Presenting Great Business
Plans
New Venture Challenge
Waverly Deutsch, Ph. D.
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Two Key Elements
 Semantics – What you want to say
 Content
 Syntax – How you say it effectively
 Structure
 Slides
 Delivery
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Content
Everything you know about your subject
Does not equal your presentation
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Elevator Pitch
Purpose: Grab listener’s attention
Tools: Two sentences
Content: Clear statement of your case
Not good: We have developed a proprietary algorithm that models moving
objects as trajectories and uses a dynamic variable to manage uncertainty.
Our technology allows companies to optimize their mobile assets in realtime and develop a whole new class of location-based services.
Better: Our software dramatically improves a company’s ability to manage
mobile resources like trucks, service personnel and equipment. The system
builds on standard tracking systems by proactively notifying dispatchers
when schedules are off and enabling them to match resources to
requirements on the fly.
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Selecting Content
 Goal
 Time available
 Audience
 Make-up
 Size
 Interactivity
 Theme
 Key take-aways
 Data
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The 12 Minute Business Plan Pitch
 Theme: This is a good business investment
 Elevator Pitch provides the context
Key Take-Aways:
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We solve an important problem
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We have momentum
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Problem
Solution
Patents/Prototypes
Beta customers
Management team
We are a good investment

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Market size
Revenue projections
Barriers to entry/competitive advantage
The Ask
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Nested Diamond Outline
Introduction, Theme and Agenda
Key Take-Aways and Supporting Data
Conclusion and Summary
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Two Kinds of Transitions
Between sections
of the presentation
Into your first point
Between key points
To signal the end
Between slides
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Smooth the flow
Connect the supporting data
Often the one piece of a
presentation I script
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Doing Demos
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Practice your transition into the demo
Explain briefly what the audience is about to see
Make sure the technology works smoothly
Limit the amount of data entry you need to do
Show one or two scenarios to get the point across
Have one team member run the computer while
another talks
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Notes on Slides
Less is more. Don’t make your audience work too hard.
 Bullets are useful...
But don’t write out your whole bullet. Always have more to say than is written on your slide.
Make sure you use large fonts. A rule of thumb is 16pt minimum for a small room, 20pt
minimum for a large room. Use sans serif fonts (fonts which do not have little tails on the
letters – exp. Arial not Times New Roman).
 Style is important…
But don’t choose complex backgrounds that make it hard to find your content. Always use
either light text on a dark background or dark text on a light background. Red and Green are
bad colors for text. Always, always, always double check all spelling – nothing makes you
look less professional than spelling and grammatical errors.
 Graphics add variety...
And can make many points better than text. Keep graphics simple and always build them as
you make the point of the graphic. Animation, while fun, is distracting to the audience. They
stop listening to you and start trying to figure out what is going on. Avoid clipart that doesn’t
help you make your point. Decorations are pure distraction
Simple
style
Clear
text
Meaningful
graphics
Great
slides
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Slides Visually Reinforce Key Points
 Intro and Thank You slides
 Names on Intro slide, contact info on Thank You slide
 Agenda slide optional for investor presentations
 Less is more
 1-2 minutes per slide minimum
 Speak to the slide, don’t skip over content
 High information to ink ratio
 Informative titles
 Clean 1-2 line bullets
 Graphics require time and explanation
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Presenting Financials
Revenue
drivers
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Product
Revenue
8
7
Licensing
Revenue
6
Gross
Profit
5
$ in millions
4
EBITDA
3
2
1
0
-1
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
Total Revenue
$ 0.02
$ 0.2
$ 0.9
$ 4.6
$12.6
Product Revenue
$ 0.02
$ 0.2
$ 0.5
$ 2.3
$ 4.6
License Revenue
$0
$0
$ 0.4
$ 2.3
$ 8.0
Gross Profit
$ 0.01
$ 0.08
$ .04
$ 1.5
$ 5.0
EBITDA
$(0.1)
$(0.3)
$(0.2)
$ 0.2
$ 2.6
Breakeven
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Delivery Styles
Role
Educator
Evangelist
Motivator
Salesperson
Goal
Situations
Teach
Academic settings
Business conferences
Introducing complex new material
Persuade
Consultant to client
Change maker to executive team
Legal / Political settings
Incite Action
Key note speeches
Motivational workshops
Political campaign speeches
Close the Deal
Sales calls, Trade shows
Fundraising meeting
Business plan pitches
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Delivery Tools
 Voice
 Clarity
 Volume
 Pace
 Body Language
 Eye contact
 Movement
 Gestures
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Dealing with Q&A
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Know and target your judges
Listen
Let the person who presented the content answer first
Give a direct, two sentence answer
OPTIONAL – one team member can add a short
comment
 Use specific data to win points
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Useful Practice Techniques
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Divide up the presentation and practice sections
Practice in front of the mirror
Recruit at least two test audiences
Use tools
 PowerPoint’s timer
 Tape recorder
 Video
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Summary
 Content – make your case
 Present the business, not the product
 Structure
 Theme
 Key Take-Aways
 Slides
 7-10 maximum for a 12 minute presentation
 Clean bullets
 Graphics to illustrate key points
 Delivery
 Match style to situation
 You are selling
 Win points during Q&A
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Thank you!
Waverly Deutsch
waverly.deutsch@chicagobooth.edu
773-612-1188
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