Content:
- What have we covered?
- Implementing Next Steps
- Pitching
Process:
Today is the seventh lesson of Mr Chia’s
technopreneurship programme.
First, we went through the content and ideas that we
have covered throughout the course up to this point, to help use better recall
what we have learnt. This is as the remainder of the lesson is the application
step of setting up a start-up, and hence it is important for us to recall our
past content.
Moving Forward – Evaluate your Plan
We have to be aware and constantly reminded of our
goals and vision of setting up the start-up. This is so that we can constantly
realign our business plan with our personal goals, professional goals, and
financial goals and not get distracted as time goes on.
We should aim to fulfil all three aspects of our goals
and not neglect any of them. All of them are important deciders in our present
and future.
We must also constantly take a step back to analyse
our business plan, ensuring that it is on-track and feasible. We must evaluate
the feasibility of our business by looking at the product/ service that we
offer, our marketing strategies, and our financials.
Next Steps
-Prioritise next steps
-Prioritise next steps
- Develop
action plan
- Identify
community resources (CCA, etc.)
- Stay
connected
We need to be specific when creating a timeline in our
action plan. This is so that we can put a date to the individual details, which
will keep us on track to complete our goals. Vague action plans will cause us
to lose track of time, and possibly eventually miss our datelines.
With our action plans, we are able to identify the
different sources of resources we can make use of to learn and prepare
ourselves to achieve our goals.
We should also stay connected to information or trends
connected to our goal, through societies or social media. This will help us
remain updated and knowledgeable about the latest news related to our goals.
-7 Tips for Pitching Your Entrepreneurial Idea
1. Prepare
yourselves, not just your idea
- Investors
invest first in the entrepreneur, not the business plan
- It’s
important that the investor and entrepreneur can get along
- Investors
might recommend you to other investors, and this can be extremely effective
2. Capture
the Essentials
- Investors
care more about the presentation than the business plan
- Can
you, in less than 5 minutes, explain the project, the return on investment and
the growth strategy?
- Elevator
Pitch
3. Have
a plan from Day One
- Investors
are very interested in your exit strategy
- Many
investors tire after about 7 years with a company and look around for new
opportunities
- So
what is your exit strategy? Are you going to sell all your shares to a new
entrepreneur? Go public with the company? Sell to another venture?
4. Do
your Investor Research
- You
should find out as much as you can about your investor
- Who
has he or she invested in before? Have they been successful? How well do they know your industry? How much
time can they devote to you and your idea?
5. Take
care of due diligence upfront
- Founder
due diligence, find out as much as possible about the founder
- Financial
due diligence, find out financials of the company
- Industrial
due diligence, does the market want your product or service now or in the
future? Is it legal? Are there competition?
- It
takes most investors 3 months to do due diligence on your idea. Make sure that
it is not a waste of their time.
6. Negotiate
a term sheet offer
- Term
sheet offer states the terms of the investment
- Lack
of experience can make this a very painful part of the whole project. You can go to the websites of the ACA or EBAN
to learn more on this step
7. Learn
the vocabulary – it’s all there on the internet.
- Investors
like to use technical terms
- Have
to understand terminology to not be confused and be able to negotiate
- Book
of jargons in Silicon Valley -> Valley Speak
4 Different Presentations
- Business
Plan of no more than 50 pages
- Business
Plan condensed into PowerPoint slide of no more than 20 slides (Pitch Deck)
- This
PowerPoint should be condensed down to a 2-page brief
- A 5
minute elevator pitch
Key to negotiation is to understand the needs of both
parties. This way, a consensus can more easily be reached between the parties
and both sides can get what they want.
Summary
Successful Business
- A
competitive advantage is vital for long-term sustainability
- The
entrepreneur’s role must evolve as the business grows
- Cash
flow is paramount. Without it, the business cannot start of continue
- The
business is a success if it helps the entrepreneur reach his or her personal,
professional, and financial goals
- The
planning process is a proven way to think through all the various aspects of
starting a business without committing financial resources
Successful Entrepreneurs
-
-Develop
products and services that meet the needs of the market
- Look
for new opportunities on a continual basis
- Involve
the right people in their business
- Help
others individually or through the community
- Seek
assistance from trusted advisors, mentors, and outside professionals
- Communicate
their business concept and plans clearly and concisely to their team, their
customers, and their funders
- Consider
their exit strategy before they start the business
- Set
goals and regularly measure the business’ progress against them
Reflection:
In this lesson, we have learnt a lot about the skills
and work that the entrepreneur should do to remain attractive to investors and
to make a start-up successful. Many of the skills shown here are not just
limited to entrepreneurs but we students can already use them as well, An
example is to develop an action plan for any goals that we are trying to
achieve to ensure that we keep on track in our development and progress. We can
also make use of networking or community resources such as CCA to strengthen
our connections and knowledge. The pitching and interview skills for an
entrepreneur seeking investors can also be applicable to us, such as in cases
where we apply for scholarship. We can find out more about our interviewer
prior to the interview, and also make better presentations that are attractive
to the interviewer with the skills taught by Mr Chia.
Personal Development:
Personally, I am extremely interested in the art of
acing an interview. I am aware that as we promote through the ranks of the
education system, we are required to go through more and more interviews to get
more and more opportunities as well. To do well in an interview, we must be
able to not just perform orally, but present ourselves well and in many other
aspects too. I am interested and will find out the many different aspects of a
prospect an interviewer looks out for and also the skills needed to ace
interviews.
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