Business Plan Guidelines 

At your first meeting with VCs, you should present an overview of your business opportunity, usually as a business plan presentation.

Typically, aim to keep the length of the presentation to no greater than one slide for every 2-3 minutes, and allow extra time for discussion at the close of the presentation. As a rule of thumb, a one-hour meeting should involve a presentation of no greater than 20 slides.

The areas covered in the presentation should include:

• Market assessment: What is the product market? What is its size and growth? Where it is located geographically? And how much of it could your company opportunity capture?  
   
• Product or Service: What is the product or service your company will be selling? How does it fit into the market? Who is the product aimed at? How are your customers segmented? 
   
• Distribution: How will your company market and sell your product? What sales successes have there been to date? Is there a particular pricing strategy to be followed? 
   
• Competitors: What else is available on the market as an alternative product for your customers? What makes your proposition distinctive relative to these alternatives?
   
• Management: A brief overview of your company’s senior management, and why they add value to your business.
   
• Financials: Certainly include here P&Ls and cashflows, and if relevant, balance sheet information. If the company has been up and running already, this should cover the last 2-3 years, and the projected financials should run forward 3-5 years. 
   
• Capitalisation: Who currently owns equity? Is there currently an options pool, or one proposed, and of what size?
   
• Investment proposal (optional): You may wish to lay out to the VCs how much equity you propose to provide in exchange for their financial stake, i.e. the pre-money valuation of the company. Alternatively you may wish to allow the VCs to make you an offer of their view of the proposition. 
   
• Risks: What are the major risks facing the company, in your opinion?

The above format will allow then for a structured discussion of your overall proposition. Separately to this presentation, you may also wish to submit other information in advance of your meetings to the VC, for example more comprehensive financials or a detailed business plan.