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Today we're going to focus on what's called a one
pager, or an executive summary.
Something that you send to an investor
in order to get a meeting.
You've got your start up, you're starting to raise funds,
and now you need a snapshot of what
you do to get people interested in calling you in.
Well, there's absolutely no way that you're
going to be able to tell your entire story on one
page or even two pages.
So you just want to intrigue them.
You want to give them just enough of the story
to get them excited about it, to see that you have something
innovative and new, and something
that has a market out there that they can make some money off
of.
And then, that's enough to call you in.
So you're not endeavoring to get an investment out
of this piece of paper.
What you're endeavoring to get is a meeting.
So you want to get them just excited enough.
Well similar to a pitch, we want to start with the pain.
You want them to understand that there's a problem that you're
addressing, so maybe about a paragraph--
or at the most, two-- addressing the fact that there's a gap.
Something is not solved.
And you want to write in language
that's very conversational, very flowing.
You want them to feel like they're
sitting in a room with you and you're describing it to them.
Not a lot of technical speak, not a lot of very high language
and big words.
That does the opposite of impress.
That kind of depresses.
So get them understanding that there's a pain
and get them to feel that pain.
Now, it's always nice to write a little headline about the pain
and about the solution.
So if they're just scanning the page, they can kind of see,
oh, here's a one liner that describes it.
And then they dig down and read.
Now, you want to be able to explain your startup first
in one line.
We do X for Y by Z, which would be your secret sauce.
Now when we say secret sauce, we mean
something that's just unique to you, something
that you do that others don't, your secret weapon.
Something that really will set you apart and get them excited.
Then you can move on to features and benefits.
You don't want to give any more than seven
or any less than five.
You want them to see that there's
some exciting things happening there,
but you don't want to just run off
an endless list of features.
You want to really give them the exciting bits that
make them see that there's a real need for this.
Next thing you want to talk about
is your current status and traction.
What phase are you at of your development?
Are you in alpha, do you have a working prototype, beta,
paying customers, making any money?
They really need to know where you're at in your process.
Do you have any IP or patentability?
Have you filed a patent?
Do you have a patent pending?
These are very important things for them to know.
Have you gotten any funding up until now?
These are all questions you'll be asked.
So basically, we're thinking of their questions ahead of time
and answering them on the one pager.
Now that they got what you do and they're
kind of getting excited about the features,
what's the next question they want to know?
How big is the market and is there really an opportunity?
So in the addressable market section
you want to talk about big numbers.
How big is your market?
How many users are there?
What's the value?
How much have people spent on related items or related
products and services, showing that you truly have a market?
Then we want to talk about how you'll enter that market,
or your go to market strategies.
So how are you going to get users?
It could be your end users or could be your distributors.
So will you have distribution channels, people that actually
will resell your items?
Will you have strategic partnerships
with big organizations that maybe
will help you get the word out?
Will you just take out ads on social campaigns,
or maybe talk to bloggers, blog yourself?
There's a lot of different ways to get there.
So you want to examine the strategies that are out there
and think of the top three or four
that really will make sense and work for you.
Now comes the money time.
The business model or business models.
How are you going to make money?
Again it might seem a little bit silly or funny
at the beginning of a start up to say,
well, here's how exactly we're going to make money,
when you might not even have a product yet.
And that's OK.
Investors understand that that's probably
going to be the thing that shifts the most.
But you want to give them a clue.
You want to give them an idea, an inkling, that you
know what you're talking about.
So what business model works best for you
is it a freemium model?
Are their premium services that you'll be selling?
Another really important piece that you want to talk about
are your competitors.
Now on a one pager, the best thing to do
is try to divide your competitors
into different types-- maybe three or four types--
where you might belong to one of them.
And talk about the big players-- maybe the top three big players
in each.
You want to talk about what this competitor type does,
and what they're lacking that you actually
bring to the table.
Of course we want to talk about the team.
Now unfortunately, on a one pager or a two pager,
there's not enough room to put in everybody's resumes.
So you want to give two or three bullet points on each team
member that shows their core competencies, that
shows their biggest strengths and skills.
And finally-- probably the most important part--
funding requirements, or "the ask."
How much money are you seeking to raise?
And don't do ranges.
Investors want to know how much you're raising.
So you might change it from investor to investor,
but go ahead and decide on a sum.
And then at the end you can write your objective statement.
This will bring us to 18 months and break even,
or cash flow positive.
Because they want to see how long this will last
and if you're actually going to be making money, or you're
going to need to seek a bigger investment later on.
So there you have it.
Now, as a little bonus, I like to add in a little section
I call key investment merits, or why us, why now.
On the front page you want to put on your top five or six
bullets that you make you an attractive investment
opportunity.
Pull out the highlights so that they really
see what's special about you.
Now, it might be the last thing that you write,
but you want it to be the first thing
that they see because it really will call them
into reading your document.
Oh, and of course, don't forget your contact information.
Choose one point of contact, probably the CEO.
Put your phone number, your email-- put a full phone number
if you want people from other countries
to be able to call you-- and the best place to reach you,
your company name, and where you're located.
If you have several offices you can write that as well.
So there you have it.
There's the content.
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