)品來說，最重大的發(fā)展節(jié)點(diǎn)是什么？

你的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)的主要差異因素是什么？

你從你的產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)的早期版本中了解到了什么？

你打算添加的兩三個核心功能是什么？

你打算每隔多久對產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)進(jìn)行更新或升級？

結(jié)論

并非所有這些錯誤都是致命的。隨著你不斷練習(xí)，并且有了更多向顧問和投資人進(jìn)行路演的經(jīng)驗(yàn)，你也會逐漸了解到他們關(guān)心什么、不關(guān)心什么。最后，記住一定要根據(jù)這些經(jīng)驗(yàn)和教訓(xùn)對你的PPT、項(xiàng)目摘要和講演內(nèi)容進(jìn)行修改。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：樸成奎

Entrepreneurs from early stage startups have to pitch to investors to raise financing, and many entrepreneurs are inexperienced or terrible at making the presentation.

As a venture capital and angel investor who has heard many pitches, I’ve compiled a list of mistakes and things to avoid if you are an entrepreneur seeking angel or venture financing.

Mistake #1: Sending me your executive summary or business plan unsolicited.

Investors routinely discard or don’t read unsolicited emails. They get hundreds if not thousands of such emails, and they can’t spend the time sifting through them all to find that diamond in the rough. But what they will pay attention to is a referral from someone in their network — a lawyer, an entrepreneur from one of their portfolio companies, or a fellow venture capitalist.

Mistake #2: Pitching me your company unless it’s clear that you are in a space I am interested in.

Some investors only care about biotech. Or mobile apps. Or clean tech. Or Internet and digital media. Do your homework first before trying to pitch me to make sure your company is in my sweet spot.

Mistake #3: Giving me a 50-page business plan to review.

I don’t have the time to review a 50-page business plan up front to decide whether it’s worth taking a meeting or following up. Give me a 2-3 page executive summary and maybe a PowerPoint deck.

Mistake #4: Not showing me why the market opportunity is big.

Most investors are looking for businesses that can scale and become meaningful. So make sure you address this issue right up front as to why your business can really become big. Don’t present any small ideas. If the first product or service is small, then perhaps you need to position the company as a “platform” business allowing the creation of multiple products or apps. I will want to know the actual addressable market and what percentage of the market you plan to get over time.

Mistake #5: Coming in with your team to a pitch meeting, but only have the CEO speak.

Investors want to know that you have a good team. Only having the CEO speak at a pitch meeting is a mistake. How will the investor gauge whether the other team members are any good if they don’t hear them speak? And please don’t have the team members contradict themselves.

Mistake #6: Telling me you don’t have any competition.

Telling me you have no competition likely says you are unrealistic or naive. Of course you have competition, whether direct, indirect. or someone who provides a substitute solution. And your analysis of your competitors will show me you have an understanding of the market.、

Mistake #7: Showing me uninteresting or unrealistic projections.

If you show me projections for the company to become $5 million in revenue in five years, I will have little interest. I want to invest in a company that can grow significantly and become an exciting business. Alternatively, if you show me projections where you are at $500 million in three years, I will just think you are unrealistic, especially if you are at zero in revenues today. Avoid assumptions in your projections that will be difficult to justify, such as how you will get to a 400% growth in revenue with only a 20% growth in operating and marketing costs.

Mistake #8: Asking me to sign an NDA before you will share information with me.

Most investors have a policy not to sign non-disclosure agreements. Why would you want to put a hurdle in front of being able to connect with an investor? And if you have something highly confidential, don’t share it with me.

Mistake #9: Giving me confusing or bad answers to my questions.

Entrepreneurs should practice their pitch with friends and advisors before presenting to an investor. You need to be prepared to give crisp answers to questions. You have to anticipate the difficult questions you may get. Telling me that “you will get back to me with an answer” seldom leaves a good impression. If I am asking you questions, that’s a good sign that I am engaged. So do your best to answer them right away. Don’t evade the hard questions or tell me that you will get to it later in the presentation. I want to see if you can think on your feet. Expect to get interrupted during your presentation.

Mistake #10: Not telling me what problem your business solves.

What problem does your business solve? Does it matter at all?

Mistake #11: Presenting unrealistic valuation expectations for your company.

If you tell me you want a $100 million valuation when you started the business three weeks ago, or don’t have much traction yet, the conversation will likely end very quickly. Often, it’s best not to discuss valuation in a first meeting other than to say you expect to be reasonable on valuation.

Mistake #12: Giving me clichés.

Phrases to avoid:

“All we need is 1% of the market” (unlikely you will get that)

“We will get huge viral usage” (unless you show me early traction, that will be difficult to believe)

“This product will market itself” (no, it won’t)

“Google will want to buy us” (maybe, but not likely)

“Our projection numbers are conservative” (just once I would like to hear an entrepreneur say, “Our projections are wildly optimistic”).

Mistake #13: Having more than 20 slides in your PowerPoint deck.

You will have an hour at most to make your pitch. So overloading your PowerPoint deck with too many slides will cut into the crispness of the presentation, and you won’t have time to get to the slides at the end of your deck. If an investor is interested, you can always provide more detailed information later.

Mistake #14: Forgetting to highlight your team’s experience and credentials.

Many investors consider the team behind a startup more important than the idea or the product. The investors will want to know that the team has the right set of skills, drive, experience, and temperament to grow the business. I want to be shown all of this together with a passion to do something truly great and unique. Anticipate these questions:

Who are the founders and key team members?

