KEY ELEMENTS OF AN ELEVATOR PITCH
ELEMENT
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DESCRIPTION
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Introduction
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Your name and position; your company's name, and a tagline in which you compare what your company does to a well-known company. Example: "My name is X, I am the founder of Y and we are the Uber/Amazon of Z."
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Background
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The origin of your idea and the problem you are trying to solve.
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Industry size/market opportunity
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Brief facts about the (hopefully very large) size of the market.
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Revenue model/numbers/ growth metrics
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Insight into your company's revenue model and results thus far, how fast it is growing, and early adopters, if there are any.
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Funding
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The amount of funds you are seeking and what it will help you achieve.
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Exit strategy
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How your investors will achieve a return on their investment.
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investments (typically $1 million or less) than venture capital firms, are interested in helping a company grow and succeed, and invest on relatively favorable terms compared to later-stage investors. The first round of external investment in a company is sometimes referred to as Series A financing.
Venture capital investors typically become more interested in a startup company once it has begun attracting a large audience and generating some revenue, even if it is not profitable. Venture capital investors invest funds they manage for other investors such as investment banks, pension funds, insurance companies, or other businesses, and usually want to obtain a larger stake in the business and exercise more control over the operation of the business. Venture capital investors also typically want a well-defined “exit strategy,” such as a plan for an initial public offering (IPO) or acquisition of the company by a more established business within a relatively short period of time (typically three to seven years), that will enable them to obtain an adequate return on their investment. Venture capital investment often ultimately means that the founder(s) and initial investors will no longer control the company at some point in the future.
Crowdfunding involves using the Internet to enable individuals to collectively contribute money to support a project. There are several different types of crowdfunding. Donor-based crowdfunding is epitomized by sites such as GoFundMe, where people make contributions to others with no expectation of any return. Rewards- based crowdfunding was popularized by Kickstarter and Indiegogo. These sites, and others like them, involve a creator looking to raise money to support a project. Backers often receive some type of reward, often corresponding to the size of their contribution to the project. The sites take a small commission, usually about 5%, on completed projects. Crowdfunding of this sort has become a mainstay in the development of movies, video games, art installations, and many other types of projects. Initially, this sort of crowdfunding could not be used for equity investments in for- profit companies due to various securities laws and regulations. However, this is changing. For example, in the United States, the JOBS Act and associated regulations issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ushered in equity crowdfunding (sometimes also referred to as regulation crowdfunding), which enables companies to use the Internet to solicit investors to invest in small and early-stage startups in exchange for stock. In Europe, the European Parliament approved new rules in October 2020 that will enable crowdfunding platforms to easily provide services across the EU, widening the pool of potential investors for startups, as well as ensuring better protection for investors. The rules take effect in 2021 (European Parliament, 2020). A different form of fundraising, using virtual currency such as Bitcoin or Ethereum tokens, has also been developed. Sometimes referred to as an initial coin offering (ICO), such offerings enable startups to raise capital without having to comply with securities regulations, and as such, present significant risk to investors. Although initially popular, they have met resistance with regulators, and interest in them has fallen (Popov, 2019; Aitken, 2017). See the Insight on Society case, Crowdfunding Takes Off, for a further look at the issues surrounding crowdfunding and how startups are turning to crowdfunding to raise funds.
INSIGHT ON SOCIETY
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