First Business Plan Pitch To Investors

[Karl Johnston]

Hi,

I'm pitching my first business plan pitch to investors tommorow. I'm a bit nervous, as one would be, a particular investor i'm talking to I planned to approach at a later date when I was more set up. They're interested now, however, and I can't change the date.

I have a 10 page business plan overviewing what I do with copies of it sent to each of them, in accompanying I have a presentation on powerpoint of specifics of what I can do, the sales packages I offer, the pricing strategy and the nature of my relationship with my business partner(s).

I'd like information in the form of personal experiences to people who have pitched their game plans for their studios. The one I am building is intended to target a family/"artsy" demographic for portraiture/wedding/fine art/small business advertising.

In future maybe i'll expand on ideas and upgrade the plan, but this was sort of sprung on me so I whipped something quick up of the standard of what i could do.

Thoughts? Experiences? Share please :) I could use the encouragement.

[sapearl]

Hi Kajuah - I wish I could give you some constructive advice but I only work out of my home and this has been my part time wedding/event/fine art gig for 35 years. I never made a full time go of it.

I do have a question though about your target area. Apologies if I missed it, but what sort of weddings are you targetting? Midrange or high end luxury? I'm guessing that your "desired" average wedding package would be in the $3k - $5K range? I wish you luck. I assume that NWT means Northwest Territory, but things here in the states are quite rough. I live in a pretty decent sized city and it's all business can do is to hang on. - Stu

[Picture North Carolina]

Don't talk too much. Be friendly, informative, demonstrative of your knowledge, abilities and tenacity, yes, but just be reserved about what you volunteer. Some people, when in job interviews, talk too much and talk themselves out of a job.

Obviously be friendly, personable and don't make any jokes that approach being off-color or anything potentially controversial. When you do lunch best to stay away (or stay out of) discussions about religion, politics, etc.

Be positive, not only with them but with yourself.

After all is said and done, ask for their help.

[Karl Johnston]

I'm sorry for your hardtimes, Stu!

The way the economy is swinging is actually doing some very incredible things for canadians, as soon as the TSX started to crash a lot of us cashed in and took out all of our savings. THEN they started to really crash and people were losing 10s of thousands of dollars over a period of a few hours.

Myself and my business partner cashed in, decided to quit our day jobs and start up our dream jobs. Now everyone has chunks of money sitting around, and as things are become more and more stable the trend of the market is to spend it on new things - cars, houses, luxury items, plasma screen TVs, vacations.

NWT indeed means northwest territories.

The average income in the area is 85 000 $, so yes we are targeting mid-range weddings and up, but we do have options for lower priced weddings at reduced rates. I'm pitching our policy as working with people to acheive results that work as much for them, as they do for us. A lot of what we do is popular because it involves the natural area so much. I like the extent to creativity it gives us.

Part of that is our portfolio for weddings is pretty meager compared to what else we do. We have only 3 weddings booked for 2009, and I'd like at least 30-40 throughout the year (to test waters). When I looked at the books, the minimum we could probably shoot for would be about 2000-3000$, depending on the package of course and the amount of attention required.

[vkalia]

In your presentation, the most important thing for you to demonstrate is that the business will indeed be earning money. The investors care about getting a return on their investment - this means showing them information on how big the market is, what the competition is doing, why your business will be able to make inroads and also what the various risks are and how you plan to address them.

Otherwise, your presentation seems to cover all the other salient points. I have found that coming across as someone who knows all aspects of the business is as important as (if not more important than) the actual content in the presentation. It is a sales pitch, and treat it as such.

And another suggestion, from someone who used to work in mergers & acquisitions and who owns his own SME: for small amounts like $5k, consider the investment in the form of a loan rather than giving up equity. While a lot of people seem to think that zero debt is a good way to go, that is not the case: it is always advisable to have a well leveraged business (ie, a business with a good chunk of funds coming from loans rather than investments)... the trick is to keep the debt at a managable level (a Finance 101 lesson that most of our banks seem to have forgotten of late). This is more so when in the early stages of a business that you expect to grow - the initial valuation of the business is quite low (due to its unproven nature and high beta/risk factor), and seed investments can take a larger chunk of ownership away from you than you might want to give up. Not to mention the fact that managing an external shareholder is often a lot of work.

V.

[Tixeon]

I agree 100% with vkalia. You definitely don't want to give up a chunk or your business for only $5K.

[Karl Johnston]

Thanks for the advice, Vkali I've been up all night worrying about whether I'm going to come off as a total idiot or come out tongue tied and not be able to say a thing. My presentation looks good and so does my plan, i had a few people look it over and said it was very professionally organized. My problem is just this; I can't sleep, I'm nervous, I'm thinking about what I really want out of these guys and the more I do - with 8 hours to spare before the meeting, I wonder if I even need them at all!

Just a bit jittery :D it'll pass...I hope

[Karl Johnston]

Just an update

Absolutely killed today !

Nervous for nothing!

Still in a state of shock at how well I did, loved the critique I got.

Thanks for support !!!

The bad part of my presentation that they told me was actually that I shouldn't have credited my references so much, because the work I was doing didn't need to use them as stable grounds for credability. In fact, I was credible all entirely on my own and didn't need a gallery I helped a national geographic friend of mine do and had one of my images showcased by him. I didn't need the professionals one of the photog's I work with mentored with - because that makes us look like we need the help. IN fact, we didn't. It's all good. I can't wait for business to get started.

Thanks again for the replies!

[Alleh]

Investors to start a wedding photography business? I don't think I have ever heard of such a thing. Can you explain this a little more?

[Karl Johnston]

Not just an event photography focus, the niche is too small for that here but that's just one section. Other sections include portraits, pets, event, lens rental, retail, printing, graphics design, retouching, and fine art sales.

I'm not sure if using investors is the right word, though, they are people who invest in you and your business I suppose so what else to call them? In this case, I passed up any monetary offers (i don't have a company to sell!) and instead asked for their support within their fields if I were to come to them for work, would they put confidence in me to do it? Based on their experience, do I have a good chance with this presentation of approaching another investor for a grant, or a bank for a loan?

Would they hire me based on this presentation (3 quarters said yes, other quarter said no because I lost his confidence in sourcing references so much).

I've never heard of it either come to think about it, though, I would like to be as safe and as consistent as possible. Making sure I don't fall behind in taxes or insurance, and keeping your books in order, your papers and a clear idea where you came from helps to decide where you're going to go, how much profit you're making, where the money is going, what I need to do to improve, etc.

It's not necessary, but I like to have a plan :)

"Failing to plan is planning to fail"

[danir.photography]

Jeez. I'd like to know how you found investors who were actually willing to listen to you!!

[Karl Johnston]

To be honest, it was a part of this course I took for writing business plans :oops: and they help set you up with a few that work in the area of what you do. Mine were retail, tourism and industry with the gov't and (i can't remember the other guy).

They're real investors, as in they would invest in your idea and your business if it was presented to them.

Another guy in the course did a business on heavy construction equipment and a highway maintenance company he wanted to set up; his plan was reasonably well done and he had a niche..so he got put in touch with someone with the mines who would contract a few of their employees' apprentices to work through them, but go work (with the student and his partner) and help him build his company.

Other than that from what I'm told it's just being lucky, and finding someone who needs their back scratched while you're able to do it. Friends and who you know are everything too