Cove resident TriTech SBDC held community workshops in the months of February, March, and April, centered on preparing entrepreneurs for investment. Workshop topics ranged from pitching and SBIR/STTR workshops to crafting and delivering a compelling investor presentation.
How to Prepare for the Investor Audition
On Tuesday evening, Bill Waldo, Senior Consultant for TriTech, hosted the first installment of the TriTech Workshop Series, “How to Prepare for the Investor Audition,” at the Cove. Waldo advised budding entrepreneurs on what it takes to become investor ready and how to get funded by outlining the investment process and investor expectations at each stage.
He dubbed his presentation the “Checklist for Entrepreneurs,” in which he guided the audience using his own knowledge as an experienced angel investor.
The end goal of the presentation was to prepare entrepreneurs with everything they need to give a successful pitch, specifically for angel investor funding. “At the end of the day, investors aren’t going to look at your business plan,” Waldo says. “Investors go for the business model and the entrepreneurs.”
The Art of the Investor Presentation
On February 27, the Cove held “The Art of the Investor Presentation” hosted by Richard Sudek, Chief Innovation Officer and Executive Director at UCI Applied Innovation, where he discussed the craft behind pitching to investors and what makes it successful.
Sudek cites Kyriacos A. Athanasiou, UCI Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Orthopedic Surgery, as an example to point out that the whole focus of a company is more than just the technology facet. According to Athanasiou, from the scientist and technologist perspectives, the people aspect can destroy a company.
The technology only represents about 10 percent of the equation. As an investor, Sudek believes it’s even lower than 10 percent of what it takes to bring a product to the market. “At the end of the day, you have a business value proposition and that is what matters, not the technology — no matter how novel or sophisticated the technology is,” Sudek says.
Sudek concluded the workshop with input from audience members Dick Dadamo and Alan Lewis, experienced angel investors from the Tech Coast Angels, as well as an audience Q&A session.