What relevant domain experience does the team have?

What key additions to the team are needed in the short term?

Why is the team uniquely capable to execute the company’s business plan?

How many employees do you have?

What motivates the founders?

How do you plan to scale the team in the next 12 months?

Mistake # 15: Not paying attention to detail.

Make sure your presentation doesn’t contain typos or inconsistencies. Present a well-written, visually interesting presentation. Include page numbers on each slide so I can easily reference a specific page. For your legal protection, put a copyright notice at the bottom and add the phrase “Confidential and Private.”

Mistake #16: Not doing a demo.

A demo is worth a thousand words. Show me a prototype or working demo of your product, app, or website. It will give me a better sense of what you are trying to do. Make sure it works well and isn’t buggy. Impress me with its look and feel.

Mistake #17: Not doing research on the investor and his portfolio.

Showing some awareness of my background and the companies I am invested in will facilitate parts of the conversation, and also shows you have done some advance due diligence for the meeting.

Mistake #18: Not looking at other pitch decks and executive summaries.

Looking at other pitch decks and executive summaries can help you improve your own. You can ask your lawyer or entrepreneur or angel investor friends for samples. Plenty are available on the Web, such as the deck for Mint.com, a startup that sold to Intuit for $170 million.

Mistake #19: Not understanding customer acquisition costs and long-term value of the customer.

I will be interested in your understanding of customer or user acquisition issues. What costs will you incur to acquire a customer? What will be the likely lifetime value of the customer? What channels will you use to acquire that user or customer? What marketing costs will you incur? What is the typical sales cycle between initial customer contact and closing of a sale? Not being prepared for those types of questions will hurt my perception of how well you have thought out your business plan.

Mistake #20: Not understanding the potential risks to the business.

I will want to test what you see are the risks to the business. I want to understand your thought process and the mitigating precautions you might take. There inevitably are risks in any business plan, so be prepared to answer these questions thoughtfully:

What do you see are the principal risks to the business?

What legal risks do you have?

What technology risks do you have?

Do you have any regulatory risks?

Are there any product liability risks?

What steps do you anticipate to mitigate such risks?

Mistake #21: Not being able to explain the key assumptions in your projections.

In order for me to believe your financial projections, I will want you to articulate the key assumptions and convince me they are reasonable. If you can’t do that, then I won’t feel you have a real handle on the business. I will push back on the numbers in the assumptions and I will want you to have a cogent, thoughtful response.

Mistake #22: Not articulating why your product or technology is differentiated from a competitor.

I will want to know why your product or technology is better than or different from what is already out there. You can assume I will know about competitive products or technology, so you need to have a good response. For example, “We are different from Instagram in three important ways: (1) we are easier to use; (2) we have better editing functions; and (3) we are monetizing earlier than Instagram was able to.”

Mistake #23: Not being able to articulate a coherent marketing strategy.

Just because you build something great doesn’t mean it’s going to sell or get user adoption. So I will care about your plans to market your product or service. What outlets are you going to use? How can you cost-effectively get to prospective customers? How will you use social media, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, etc.? Will you do content marketing and put sponsored posts on sites like BusinessInsider.com, Forbes.com, and AllBusiness.com? Will you do search engine marketing and can you show it will be productive? What steps will you take to get some rapid sales or adoption of your offering?

Mistake #24: Not telling me what early buzz or press you have gotten.

Don’t forget to show me any early buzz or press you have received, especially from prominent sites or publications. Feature the headlines in a slide on your deck. List the number of articles and publications mentioning you.

Mistake #25: Not telling me what traction or customers you have already gotten.

One of the most important things for me will be signs of any early traction or customers. If you have an app, how many downloads have you gotten and how many additional ones are you getting a week? Have you gotten any brand-name customers if you are a software company? How can the early traction be accelerated? What has been the principal reason for the traction? Show me how you can scale this early traction.

Mistake #26: Being unable to tell me how you will invest my investment capital and how long it will last.

I will absolutely want to know how my capital will be invested and your proposed burn rate (so that I can understand when you may need the next round of financing). It will also allow me to test whether your fund-raising plans are reasonable given the capital requirements you will have. And it will allow me to see whether your estimate of costs (e.g., for engineering talent, for marketing costs, or office space) is reasonable given my experiences with other companies.

Mistake #27: Not selling me on your intellectual property.

For many companies, their intellectual property will be a key to success. Investors will pay particular attention to your answers to these questions:

What key intellectual property does the company have (patents, patents pending, copyrights, trade secrets, trademarks, domain names)?

What comfort do you have that the company’s intellectual property does not violate the rights of a third party?

How was the company’s intellectual property developed?

Would any prior employers of a team member have a potential claim to the company’s intellectual property?

Mistake #28: Not explaining the product or service well enough.

The entrepreneur must clearly articulate what the company’s product or service consists of and why it is unique, so expect to get the following questions:

Why do users care about your product or service?

What are the major product milestones?

What are the key differentiated features of your product or service?

What have you learned from early versions of the product or service?

What are the two or three key features you plan to add?

How often do you envision enhancing or updating the product or service?

Conclusion

Not all of these mistakes are fatal. And as you practice and make more presentations to advisors and investors, you will learn what they care about and what doesn’t resonate with them. So make sure to adapt your PowerPoint deck, Executive Summary, and presentation from these learnings.