Friday morning there were around 100 investors that fronted up for the ASSOB Breakfast Pitch Event in Melbourne to listen to nine companies that were raising capital.
There are still two events left in the series.
There is a good article about the event in the Business Spectator. Thanks to Bob Gottliebsen.
The main message was that when you invest via the ASSOB Capital Raising Platform 100% of the funds raised go into the entity raising funds so that they can employ staff, grow their business and create new products. With ASX listed companies only 4.7% of the funds investors purchase shares with each year end up in being used for productive purposes like employing staff, growing their business and create new products.
In the “good old days” if a railway was needed investors invested directly into the railway project. With ASSOB listing this approach lives on for SME’s looking to raise between $300,000 and $5 million.
It was refreshing to see nine companies pitch their investment opportunity to investors and get the opportunity afterwards to talk to the companies they were interested in to see if there was any common ground. Each company had around 5 to 10 powerpoint slides that they used for their pitch that followed the following basic format …
- INTRODUCTION SLIDE to Introduce Yourself, your Company and your Big Idea.
- PROBLEM SLIDE or what they are solving and the prize for those you choose to be involved in the journey. Describe the pain the product or service alleviates. Reading it should get people nodding and saying … wow … I could be interested in a solution for this.
- GENERIC SOLUTION SLIDE or how competitors are solving at the moment and who the competition is.
- SOLUTION SLIDE and how it works. Explain how the solution alleviates the pain. Make sure your value proposition is clearly articulated.
- MAGIC SLIDE which clearly communicates the unique selling or value proposition. What is the magic in this solution?
- STATUS SLIDE covering Project Status / Milestones Summary / Marketing and Sales Strategies – to give context and put the investors feet on the ground. How will you reach your customers and what are your leverage points?
- TEAM SLIDE name the management team and the contribution they make – very briefly!
- PROJECTIONS SLIDE covering projections ,sales to date, profits, customer growth and whatever else they have
- TIMELINE SLIDE with funds required including scarcity and time constraint with rounds and red squares (with the sponsors input)
- ACTION SLIDE with how to contact you and follow the matter on ASSOB
