Episode transcript:

M.K.:
So, Alper, last week we were talking about the six principles of investor presentations and these are the six must have in principles of the six must have criteria.

A.R.:
Yeah.

M.K.:
And I asked you, are these things that I should probably have on my slides? And you said, no, these are things that you must have on your slides. So these are six criteria that aren’t just nice to have. There must haves and so last.

A.R.:
There must haves in.

M.K.:
Yeah. So last week we went into one and two. So this week let’s go into three and four. So opera what’s, what’s criteria number three. Tell me about that one.

A.R.:
Yeah. Before we do that I want to give credit to the source of this information. My mentor here in Barcelona, Multicurrency, and he has this series, the video series about these six criteria. And I highly recommend everyone interested in the topic. Watch that. And they think of the show, the link in the show notes. Okay. Last week we talked about, if I remember correctly, the market and and the value proposition.

A.R.:
Well, the third one is, is timing.

M.K.:
Timing.

A.R.:
And when I say timing, I am talking about my own benefit as investor because an investment made in the wrong timing or the that of timing, let’s say, is one of the most common ways that investors lose money in a startup. And you know, in in a very typical slide the paycheck these days you can you can see something about timing if it it may it may be there.

A.R.:
It may not be there. But when it is, there is usually a like a like a Gantt chart or a timeline or a line in the shape of an arrow saying, well, last year we did this, this quarter we did this, this is what we’re going to do and this is what the future looks like.

M.K.:
Okay.

A.R.:
But what I mentioned, timing is a criteria. That’s that’s that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not talking about the steps of the project. I’m talking about from the eyes of the investors to be able to answer the question, why now? Okay, why should I invest in this company now? So it’s important if you’re a founder, if you’re making a pitch to investors, it’s important for you to identify why now is the right moment to do that.

A.R.:
And what do I mean by that? For example, has your project been tried before? Has has there been have there been alternatives before? Have other people tried to do the same thing before you and have they failed? Have they called it quits or are they still in the market? And what worked before or what didn’t work before? And how are you going to do things differently this time?

A.R.:
And what kind of advantages in knowing these things in the past give you today so that they could be successful? I mean, that’s basically it. That’s basically the way of answering the question, why should I invest now from the from the eyes of the investors and as an entrepreneur making the presentation during the pitch, for example, you can include in your slides information about basically telling, look at this, these ideas.

A.R.:
They have been maybe they have been tried before, but maybe the technology wasn’t there, maybe it wasn’t ready, maybe the market wasn’t ready. So this is what’s happened in the past. This is why things didn’t work out at all, or at least the way they intended to. This is what is different now, and this is why we think it’s a good opportunity to invest now.

A.R.:
This is why we think the project is more capable of taking off now. By the way, have you watched the documentary General Magic about the birth of the smartphone?

M.K.:
No, I’m not familiar with that documentary at all.

A.R.:
I highly recommend it. It’s a beautifully produced documentary about how everything we take for granted I mean, not everything, but most of the things that we take granted today in smartphones were actually invented many, many years ago. But from my understanding from the documentary, the timing was off. Okay? That’s why it couldn’t The project didn’t get up. And it’s an amazing documentary.

A.R.:
I highly recommend checking it out. In terms of the market’s readiness and timing of the project. So so.

M.K.:
Wait, before we move on, I’ve got a question for you about how to represent timing on a slide. So you mentioned the fourth, some nice visual tools, Gantt charts and stuff like this. These are visual things, visual representation of timing issues where you mentioning those as like a good example or as a bad example? Well.

A.R.:
Depends on what you want to show on the slide. I mean, if you want to show a timeline, not timing a timeline of what happened in your project before, what is happening now and what you’re thinking of happening in the future? Yes, of course. I mean, maybe something fancier than just a straight line would end with an arrow cap could be could be nicer.

A.R.:
And there are ways of doing that. Okay. But the important thing here is to differentiate between the timeline and the timing. That’s why in terms of timing, I would recommend a design more creative than just putting items on the slides from left to right in the chronological order. And I’m talking about why now is it time to invest in the project?

A.R.:
I would I would recommend coming up with a with a different approach to that. So if those visual things are good for showing chronological things, but here we’re talking about something more critical than just here’s a brief history of what happened and how we envision the future.

M.K.:
So if if an unknown unimaginative example would be, you know, line from left to right and it says, okay, well, this company was founded state and move over a little to the right and then this happened and then move over little to the right and this happened and then move over to the right. And this is what we want to do.

M.K.:
And this is where you come in, blah blah lot if that’s an unimaginative. Yeah, yeah. And you and he’s seen any good examples of like what’s an imaginative or a good way to represent the timing issue why this is the right time. What’s a good way to do that.

