Business plan pitches

[Kevin Burrell]

Where do people who pitch ideas often fall short? What things are normally not considered? Where are they least prepared? What are the steps that should be taken to prevent these problems from occuring?

[Mike Rosenthal]

Focus on the market and how you meet a market need/demand in a unique (and money making) manner. Although your idea may be terrific, innovative, brilliant and compellingly interesting ... if you don't tell a prospective investor how you're going to monetize that idea .... you aren't going to find an investor.

Whiz bang science or super-creative ideas are great ... but most investors want to make money as one of their (if not their only) primary goals. Tell them how you're building a business, not just a brilliant idea!

[Mike Green]

I'm in that process right now. Here's how I approach it from the perspective of an entrepreneur:

Grab interest quick: My company, Vizitnow, is developing the first navigable 3D consumer biz directory, freely accessible via web browser and mobile phone. It empowers local merchants with control over their advertising 24/7 to consumers at the critical time of inquiry and decision-making.

Demonstrate marketable concept: Consumers today rarely use the antiquated Yellow Pages and merchants are disenchanted with the expensive annual contracts. Vizitnow offers consumers instant access to realistic 3D replicas of real environments, thus providing far more information quickly than time-consuming links lists. Merchants provide up-to-date information, thus providing consumers with the added benefit of real time data. Especially useful when hanging out with friends in the entertainment districts and deciding where to go next.

Show fast scaling revenue ramp: Vizitnow will showcase proof of concept in two small towns and then leap directly to producing major U.S. cities. Merchants within the business and entertainment sectors will find Vizitnow preferable to Yellow Pages, and convert to Vizitnow and save money while gaining control over advertising within a wind tunnel of daily consumer activity.

Defend your concept from competition: Although 3D trends are rapidly growing, the cost of entering into 3D modeling of cities is high and limited to a small handful of players. Vizitnow is in the patent pending process and forging ahead using some common technologies combined with uncommon concepts. Large-scale players are focusing on 3D mapping rather than practical applications that compete with consumer biz directories, which can ill-afford to turn on a dime the giant ships they operate. Vizitnow also exclusive access to more than 50 major U.S. cities already built in 3D.

Marketing: Vizitnow will form strategic partnerships with local media who seek to increase local advertising revenues online in addition to using social media. Community support combined with entrance portals to Vizitnow on participating merchants' websites will form the initial approach. Vizitnow intends to bring aboard a marketing expert to manage each targeted region and establish the company's brand.

Show confidence in the team: Vizitnow is led by a CEO who is a New York Times Leadership Academy Fellow and award-winning journalist with 14 years in media, including online training at CNN.com. He was hand-picked by the CEO of Dow Jones Local Media Group to lead online experiments which were highly successful. The development team is led by a former Lucas Arts artist who is responsible for three Star Wars characters. Vizitnow's artistic vendor also contracts on projects for Pixar.

Offer fair exchange for investment: Vizitnow offers 25% equity for a $750K investment. That builds the two-city prototype. In year two we break-even. In year three, we expect another round of raising capital to leap to building major cities across the country.