It's 6:30pm and it's been a long day at the office of your exciting start-up.  You have a cocktail in one hand and a stack of business cards in the other and you're standing in the middle of a dimly lit room all a-buzz with talk of new technology, innovation, angels, and VCs. It's going to be a great night of meet and greet, and you'll get a chance to promote your ideas and meet some people that can help you finance your business.  When you do, you'll have to absolutely nail your story because first impressions are few and far between. How prepared are you?

It's your lucky night. The guy coming towards you is one of the most prominent VCs in the city.  The stars are aligned, it's a full moon, and low and behold you're rubbing shoulders with the big enchilada himself.  He he approaches you assertively and introduces himself. This is it.  You have an opportunity here to make a serious impression, one that could net you a cool million in venture capital.  At the very least, you want to be remembered.

So, without missing a beat, you wow him with talk of unique XML feeds and proprietary protocols. You allude to the past accomplishments of your co-founder and describe the on-screen workflow of a cool feature in your product.  You describe in painstaking detail what your product enables a user to do that's never been done before and you're no doubt expecting lightening to strike at the same moment making the hair on the back of his neck stand at attention as he takes notice of this biblical product and company description. Without a doubt, you expect him to see what you see, falling to his knees, hands extended, exclaiming "we're not worthy, we're not worthy!"  How could he not, right? Your product kicks ass!

Instead, he graciously acknowledges your enthusiasm and wishes you good luck.  It seems his glass is empty - a great opportunity to pry himself away from you and your 'bits and bytes' story and onward toward the bar for a good stiff cocktail to dull the pain of your last 6000 words.

At the end of the day, you lost him at hello.  You didn't describe the problem your product or service solves in the market, concisely and succinctly. You didn't describe the evidence you have that validates the size of this problem and more importantly evidence that confirms people are willing to pay money - lots of it - to solve this problem.

Like it or not, when you're out mingling with colleagues in your industry, prospective partners, customers, angel or venture capital investors, etc., you only have 30 seconds to make a lasting impression and these are your 30 seconds of glory.

So make the best of it.  Follow these six steps and you'll make a dramatic improvement in your first impression which should lead to the conversation you were really hoping for - the one that produces dollar signs.

1. Describe your target market or the 'persona' of your target customer.
   
2. Concisely describe the problem you're solving for your target market.
3. If possible, quantify the value of the problem in terms of what it's costing your target market.
4. Describe how you're solving this problem and if applicable, the difference between how you're solving it and how your competitors are solving it. This is your differentiation - very important.
5. Describe any evidence you've accumulated that confirms your target market is willing to pay money to solve the problem you've identified.  If you already have a customer, definitely mention it.
6. Describe the size of your target market.
7. Don't wing it.  Draft several copies of the above information and refine it until it just rolls off your tongue in 30-45 seconds.

Done right, your man will be begging for your business card and thumb-tapping you into an 8am meeting the next day. But don't limit this approach to VCs only.  At the end of the day, every single person you talk to about your business should be getting this message up front - a message that conveys giant opportunity and a keen sense of having prepared to be at the right place at the right time.  Whether you're introducing your demo, or pitching an audience.  Your first 30 seconds are glory!

For a free value proposition template that can help you build the information described above, send me an email and I'll send you the template. 

dprelazzi@shaw.ca