A.R.:
I have not seen that.

M.K.:
He’s not seen it. So this is like this is green me territory here.

A.R.:
I’m thinking about it now. Yeah, Yeah.

M.K.:
If this is greenfield territory, if you can figure out a way to answer this question, then your potential investor is going to think no one has ever done this well. So this is a greenfield for you. This is completely untried territory.

A.R.:
Since the idea is talking about what didn’t work out before, I think the theme would be around lessons learned or like experience gained. So maybe in a creative way lists maybe three or four things about what wasn’t ready at the time on the left side of the chart and on the slide and maybe on the right side. Like when you start talking about why it’s a good time, now push them in the background, make them visible, not not totally invisible, but slightly less visible, like with face to face or transparency effects, and talk about how you’re going to address each of those two or three things that you mentioned, or I said maybe three or

A.R.:
four things that you mentioned and what is different now. So the idea is in the past this was a case. This is what we’re doing now. In the past, that was the case. This is what we’re doing now. So basically a comparison between what was and what is now.

M.K.:
Okay. And I’ve got another question for on this on this subject. And we’re we’re running out of time, so we won’t be able to do two principles today.

A.R.:
I told you, I told you I could spend between 30 seconds and 30 hour.

M.K.:
So there’ll be future episodes on the other principles. But today we’re talking about timing. So and I’ve got one more time question for you. Okay. So if I’m an entrepreneur and tomorrow I’m talking to this potential investor, about a $500 million investment, for example, let’s say $500 million, and this is the first time that I’m talking to him.

M.K.:
And if he gave the typical cycle time from first meeting to to money in the bank is probably something like three months, right? I mean, the investor needs some time to think about this.

A.R.:
Could be much.

M.K.:
Much more.

A.R.:
Could be much more than that.

M.K.:
So maybe even more so.

A.R.:
You mean between the pitch stick and the signing of the agreement? Yeah. And the signing of the agreement Follow. Might buy money in the bank. Yeah. Yeah, it could be much more than that. Okay, So, yeah.

M.K.:
One of the challenges that I have, I’m an entrepreneur and one of the challenges that I have is I need $500 million, but I don’t need it today. I’ve got I’ve got a meeting with the investor tomorrow, but I don’t need the $500 million today. If you gave me $500 million today or tomorrow or this week or something, I’m just going to go out and I’m going to waste it on chairs or, you know, other fancy office equipment.

M.K.:
I’m not going to spend it on what I really need to spend it on. And but that thing that I really need to spend it on, that thing’s not going to happen for like six months or a year from now. Is it too early for me to talk to this potential investor about timing? Hey, I need your money, but I am meeting with you today.

M.K.:
But I don’t actually need your money for another year. Am I wasting everybody’s time by doing it, talking to this investor and saying, Hey, I can’t use your I need your I need you to say yes today, but I can’t use your money today. Am I wasting everybody’s time?

A.R.:
That’s a good question. And I don’t think so, because to clarify, the idea that you as entrepreneur need to give to the investors in terms of timing, again, not the timeline, but the timing is look, the conditions are right, right now to go ahead with this project. It they weren’t right before. And if we don’t do something now, we may miss the opportunity in the future.

A.R.:
So it’s needed too late or too soon to invest. And that’s why I am urging you to consider investing in this project now, like you said, even if you’re inclined to do it today, it doesn’t mean you’re going to ask for my bank account and send the money tomorrow. But again, the idea is to give the impression that the impression but is is is to make it visible enough that if you’re interested in this project, this is the moment to act.

A.R.:
Okay? Because. Because the conditions are right. That’s basically the idea. I don’t know if that answers your question, but again, I’m not talking about the timeline of what is going to happen from this day forward, but rather the timing of why why this is this is this is the right time to invest, to go ahead with this project.

M.K.:
Okay. So we’re out of time for today. We’ve got three criteria left in before we wrap up. Remind me that this came from Matthew Perrin. So is that.

A.R.:
Correct? Yes. Yes. This is this is a series of videos that that we did together. And for me, this information is like gold. So I recommend anyone interested in the topic to follow the links, check them out and and enjoy. Enjoy the wide range of information that he’s giving out.

M.K.:
Yeah, we’ll be sure to put those links in the show notes so that everybody can go see him. And these are YouTube views, right?

A.R.:
Yes. Okay.

M.K.:
So that’s it for today. And like I say, we have three criteria left. You’ll hear from us again on those three criteria in future weeks. So thanks for the input.

A.R.:
All right. Good talking to you, Matt.

M.K.:
Good talking to you. Talk to you later.